'Bloody Friday' Glasgow's General Strike of 1919.

[Lucky Poet]

*Ahem!* Thanks HH, a fine thought-provoking post. (And it's good to see you back here.)

[DMcNay]

Howitzers in the city chambers?

I doubt that very much. Howitzers are heavy guns designed to fire shells at much higher angles than field guns. That makes them ideal for trench warfare, where the projectile acts more like a bomb than a shell, but practically useless for crowd control in a city environment. Machine guns would have been much more likely, surely?

That's exactly why I questioned it.

And onyirtodd, I was aware of the tanks. I was just doubtful of the mention of howitzers. Or even field guns of any description. How exactly would you get a field gun into the City chambers?

I agree, machine guns are far more likely.

[onyirtodd]

...............How exactly would you get a field gun into the City chambers?

...................

There's an extra wide door at the rear they use for access for SNP coooncillors heids.

[DMcNay]

In terms of what regiments were used to quell the riots, I hope no-one minds if I quote myself:

Not sure of the accuracy of this, but wikipedia has a footnote saying that the 4th (reserve) Battalion of the Royal Scots was deployed to Glasgow in 1919:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Scots

It's footnote number 79. I'll ask one of my friends to look up the Royal Scots regimental history, it might mentioned something about this.


So...if that's true, it wasn't an English regiment, or a Scottish Highland regiment. It was a Scots Lowland regiment.

Always remembering of course that Wikipedia can be totally unreliable.

I've read a lot of talk of "English troops" and "Scottish troops kept in their barracks" but very little actual written evidence that this was the case. The only written evidence I can find (but have yet to confirm) tells me it was a lowland Scots regiment that was deployed.

Howitzers in the city chambers? Where would they have put them? Any photos of them?

Just thought I'd quote myself again, to say I've been looking through the Scotsman digital archive in the hope it might shed some light on this story of "English regiments brought in".

And on Monday 3rd February 1919, it reported that the soldiers had been brought were "drafted from various English and Scottish regiments".

It also states that they were guarding the Railway stations and bridges, the Post Office, the City Chambers, the tramway and electricity power stations, the gasworks and "other place essential for the carrying on of the municipal services."

No positive identification of a specific regiment, but there is a report in a later issue of a sentry at the tramway depot encountering a man who says he'll burn it down. The soldier was from the East Surreys regiment.

So...a mix of soldiers from various regiments. That would make sense if they were all rounded up from a depot to go to Glasgow. It would have been a stagin post of men going to different regiments.

[JayKay]

Just a note that this weekend marks the 90th anniversary of said events

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/72969-glasgow-remembers-battle-of-george-square

anyone up for a re-enactment?

[Dexter St. Clair]

A couple of paragraphs on the strike with some words on the originas of the troops used.

http://iainthepict.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/bloody-friday-battle-of-george-square.html

[Mori]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwsFkQIU ... r_embedded

[sandabound]

Excellent find Mori, thanks for sharing it