“My Grandfather was a haulier and lived in Redcliff. One day he befriended a young man who had come up from a small village on Exmoor looking for work. Grandad invited the lad for a meal with his family and over time they became friends and found they had a lot of values in common i.e. wanting to do something about their poor working conditions and low wages. Also the lack of pay for workers who got injured or became ill, at the time they had to rely on help from their fellow workers.”
“Because of this they worked together to organise a meeting in the Shepherds Hall, Old Market to bring together all the hauliers, carters and related occupations. The men wanted my grandfather to have the first position (with a book) but he refused saying the role needed a young man as it was going to be a long haul. That young man was his friend and fellow worker Ernest Bevin, the union became the Carters Branch of the Dockers Union and the rest is history." *
“My own father also remembered Ernest very well as a good friend of his Dad’s. As a young boy my father was a chorister and he pumped the organ at St Mary Redcliff Church, Ernest always loved to hear my Dad’s singing.”
Yvonne
*Ernest Bevin went on to become a trade union leader and labour politician. He co-founded the Transport and General Workers' Union and served as its first general secretary from 1922-40. He also went on to parliament and was part of the coalition government during the Second World War and foreign secretary in the post-war Labour government from 1945-51.
