1929 High Blantyre Primary School by Robert Stewart

During the great miners strike of 1926, some of the striking miners in Blantyre turned their attention to a new tactic. By trying to get their children to strike from going to school!

However, the proposed strike of Blantyre School children on Monday 4th October 1926, was later publicly proclaimed by the local miners as being a complete failure. Only 5 per cent, of the 3,750 children in the six Blantyre schools were absent. Parents in large numbers accompanied their children to the school in fear of reprisals against them for “breaking the picket line”, and from remarks heard all around it was quite evident that the school strike proposal did NOT meet with favour amongst a large section of the community.

There was not a member of the Strike Committee present, and of course the children were not attacked in any way.

Pictured a few years later are the children of High Blantyre Primary School, shared here by Robert Stewart.

On social media:

Marion Anderson Great photo

Margaret Nimmo Lehmann My parents would have been attending the school that year

Johnstone Purdie Jane My mother would have been nine and attending the school, her father was a miner….

Johnstone Purdie Jane I don’t think her father would have kept her from school….great believers in school attendance!