Eight Facts You May Not Have Known About The 1913 Dublin Lockout

In the run up to August 1913, workers in Dublin city, due to bad working conditions and poor pay, began to unionize with the help of James Larkin and James Connolly. Employers, headed by William Martin Murphy, began to lock out workers who were unionizing and who refused to sign a pledge to leave the union.

On August 26^th1913, Dublin workers began to leave work in response to a call for a general strike from James Larkin. Many employers began to lock their gates and prevent their staff from returning to work. Problems began to escalate in the city centre, other workers began to strike in support of the initial strikes and severe riots took place in the capital. The strike limped along for several months before its finish, but the impact was huge. Here are eight facts you may not have known about the Dublin Lockout 1913.

1. The Catholic Church refused any aid for children in the capital.

During the Lockout, those most affected were the children of poor workers in the capital. While British trade unionists attempted to aid these children in Dublin, the Catholic Church protested the help, claiming the children would be subject to Protestant beliefs.

2. Employers in Dublin turned to Britain for workers.

Although the strike had initially been organised so that employers would have no workers, they began to use “blackleg” labour from Britain and elsewhere. Essentially, they made it clear they didn’t need their Dublin workers, which was a leading cause for the riots.

3. Conditions in Dublin were appalling.

The rate of death in Dublin at the time was on a par with Calcutta, estimated at 27.6 per 1000. Dublin’s slums were noted as some of the worst in the world.

4. Arthur Guinness refused to lock out his workers.

Working conditions in Guinness were often cited as better than most, mainly due to the work of the Guinness family. Although he donated money to the employer’s fund in Dublin, he refused to join the group of employers who locked out their staff, headed by William Martin Murphy.

5. The main protagonist was James Larkin.

Larkin had been involved with strikes in the past, including a huge strike in Belfast, and was responsible for setting up the Irish Transport and General Worker’s Union in 1908. However, after the strike Larkin left for the States for about 10 years. He was given a hero’s welcome on his return. The other leader of the Labour movement was none other than James Connolly, who founded the Labour Party along with Larkin in 1912 and was one of the main voices for the workers in Dublin.

6. William Martin Murphy was mainly responsible for organising the employers.

The employers who opposed the trade unions were headed up by William Martin Murphy, who owned Clery’s department store in Dublin, the Imperial Hotel and controlled the Irish Independent and the Evening Herald. It was Murphy’s idea, backed by 300 employers, to lock out the workers.

7. The strike began with the tram workers and drivers.

At 9.40am on the 26^th August, drivers and conductors abandoned their vehicles on O’Connell Street, essentially beginning the strike which would become the Lockout.

8. The Irish Citizen’s Army was born in response to “Bloody Sunday”

Following a riot in the city centre involving Dublin Metropolitan Police and union workers on the streets, hundreds were injured and several lost their lives. Connolly and Larkin set up the Irish Citizen’s Army in response to protect the workers. This was the same army which took part in the rebellion of 1916.