The name Chobham Manor would initially indicate a large stately home somewhere in the stockbroker belt of Surrey. There is a Chobham near Woking and the town may well have its fair share of stately homes, but Chobham Manor in Metropolitan Essex is a new neighbourhood in Stratford is next on the eastern part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and described as a picture of relaxed modern living with tree-lined avenues, intimate streets, stylish houses and apartments complete with private gardens and open squares. The development is all part 2012 Olympic legacy.
Within Stratford there has been a Chobham Road for 150 years. It runs west from the Leytonstone Road towards what was once Chobham Farm. The farm disappeared during the late 19th century with the industrialisation of the River Lea valley and the expansion of Great Eastern Railway’s works at Temple Mills. By the 1960s, Chobham Farm was just a quaint place name for an industrial estate where storage and distribution were the main businesses.
In July 1972, Midland Cold Storage Ltd, a company based at Chobham Farm became the centre of an industrial dispute of epic proportions. The dispute unfolded against the backdrop of the ongoing clash between the trade union movement and newly the elected Conservative Government of Edward Heath. Britain was experiencing the first national miners’ strike since 1926 and widespread mass picketing by builders, dockers and transport workers.
Midland Cold Storage Ltd although not located in the docks was supposed to employ registered dockworkers to pack and unload containers. A complex union agreement obliged employers to use dockers for such work within five miles of any dock. At the time London Docks, were rapidly losing business mainly due to their inability to accommodate the ever increasing size of cargo ships. Also, containerisation had resulted in freight being unloaded straight from ships onto trucks or railway wagons. This meant considerable job losses in the docks as the containers could be packed or unpacked away from the docks by almost anyone.
Midland Cold Storage Ltd, only two miles from the Royal Docks, chose not to employ dockers. As a consequence they were targeted by mass pickets in an attempt to stop them trading. After eight weeks of picketing the company had had enough and its directors applied to the newly formed National Industrial Relations Court (NIRC) for an injunction to halt the pickets. The injunction was duly issued, nevertheless the picketing continued. Private investigators working for the cold storage company identified five shop stewards from the Transport and General Workers Union as pickets. The five were charged with contempt of court and warrants were issued by the court for their arrest.
On 21st July 1972, Bernie Steer, Vic Turner, Derek Watkins, Cornelius Clancy and Anthony Merrick were apprehended and taken to Pentonville Prison – hence the name The Pentonville Five.
The arrests and imprisonment lead to outrage in union circles. Thousands of striking workers marched through North London to Pentonville Prison. There was a series of rolling strikes and work stoppages that turned into a general strike in all but name. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) then called for an official national strike on 31st July and demanded the release of the five shop stewards.
Stalemate ensued. The government seemed powerless to act. Then, to everyone’s surprise, salvation came when the previously unheard of Official Solicitor, Norman Turner, stepped in. An obscure figure from the ancient machinery of English justice, he successfully applied to the Court of Appeal for the release of the five. The arrest warrants were overturned. The Appeal Court ruled that there were insufficient grounds to deprive the men of their liberty since the evidence garnered by the private investigators was flawed. A week later the five were released and a constitutional crisis in the making had been averted for the time being.
The then leader of the opposition, Harold Wilson, commented “the government had been saved by a fairy godmother”. Yet despite all the protests and the perceived success of the five, the dock labour force inexorably declined. All the London docks closed as major cargo handling centers within ten years. Containerisation was an irreversible fact of cargo movement world-wide.
After years of industrial strife, power cuts and the infamous three-day week the Prime Minister Edward Heath called an election in February 1974 and was defeated. The incoming Labour Government immediately abolished the National Industrial Relations Court (NIRC). The Pentonville Five went their separate ways, although each retained their strong union links. One of the five, Victor Turner returned to work at the Royal Docks but later transferred to Tilbury docks. In 1994 he was elected to Newham Borough Council for the Bermersyde ward. During 1997/8 he had the honour of being chosen as Mayor of Newham. During this period he was also presented with the Transport and General Workers Union Gold Medal for his union work.
Ⓒ Essex Hundred Publications
