This image shows a line of schoolchildren who paraded through the village of Burston and triggered the longest running strike in British history. They were led by 13 year old Violet Potter, playing her accordion.  The children’s rebellion, supported by their parents and other locals, caught the public imagination. The image was created by a local photographer, C Maling, and is an enlargement from a sepia postcard.

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The strike began on April 1, 1914, triggered by the dismissal of the school’s popular teachers, Annie (Kitty) and Tom Higdon. It continued for 25 years until 1939.

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The Higdons believed that a good education was the right of every child but were often at loggerheads with the school’s management committee.  The couple’s demands for improvements to the cold, damp classroom did not go down well.  Nor did Kitty’s failure to curtsey to the Rector’s wife, or her objections when farmers (rather than the children’s parents) took children out of school to work in the fields when extra labour was needed.

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The Higdons had already packed up to leave when Violet organised the strike.  The child made a list and found that sixty six out of the 72 pupils were interested in striking.  They carried banners demanding “Justice” and “We want our teachers back.”

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As they marched through the village, they were joined by adults who were angry over the sackings.  News of this unusual strike was quickly picked up by the national newspapers.   With the support of the local community, donations from the wider public and the trade union movement, the Higdons were able to carry on teaching. They started in a tent on the village green, then in temporary buildings and eventually in a brand-new building as union donations continued to arrive.

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At first, villagers who supported them were penalised. Some farm workers were sacked or lost their right to grow vegetables on the glebe lands. One blind man left the village when he was told he would lose his workshop. Parents were fined for failing to send their children to a state approved school.  However, their fines were paid by well wishers.

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The school continued until the retirement of Kitty, then a widow, in 1939.  Violet Potter went on to marry Aldis Turner from nearby Gissing and had three sons and two daughters.  She died in 1979.   These days, many people living in the area have grandparents or cousins who attended the strike school.  The strike itself is still commemorated with a rally each September.