106-year-old remembers the UK General Strike of 1926

Eighty-six years ago, Britain was in the grip of its first and only general strike to date - which ran from 4-13 May 1926.

It started with coal miners, who were fighting a long-running dispute over the introduction of longer working hours and a pay cut. Transport workers, dockers, printers and others joined the action in solidarity.

As a 20-year-old member of the Independent Labour party, Hetty Bower from Hackney in East London, supported the strikers. She is now 106 years old, but remembers it vividly.

Archive footage courtesy of Pathe. Video production by Daniel Gordon.

Hetty Bower was interviewed for the BBC World Service Witness. You can download and podcast or browse the archive.

  • Subsection
  • Published