69


Kingswear blackened through coal c1880


double that of men and women in associated dockwork: it was by far the largest employer in the town, controlling the livelihoods of over 1,000 individuals. Tey felt threatened by DCCo’s monopoly, and resented the 2d/ ton rate, unchanged for 20 years, giv- ing average earnings of only £1.50 a week. A strong sense of injustice and community spirit gave them the courage to take DCCo on, and so in 1913 they struck in support of a rate increase to 3d/ton. DCCo simply told ship-owners to avoid Dartmouth and call at their other ports, and a stalemate ensued. Alone, the Dartmouth Lumpers weren’t strong enough, and aſter fruitless negotiations they returned to work. However, the strike had attracted the attention of the Dockworkers and Transport Union, and


New cranes on Kingswear dockside 1920s.


Dartmouth was noisy and dirty: shrill train whistles, deafening ships’ foghorns and the grinding of cranes and winches, at all hours, day and night.


their organisers, including Ernest Bevin, came to Dartmouth in early 1914, to set up Dartmouth Union branch. Over 400 dock workers signed up, ready to fight the cause, but in July war intervened, and many of the younger Lumpers leſt the town for a different fight, some never to return. Wartime labour shortages meant earnings


boomed for those that remained, with reported earnings of £8 -£10 a week. So DCCo invested in labour-saving cranes, each one capable of replacing a gang of Lumpers. In 1917 a threatened strike was resolved by arbitration which agreed a new way of working; “Pool and Rota”. Te Pool was a group of Union members, who were then supplied on a Rota to the coaling company; at the end of the week, earnings were


shared amongst pool members. Competition was ended and a community of brothers, most of whom had been born in Dart- mouth was established. In 1918 the survivors returned, having been promised “a land


First outing of the Dartmouth Lumpers, c1912


Image courtesy of Dartmouth Museum


Images courtesy of Dartmouth Museum


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