Military Intervention in Britain by Anthony Babington

Author:Anthony Babington [Babington, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, General
ISBN: 9781317397717
Google: t-SoCgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-10-05T16:10:43+00:00

11

The Last Resort

At the beginning of the twentieth century, industrial unrest rather than political agitation seemed the most likely cause of disorder in Britain. At the general election in January 1906 the Liberals were swept into power with a comfortable overall majority and they embarked forthwith on a programme of radical legislation. Among their first measures was a Trade Disputes Act, which legalized picketing carried out in the course of a strike, provided it was confined to peaceful persuasion, or the peaceful transmission of information.1 This was designed to lessen the existing tensions between employers and employed, but a number of trade union leaders were of the opinion that their legal rights should have been extended even further.

Richard Haldane, who had been appointed Secretary for War in the new Government, initiated a series of reforms in the armed services, including a complete re-organization of the military reserves available in the event of mobilization. The militia and the yeomanry were now freed from their internal policing role and were merged into a composite, part-time force, to be known as the territorial army, which was to be responsible for the defence of Britain when the regular army was campaigning overseas.2

Since the episode at Featherstone Colliery the military had not been called upon to suppress any serious riots. However, less than a year after the Liberals won their massive victory at the polls, troops were once again ordered to open fire on a turbulent mob. It had happened in Belfast, a city which had been the scene of periodic outbreaks of violence throughout the nineteenth century. The dockers of Belfast had called a strike in the spring of 1906. Apart from a succession of large, militant meetings at the waterfront and the picketing of houses in the area where most of the non-union workforce was living,3 nothing unusual occurred until 16 May, a day on which, according to widely circulating rumours, an organized attack was to take place on the Donegal Quay which was still operating normally. A conference took place between the Lord Mayor, the Commissioner of Police and the general commanding Belfast district, as a result of which a detachment of infantry was sent to patrol the dockside area.4 The threatened assault did not materialize and the troops were withdrawn the following day.5 On 26 June it was again reported that aggression was being planned and for the next six weeks a force of 300 soldiers was permanently stationed in the docks.6

In June and July that year there was some sort of mutiny among the Belfast police, largely actuated by sympathy with the striking dockers. The Irish Government was so alarmed by the situation that they sent four additional regiments to strengthen the Belfast Garrison.7 During the whole of the summer soldiers were manning strong-points in the city and were patrolling the streets to maintain order. On 11 August a riot occurred which was put down without bloodshed.8 The next day the mob came out again in even larger numbers; it

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