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

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Their campaign captured the public imagination and shamed bosses and government into immediate action. Fishing was suspended off Iceland until the weather improved. Owners were legally forced to launch a ‘control ship’, the Ross Valiant. A new full-time ‘mother ship’ later replaced it. In October 1968, a public inquiry resulted in the Holland-Martin Report into Trawler Safety. All the demands of the Fishermen’s Charter were met, most before the inquiry, and the remainder soon after.

I am going over. We are laying over. Help us, Len. I am going over. Give my love and the crew’s love to the wives and families…”Lillian told reporters she would march on Downing Street or ‘that Harold Wilson’s private house’ if she was ignored. Peart and Mallalieu were told by prime minister Wilson, who was in America, that the women were to be helped as much as possible. 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. IN what became known as the dark winter of 1968, four working-class women from Hull were cast into the eye of a storm the aftermath of which would save countless lives — but at great personal cost. There are times when history seems to erupt in chorus. Sometimes the cause of synchronicity is obvious, as in the World War that preceded uprisings and revolutions from Clydeside to Moscow, or the economic collapse that by 2011 had sparked revolts as diverse as the English riots and the Arab Spring. At other times, the connections are harder to explain: why was 1848 the year that modernity clashed with feudalism across much of Europe and Latin America? Why did 1649 witness the Ormee of Bordeaux and The Diggers’ colonies in England? Sometimes, it seems, there is simply something in the air.

Bilocca has been described as a national figure and a local folk hero. [2] She was commemorated by a Hull City Council plaque in Hessle Road in 1990 that reads "In recognition of the contributions to the fishing industry by the women of Hessle Road, led by Lillian Bilocca, who successfully campaigned for better safety measures following the loss of three Hull trawlers in 1968"; another plaque in her honour is at the Hull Maritime Museum. [13] A mural on Hull's Anlaby Road painted by Mark Ervine and Kev Largey depicts Bilocca and her connections with the "headscarf revolutionaries" and the triple trawler tragedy. [11] If I don't get satisfaction I'll be at that Wilson's house, private house, until I do get satisfaction in some shape or form. The four women fought for tougher laws after the Triple Trawler Tragedy in 1968 that claimed the lives of 58 fishermen. The march, which fell on International Women's Day, was led by Ian Cuthbert and David Burns of BBC Radio Humberside.Yvonne Blenkinsop and Chrissie Smallbone joined Lillian on the stage. The two women were well-known in the community, especially Yvonne, a local cabaret singer.

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.

Fishing News

Lillian Bilocca: Plaque for woman who revolutionised safety at sea". BBC News. 22 January 2022 . Retrieved 22 January 2022. Lillian Bilocca never worked in the fishing industry again. Bosses thought her a dangerous nuisance, and some felt that she had shown up the community. It was two years before she found other work. Three plaques will be unveiled on Friday, August 18. The three Headscarf Revolutionists honoured will be Yvonne Blenkinsop, Mary Denness and Christine Jensen MBE for their part in improving the safety standards at sea in the 1960s, which has saved thousands of lives. They were led by Lil.

But at the exit, there were thousands waiting and cheering. A newspaper billboard read: ‘Big Lil Hits Town’. 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 proposal from Hull City Council and the Hull Bullnose Heritage Group was favoured by local residents after engagement between all three parties. For me, their true legacy is the innumerable people here today who might not have been but for their campaign. Their story, like their legacy, now belongs to the world.There was an audible gasp,” recalled Mary Denness. “In Hessle Road the word ‘tart’ has a totally different meaning. It simply means girlfriend, and is not offensive.” a b "Actress honours safety fighter Big Lil". BBC News. 31 August 2017 . Retrieved 31 October 2017. Everything the women asked for was granted by ministers following the Westminster meeting. Eighty-eight new safety measures were introduced with startling rapidity. 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.