On 18 June 1984, miners from all over the country arrived in South Yorkshire to picket at the Orgreave coking works. The day began peacefully. The weather was good, and miners were sitting in the sun or playing football.
Suddenly, police in full riot gear began charging out in small groups. The violence escalated quickly. “Short shield units and mounted officers were everywhere, wielding their batons,” says the photographer John Harris. He remembers climbing up a wall to get a better view and being knocked backwards by a mounted officer. Gathering his equipment, Harris scrambled back into the fray, and as he was shooting, spotted Lesley Boulton, a member of Women Against Pit Closures, helping an injured picket. She was shouting for an ambulance when a policeman turned round on his horse and charged, swinging a truncheon at her head.
The battle of Orgreave was one of the most violent displays of police brutality in British industrial history. Harris’s image became emblematic, appearing on badges, banners and posters. The photograph is included in a new exhibition at the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike. It features work by photographers such as Chris Killip, Brenda Prince, John Sturrock and Philip Winnard, a striking miner himself. Alongside the photographs are posters, vinyl records and other ephemera including an Arthur Scargill mask, a Thatcher dog toy and a selection of commemorative plates.
Prince, a feminist, working-class photographer, spent 18 months in Nottinghamshire. “I wanted to show the strike through women’s eyes,” she says. Most of the women she met previously worked as housewives. Suddenly, they were travelling around Britain, fundraising, picketing and meeting with trade unions.
“They all said that they became more aware and politicised,” says Prince. “They had incredible courage and determination, and gained tremendous confidence from doing what they did. A lot of the women said: ‘I’ll never be the same again.’”
Philip Winnard was 25 when the strikes were called. He was working at Houghton Main colliery, a deep mine near Barnsley, South Yorkshire. “Photography was just a hobby. I was a miner, I was on strike, and I had a camera on me. It wasn’t much deeper than that,” he says. The people in his images are not just miners; they are his friends, relatives, his own community.
The strikes lasted a year, ending in a bitter defeat for the miners. When the colliery closed in 1993, Winnard retrained in plastering and started his own business. Some of his friends also retrained. One went on to work as an NHS nurse, others became plumbers and electricians. “But a hell of a lot of people never worked again,” says Winnard. “They went on to long-term unemployment and sickness benefits.”
The repercussions of the strikes still ripple through present-day Britain. These photographs testify to the miners’ historic fight, as well as the power of images to record history, forge new representations and bring light to injustice. For John Sturrock, who covered the entirety of the strike for the trade union and labour movement press, the images look back at “a moment in recent history”, bearing witness to “a significant shift in the way society was operating”.
Striking images: photos of pickets and police
Women’s picket at Bevercotes colliery, Nottingham, 1985
Brenda Prince: “It was bloody cold that night, but these women were determined to picket. Lots of cars carrying scabs were driving past. This is the only picture I got without a car in it. The women were really angry; they couldn’t believe the number of miners who were going back to work.”
Bilston Glen, Scotland, 1984 (main picture)
John Sturrock: “I was working mainly in South Yorkshire in 1984, when I heard that a mass picket was planned at Bilston Glen, the largest pit in Scotland. I managed to get there in time to see this confrontation. Many of these men were arrested and held in jail until they were charged.”
Police attacking Lesley Boulton at the battle of Orgreave, Sheffield, 1984
John Harris: “Lesley shouted: ‘Get an ambulance!’ to the police. The horses swung round and charged. ‘I’ll have you as well, you bitch,’ shouted one officer as he swung at her head. I shot two frames as a miner pulled her back by her belt and the blow missed. It could have smashed her skull.”
Dot Hickling at a striking miners’ kitchen in Nottingham, c 1984
Brenda Prince: “Women played a vital role in the strikes, not only working to keep their homes intact but also fundraising, picketing and managing food distribution. They had nothing at the beginning – a few quid and some potatoes. Gradually, they got donations of food and set up a really good kitchen for striking miners.”
Darfield Main colliery, Barnsley, 1984
Philip Winnard: “This was taken not far from where I worked, at the very beginning of the strikes. We knew what was coming, but we didn’t know how long it would last. No one thought it would go on for a year. We thought it would last one week, a month, maybe a bit longer. None of us were prepared.”
One Year! Photographs from the Miners’ Strike 1984/85 is at the Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol, 18 January to 31 March.
