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Barking has a proud history of protest which has been part of wider movements challenging inequality and injustice demanding positive change and equal rights for people who have been marginalised by those who have had the power to do so. The Three Lamps on Abbey Green have stood close to Barking Broadway for over a century and were originally known a place where people gathered to demand their rights, from trade unionists to female workers and suffragettes. They were preserved because their protest heritage has been valued by later generations. They have now been celebrated by young people today, who echo the right to protest and to call out for progress.
More about the history of protest in Barking
The photograph above (from the borough's Archives) shows the original position of the Three Lamps outside the George Inn, on the Broadway from the late nineteenth/early twentieth century - the original lamps may have been lit by oil or gas.
Trade unions were among the earliest protestors to have gathered by the lamps. Most likely they were Gas Workers from the Barking Gas Works at Becton. The works opened in 1870, providing employment for over 1,000 Barking men, who were mostly classed as unskilled, although specific knowledge was often required i.e. for stokers who kept the fires burning day & night, in hot conditions. The workers wanted their hours reduced from 12 to 8 hours per day and to be granted extra pay for working Sundays… Well known gas worker trade unionists of this time included Bill Watkinson of Barking and Will Thorn who were involved in the formation of NUGWGL (Thorn was general secretary and later Labour MP for West Ham). Local trade unions also supported the female Jute workers' strike, in Barking, in1889. Famous trade unionist protestors in the twentieth were the Dagenham Ford workers, including female machinists in the 1960s and 1980s.
A rally demanding Votes for Women was held in the Electric Theatre, on Ripple Road, in the early twentieth century and Annie Huggett, a local suffragette and Labour Party member, at that time, lived closed by on Edward Road, Barking.
Barking has a proud history of protest which has been part of wider movements challenging inequality and injustice demanding positive change and equal rights for people who have been marginalised by those who have had the power to do so. The Three Lamps on Abbey Green have stood close to Barking Broadway for over a century and were originally known a place where people gathered to demand their rights, from trade unionists to female workers and suffragettes. They were preserved because their protest heritage has been valued by later generations. They have now been celebrated by young people today, who echo the right to protest and to call out for progress.
More about the history of protest in Barking
The photograph above (from the borough's Archives) shows the original position of the Three Lamps outside the George Inn, on the Broadway from the late nineteenth/early twentieth century - the original lamps may have been lit by oil or gas.
Trade unions were among the earliest protestors to have gathered by the lamps. Most likely they were Gas Workers from the Barking Gas Works at Becton. The works opened in 1870, providing employment for over 1,000 Barking men, who were mostly classed as unskilled, although specific knowledge was often required i.e. for stokers who kept the fires burning day & night, in hot conditions. The workers wanted their hours reduced from 12 to 8 hours per day and to be granted extra pay for working Sundays… Well known gas worker trade unionists of this time included Bill Watkinson of Barking and Will Thorn who were involved in the formation of NUGWGL (Thorn was general secretary and later Labour MP for West Ham). Local trade unions also supported the female Jute workers' strike, in Barking, in1889. Famous trade unionist protestors in the twentieth were the Dagenham Ford workers, including female machinists in the 1960s and 1980s.
A rally demanding Votes for Women was held in the Electric Theatre, on Ripple Road, in the early twentieth century and Annie Huggett, a local suffragette and Labour Party member, at that time, lived closed by on Edward Road, Barking.
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Protest Mosaics by Tamara Froud at the Three Lamps, Abbey Green
A 360 degrees impression of the mosaics which surround the base of the Three Lamps on Abbey Green. The mosaic designs were based on drawings created by pupils at St Margaret's School. The lamps represent the borough's protest heritage as early trade unionists first met here to protest in the nineteenth century - using the lamp post as a 'soap box' to address the crowds.
A 360 degrees impression of the mosaics which surround the base of the Three Lamps on Abbey Green. The mosaic designs were based on drawings created by pupils at St Margaret's School. The lamps represent the borough's protest heritage as early trade unionists first met here to protest in the nineteenth century - using the lamp post as a 'soap box' to address the crowds.