Burston Strike School

Introduction

The photograph on this page of Burston Strike School by Richard Rice as part of the Geograph project.

The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk

Burston Strike School

Image: © Richard Rice Taken: 24 Feb 2007

On 1 April 1914 children at Burston School marched to support their two dismissed teachers, Tom and Kitty Higdon. The Higdons were closely associated with the Agricultural Workers' Union and this lead to conflict with the local squirearchy and the Church of England which was responsible for the school. It was to become the longest strike in history. The Strike School was firstly located in the blacksmith's workshop and then moved to purpose built premises erected on Burston Village Green by Labour Movement subscription. It functioned up until the beginning of the Second World War. Tom Higdon died in August 1939 and the school closed a few months later as Kitty, then in her seventies, was unable to carry on alone. Since 1984, an annual rally has been held in Burston each September to commemorate the first demonstration held in 1914 and celebrate the struggles that took place in Burston in the first half of the last century. Information edited from http://www.burstonstrikeschool.org/ See also Image

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