A military deployment in the Rhondda, 1910-11 was authorised by home secretary Winston Churchill at the request of coalmine owners and local authorities facing violent industrial strike action over pay and conditions in the mines of the Rhondda Valley, south Wales. The specific disputation, involving pay and conditions at collieries of the Cambrian Combine,[1] lasted a year (August 1910–August 1911) but the involvement of troops became an issue on the evening of Monday 7 November 1910 when, as reported by Churchill to King George V, "...400 Cavalry and Infantry...were sent for by the Chief Constable [of Glamorgan]..."[2]: p.374
According to Churchill, the initial troop detachments were actually sent by rail without his knowledge and he decided "to keep them in the background until it was certain that police methods had proved insufficient." The infantry was halted at Swindon in England, but the cavalry was held in readiness at Cardiff,[2]: p.374 12 miles from the principal Rhondda town of Pontypridd. A more dramatic perspective appeared in a press report:
A large body of police had been sent to reinforce the Glamorganshire police, and a force of 3,000 mounted troops had been mobilised at Tidworth. A detachment was ordered to proceed thence to Swindon, in order to be prepared for emergencies. The Government, in response to a request by the local authorities, ordered General Macready, who is stationed at Cardiff, to despatch cavalry to the disturbed districts. A squadron has been sent to Pontypridd, and another will arrive today. A body of 270 men of the London Metropolitan police, mounted and foot, has arrived at Tonypandy and Aberaman, and 200 additional London police have reached Pontypridd. A detachment of infantry has been stationed at Newport.[3]
Large forces of police were used to contain violent riots at Llwynypia and Tonypandy on 7 and 8 November, after which a squadron of cavalry arrived at Tonypandy and was patrolling the streets on 9 November.[4]
Press reports of the period detail extensive and violent industrial action in many countries, including in Europe and the U.S.A. Particularly violent demonstrations in Pennsylvania were pacified by a small troop of cavalry after thousands of police had failed to restore order. There had also been publicity about the use of troops in France, Italy and Russia.[5].
The employers Empire Transport Company and Holder Brothers attempted to use strike breakers to solve a dispute on 18 May 1910, precipitating a dispute which brought the docks to a standstill.[2]: p.367 Newport's chief constable requested 250 Metropolitan Police reinforcements, which were sent reluctantly. Churchill wrote in a telegram to the Home Office's permanent under-secretary, Sir Edward Troup: The Empire Transport Company should be made to realize that employing large droves of men from London to break the strike is a very strong order. Do not on any account give them or the public the impression that we approve their action.[2]: p.368 Notwithstanding, 500 imported police were eventually deployed in addition to local police.
On 21 May, the mayor of Newport[2]: p.369 and magistrates[2]: p.371 telegraphed the Home Office and War Office requesting that 300 troops be held in readiness. Churchill was prepared for this and passed his recommendation to the War Office that cavalry troops should be sent rather than infantry. "[Mounted troops] are far more effective than infantry in dealing with a riot, and the risk of their employment leading to loss of life is much less".[2]: p.372
A British national railway strike occurred in August 1911. Troops were deployed in a number of places, including Liverpool and Birkenhead. The army regulation requiring requisition from a civil authority was suspended, and senior military commanders were to use their own discretion in making deployments.[2]: p.384 At Llanelli, troops opened fire and two men were shot dead on the banks of the railway. Churchill was home secretary at the time.[6] Another report relates that, on 22 August,two days after the dispute had been settled, four people were killed by troops responding to an incident in which an engine driver was overpowered and looting was allegedly in progress.[2]: p.385
The writer, Randolph Churchill, unfortunately politicised this event, writing
Labour was not to forget Churchill's part in this strike—even though they were soon to muddle it with Tonypandy, doubtless because Tonypandy comes easier to the English tongue than Llanelly.[2]: p.386
On the morning of 14 August 1911, Liverpool police had not succeeded in quelling a riot in which they were stoned from behind street barricades and upper windows. The officer in charge called for 200 Yorkshire Regiment troops to help, and peace was restored at about 2.30 p.m. after shots were fired and 20 prisoners taken.[2]: p.381-382 (The source does not detail any casualties of the engagement.)
(Copied entire from Tonypandy Riots on 20/2/11)
Churchill's role in the events at Tonypandy during the conflict left a negative attitude towards him in South Wales that still persist. The main point of contention was his decision to allow troops to be sent to Wales. Although this was an unusual move and was seen by those in Wales as an over-reaction, his Tory opponents suggested that he should have acted with greater vigour.[7]: [p111] The troops acted more circumspectly and were commanded with more common sense than the police whose role under Lionel Lindsay was, in the words of historian David Smith, 'more like an army of occupation'.[7]: [p111] The troops were also generally viewed with less hostility than the local and Metropolitan police.
Despite these facts, the incident continued to haunt Churchill through his career. Such was the strength of feeling, that almost forty years later, when speaking in Cardiff during the General Election campaign of 1950, Churchill was forced to address the issue, stating: "When I was Home Secretary in 1910, I had a great horror and fear of having to become responsible for the military firing on a crowd of rioters and strikers. Also, I was always in sympathy with the miners..."[7]: [p122]
A major factor in the dislike of Churchill's use of the military was not in any specific action undertaken by the troops, but the fact that their presence prevented any strike action which may have ended the strike early in the miners' favour.[7]: [p112] The troops also ensured that trials of rioters, strikers and miners' leaders would take place and be successfully prosecuted in Pontypridd in 1911. The defeat of the miners in 1911 was, in the eyes of the local community, a direct consequence of state intervention without any negotiation, and this action was seen as a direct result of Churchill's actions.[7]: [p112] In 2010, 99 years after the riots, a Welsh local council made objections to a street being named after Churchill in the Vale of Glamorgan due to him sending troops into the Rhondda.[6]
The political fallout for Churchill also continued. In 1940 when Chamberlain's war-time government was faltering, Clement Attlee secretly warned that the Labour Party might not follow Churchill due to his association with Tonypandy.[7]: [p112] Even as late as 1978 there were scenes of uproar in the House of Commons when Churchill's grandson, also Winston Churchill, replying to a routine question on miners' pay; was warned by James Callaghan not to pursue 'the vendetta of your family against the miners of Tonypandy'.[8]