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There is Power in a Union........The Case of Pc FAIRWEATHER

 


The new road named after Lord Hamilton of the Great Eastern Railway


The newish road outside Hertford East railway Station is named after a former chairman of the Great Eastern Railway; Claud HAMILTON.  I recall that there was a large building at Liverpool Street Station (demolished in the 1980s) that was also named after him.  His reputation looms large in railway history.  He was also a Member of Parliament and a peer.  When I see the new road sign I think not of Hamilton himself but of his role in a sorry tale that led to a well respected railway policeman losing his job.

We often celebrate the coming of the police federation in general and the railway police federation in particular.  The early pioneers of representation faced many challenges but were only allowed to exist because of the chaos brought about by agitation in the police service after the First World War.  The idea that police officers could be members of trades unions seems alien to us now.  But the low paid and much put upon officers of the early twentieth century saw no conflict of interest.  Indeed police union membership is common in many other democracies even now. 

The National Union of Police and Prison Officers admitted members of the railway police as did other unions.  In the lead up to the Great War the morale of railway police officers was poor.  Pay and conditions of service were bad.  The pages of Police Review and Parade Gossip magazine frequently carried letters from officers pointing out their plight.  For example a lengthy correspondence in early 1914 complained that police on the Midland Railway received less pay than a passenger porter, frequently suffered assaults, changes in duties and were required to work unpaid overtime.

In the same year some officers in the Great Eastern Railway Police (GER) joined the railway union and tried to form a section for police officers.  Relative to other railway forces the GER were reasonably paid and had some decent equipment.  However their terms were harsh when compared to railway workers and their pay was less than that received by Metropolitan Police officers, this being a problem for GER officers in the Metropolis, which then, as now, was an expensive place to live.

Pc Walter J FAIRWEATHER lived in West Ham (London) but was originally from Suffolk.  In 1914 he had been a railway policeman for around eight years, having previously served in the Royal Navy.  He was married with two young children.  The 1911 census tells us that another child died young.  FAIRWEATHER was 36 at the time of his clash with Lord HAMILTON.  During the early part of the year he advised the Chief of Police for the GER (Major CHAUNCEY) that he had convened a meeting of those officers who wished to organise as part of their trade union.  The Chief of Police advised him that such a gathering was not compatible with his role as a police officer and that he would suffer consequences if such a meeting took place.  The meeting went ahead but FAIRWEATHER did not act as chair because of the Chief’s warning.  However he was dismissed from the service.

Very quickly the union mobilised and threatened strike action by all staff across the GER network.  The company refused to re-instate FAIRWEATHER but sought a compromise whereby he would be offered a job as a goods porter at Hertford (now Hertford East) station on a much lower wage than he was receiving as a police officer.  He declined the offer on the grounds that he could not support his family on such a wage and that it was a long way from home. 

To avert the prospect of a strike FAIRWEATHER was allowed to put his case before the Board of Directors of the GER.  At the meeting he claimed that every citizen has a right to combine in a union and he rejected the offer of a low paid job many miles from where he lived.  The union gave a notice of a full railway strike on the GER.  This was enough to attract media attention with dozens of articles appearing in the newspapers.  It also brought the matter to the attention of the Labour Party, a growing force in Parliament.

Labour saw their opportunity during the passage of the Great Eastern Railway Bill (1914).  This was a one of the hundreds of private Bills sponsored by railway companies and was seen as a routine piece of legislation.  Several MPs raised the case of Pc FAIRWEATHER during the debate.  Lord HAMILTON responded in a robust manner that discipline in the police was vital and that he would not allow the officer to be allowed back.  A last minute compromise was suggested by Ramsay MacDonald, the MP for Leicester and future Prime Minister.  He asked if a job could be found within the GER that paid the same as FAIRWEATHER was receiving as a police constable.  HAMILTON refused.  As a consequence the Bill was voted down by a sizable majority of 140 to 62 – the result being met with cheers in the House.   This was an inconvenience to the GER, but the victory was short lived and the Great Eastern Railway Act became law in 1915.

World events overtook the dispute.  In August 1914 Walter FAIRWEATHER volunteered and rejoined the navy.  He survived the war and in 1921 he was at home with his family in West Ham.  Someone must have had a change of heart because he was working for the GER in the Goods department at the depot at Stratford Market, a short walk from his home (a site now occupied by the Jubilee Line).  But he was not a porter, but a foreman. This was a job that was better paid than that of a railway constable.  Meanwhile in 1918/19 police officers from several forces, including the Metropolitan force, had gone on strike because of their pay and conditions and for the right to be members of a trade union.  That there is power in a union is shown by the fact that when the Metropolitan Police went on strike their claims were settled in 24 hours.  The only point of failure was the government’s determination to supress the union itself.

I think we should remember Walter FAIRWEATHER.  A man who stood up for the rights of police officers.  Perhaps the road outside the station he refused to work at should be named after him rather than the boss who denied the right of police officers to combine together.

 

Phil Trendall

January 2024

 

NOTES

With apologies to Mr B Bragg.  The original There is power in a union song was written by Joe Hill in 1913.


 

 


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