The Headscarf Revolutionaries: Lillian Bilocca and the Hull Triple-Trawler Disaster

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One ordinary fisheries worker decided to take things into her own hands. Losing a son herself in the tragedy she saw a need for change.

The heroic story of these women in the face of tragedy highlights the fact that change comes from the populace. In an early interview with me, Mary Denness recalled their arrival at King’s Cross: “It was full of journalists, union men, photographers and TV folk. When we got off, the station was empty, and the platforms were surrounded by those barriers they use on royal visits.” The opening of 1968 was such a time. The Prague Spring coincided with the Civil Rights movement in the US, the anti-Vietnam War riot in Grosvenor Square, the March events in Poland, the occupation at Nanterre, and eventually the May Days in Paris. And to this list we can add the uprising of the Headscarf Revolutionaries, which has now been brilliantly documented in a new book by Brian W. Lavery.The women met with the ministers after which they learned that Eddom had been found alive. His survival became worldwide news. The St Romanus sank with all hands on January 11 1968 and then on January 26 the Kingston Peridot suffered the same fate. Author Brian W. Lavery has a long association with Hull, and describes this book as being the result of a promise that he would "set the record straight" about Mrs Bilocca. The book begins with an account of life for fishers on the trawlers. This was an incredibly hard job; the work required huge physical effort, long hours and often took place in appalling conditions. The ships themselves were frequently dangerous with safety equipment damaged or missing. Lavery points out that at the time ships from European fleets had better equipment and sailed with a command ship that helped look out for the smaller vessels as well as providing support. Crew members were handsomely rewarded for their dangerous work, though the real profits were made by the owners.

When the sinking of the Ross Cleveland, skippered by 41-year-old Phil Gay, was announced, the bosses, who had earlier snubbed the women, now wanted to meet. She combined a career as a singer alongside being a married mother of four. She toured the country as Yvonne — the golden girl with the golden voice. Christine Smallbone, the sister of the Ross Cleveland skipper Philip Gay, had met with the managers of Hellyer Bros., the ship’s owners, on the morning of the 5 th. Lavery’s book records her impression of the firm’s offices: ‘“Look at this big room, beautiful big polished oak or walnut table…really really big…beautiful carpets…that’s how the trawler owners live…nice…comfortable”’. The extent to which the trawler owners’ profits were prioritised over the safety of the trawlermen, some of whom were as young as 14, was no secret in Hull. But with the British media gripped by the story of the missing trawlers, the Headscarf Revolutionaries made it a national issue. Maxine Peake has written a play entitled The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca which opened in Hull in November 2017. An earlier play by Val Holmes, who grew up in Hull at the time of the tragedy, was entitled Lil. [4] The Red Production Company is working on a TV drama adaptation of Lil's actions during and after the tragedy. [4]Days later, trade unionists and Labour politicians arranged for the women to meet with ministers. The then Labour prime minister Harold Wilson was in the US but was kept updated with progress of the talks. These four women took on trawler bosses and the establishment and won, making the world’s most dangerous profession — deep sea trawling — safer by far.

Lillian Bilocca had three sisters. [2] [3] Her father, husband and son all worked at sea on the Hull fishing trawlers and Bilocca worked at an on-shore fish factory, filleting the catch. [3] [4] [5] She became known as "Big Lil". [6] Headscarf Revolutionaries trawler safety campaign [ edit ] a b c d e f "Hull fishermen's safety campaigner Mary Denness dies". ITV News. 5 March 2017 . Retrieved 31 October 2017. Blenkinsop’s private legacy is four children, 10 grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren. Her beloved husband John predeceased her in 2004. Lily’s Headscarf Revolution may have been a naïve one. But it was a powerful action from the heart that caught the imagination of the world and shamed an industry and a government into action.

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For decades, that remained the only tribute to these remarkable women, whose fight for better safety at sea saved countless lives, then and since. Outside of Hull their story was forgotten – a footnote in maritime history. Analysing the events Lavery describes, one might reach two reasonable but contradictory conclusions. Pessimistically, one might note – as John Prescott accepted once in power – that capitalism can’t be reformed. More optimistically, one might add that direct action gets the goods – in a few weeks a few women won changes that were at least as significant as the concessions earned a few months later by millions of French workers who rendered the state helpless and momentarily forced the government to abdicate. Another Hull trawler — the St Finbarr — had been lost little more than a year earlier on Christmas 1966 off Newfoundland. Only 13 of her 25 crew survived. Bilocca, Denness, Blenkinsop and Smallbone (later Jensen) formed the Hessle Road Women’s Committee after a mass meeting ended with hundreds of Hull women, led by Bilocca, storming the trawler owners’ offices. It was singer Blenkinsop’s mic and PA system they used at the meeting in the Victoria Hall on Hessle Road. Hull’s mural depicting Lillian Bilocca, who led a campaign to improve safety conditions on board North Sea trawlers

Earlier this month, the special memorial garden to honour those lost at sea found its permanent home on St Andrew's Quay. The eyes of the world were on the Hull fishing community – and the politicians and owners knew it. The women were delighted with the news of Eddom’s survival and the promises from MPs. It was full of journalists, union men, photographers and TV folk. When we got off, the station was empty and the platforms were surrounded by those barriers they use on royal visits.” The revolutionaries of the Hessle Road Women’s Committee showed the power of grassroots campaigns. The women had no political experience, all being regular people from a regular city. They affected change at the highest level of government in a matter of weeks.Lillian Marshall was born in 7 Welton Terrace, Wassand Street, Hessle Road, Hull [1] on 26 May 1929 to Ernest Marshall, trawlerman and former Royal Navy engineer, and his wife, Harriet, née Chapman. She left the Daltry Street Junior School, Hull at the age of 14 and worked as a cod skinner. She married Carmelo [Charlie] Bilocca (1902–1981), a Maltese sailor who worked with the Hull-based Ellerman-Wilson Line, and later as a trawlerman. [1] They had two children – Ernest (b. 1946) and Virginia (b. 1950). The family lived in a terraced house in Coltman Street, Hull. The proposal from Hull City Council and the Hull Bullnose Heritage Group was favoured by local residents after engagement between all three parties.