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Remember John Sutcliffe and Michael Prendergast, martyrs of 1911
The two men killed by troops as crowds tried to free jailed workers are barely spoken about — we must change that, and invoke the honour and sacrifice of past struggles, write HOLLY VALLENDER and TOM SHIELDS
British soldiers, some mounted on horseback, brandishing rifles with bayonets, march through Liverpool as an occupying army, to quell the working class, 1911
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ON AUGUST 15 1911, John Sutcliffe, a transport worker, and Michael Prendergast, a docker, were killed by Crown forces, troops of the 18th Royal Hussars, who opened fire on crowds attempting to stop vans containing 90 prisoners convicted for involvement in the Liverpool transport general strike, on their way to Walton Gaol.
Prendergast had 800 people walk miles to his funeral at Ford Cemetery — the largest funeral gathering in the history of the city.
Their deaths were the culmination of violent methods typical of the ruling class — both then and now. The workers had brought Liverpool to a standstill in the summer of 1911, during the city’s general transport strike — as part of a broader national strike wave, in conjunction with ongoing maritime and rail disputes.
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