GAS STOKERS STRIKE 1872

Papers relating to the Gas Stokers' Strike at the Beckton Works of the Gas Light and Coke Company, 1872, including Central Criminal Court papers concerning criminal cases arising from the strike, correspondence, Trades Union Congress printed papers and press cuttings.

In 1872 two workers at the Beckton Works of the Gas Light and Coke Company, Edward Jones and Thomas Dilley, presented a document to the managers of the works requesting 6d per day advance for the coal wheelers employed at the works. The next day Dilley was given seven days' notice to leave the works. This prompted the workers to go on strike, demanding that Dilley be reinstated. Five of the strikers, including Edward Jones, were prosecuted by the Central Criminal Court, and were sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment for 'conspiring, with threats, to coerce the Beckton Gas Company'.

The Gas Stokers' Defence Committee was subsequently set up to provide financial support to the families of the imprisoned strikers. The committee also sent a letter of appeal to the Home Secretary, and the sentences were subsequently commuted to four months' imprisonment.

In 1889 employees from the same works were laid off, prompting the establishment of the National Union of Gasworkers and General Labourers. The Union entered negotiations with the works and succeeded in having the workers' twelve hour working day reduced to 8 hours throughout the industry. The Union soon had over 20,000 members.

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