January 1, 1970

Another incident was to prove similarly controversial and dogged Churchill not just through his tenure as Home Secretary but for many years after.

In November 1910, rioting and looting broke out during a strike of Rhondda Valley coalminers; one of the coalminers was fatally injured in a struggle with the Glamorganshire police. After initial hesitation, Churchill sanctioned the deployment of troops to quell the disturbances, with the police acting as buffers between strikers and troops. Although this probably prevented further bloodshed, he was attacked for condoning brutality on the part of the police.

Did Churchill send troops who fired upon the miners? Or was his role ‘grotesquely distorted’?

See “Churchill sent troops against striking Welsh coal miners” by Randolph S. Churchill, in Finest Hour 140.

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And “A New History of Wales: Dr Louise Miskell ‘Remembering 1910 – It wasn’t all about Tonypandy'”.