Remembered A tribute to Belfast dockworker, seaman, trade unionist and comrade.
John Quinn (1876 to 1935)
“Apostles of freedom are ever idolised when dead, but crucified when alive� James Connolly
Foreword Belfast man John Quinn was one of the forgotten heroes of the social and political events that occurred in the city during the 1900’s and 1910’s. Others, including Winifred Carney, James Connolly and (Big) Jim Larkin, went on to make their names on other well-documented fronts. Quinn, a family man, who knew tragedy at close quarters, found himself blackballed from working at Belfast docks and was forced to go back to seafaring before his death aged 59 in 1935. A hard uncompromising end to a hard uncompromising life. John Quinn’s story was largely forgotten. His important contribution to the foundation of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union was merely a footnote to the union’s history, his final resting place an unmarked grave in Belfast’s Milltown Cemetery. The extended Quinn family kept many stories of the man and in doing so, helped preserve his memory for those of us in the Shared History Interpretive Project whose remit is to remember and honour our past. Today, at last, John Quinn is both remembered and honoured. Remembered as a man, as a father, grandfather and great grandfather and honoured as a hard-working and dedicated trade unionist for whom, principle was paramount. In 1907 John Quinn, the deep sea-dockers’ delegate and one of the first people to be elected by the newly formed Irish Transport and General Workers Union, moved the motion ‘that the dockers of Belfast no longer recognise the National Union of Dock Labourers while James Sexton is General Secretary’. It was an historic moment. The foreword to the birth of a new union in a barrage of badges and at least one bottle, but one that augured well for
those of us lucky enough to enjoy better pay and working conditions as a result. Subsequently, he became a close friend and comrade of Carney, Connolly and Larkin. John’s youngest child who was born in 1917 was fittingly named James Connolly Quinn in memory of Connolly whom he much admired. Quinn was one of that rare breed who put principle before personal gain. His principles cost him his job and livelihood, as he was shunned at Belfast docks for many years, but has earned him the respect of history. The SHIP project is privileged to have at last marked the final resting place of John Quinn with a timely memorial as we remember and honour a man who has been, for too long, forgotten. The John Quinn story would never have came to light if it had not have been for the tedious but interesting work carried out by John's great grand-daughter Siobhan Brennan Deane. SHIP would like to acknowledge the role played by Siobhan that made it so easy for us to put the project together. It has been a great honour to have worked with Siobhan and to have got guidance and answers from her along the way. Many thanks and well done Siobhan.
Liam McBrinn Chairman S.H.I.P. www.shipbelfast.com
Who was John Quinn? John was born on 3rd March 1876 at 86 Little Patrick Street. He was one of nine sons born to shoemaker Alexander Quinn and his wife Catherine (nee McIlvenny), seven of those surviving sons became dock workers, Robert J, Alexander, Daniel, John, Patrick, Joseph and Frank. John was baptised in St Patrick’s Church by the Reverend Magorian on 12th March 1876. In 1895 John married Margaret Pollard of Millfield and they eventually set up home in the area most associated with the life of Belfast docks, Sailortown. Margaret was just 18 years old when she gave birth to their first child James in the Dickensian s u r r o u n d i n g s o f B e l f a s t ’s Workhouse, his birth certificate Margaret Quinn (nee Pollard) states that John was away at sea at the time, place ‘unknown’. On his return he took work at the docks in order to support his young family, but tragically, James died aged just two years old when Margaret was pregnant with her second child. His death certificate cited ‘Pertussis and Bronchopneumonia’ but it might well have said death caused by over-crowded, ill ventilated and insanitary hovels. John and Margaret had four children who never lived beyond the age of seven years. Their short-lived happiness was overtaken by
tragedy. Belfast had the highest infant mortality rate in these islands and its causes, poverty and deprivation were the catalysts that drove many workers to seek a better way. John Quinn was one of those workers. Low wages meant primitive conditions and long hours, and the fact that many had to live in damp, overcrowded terrace houses resulted in outbreaks of typhoid and TB. In 1909 Doctor Bailie, City Medical Officer of Health, recorded as part of an official report: ‘As in previous years it is found that consumption [pulmonary tuberculosis] is most prevalent among the poor, owing largely to the unfavourable conditions under which necessity compels them to live, such as dark, ill-ventilated houses and insanitary habits together with insufficient food and clothing.’
North Thomas Street where they lived
As the years passed John and Margaret were proud and hard working parents to ten children in total, these were James, Mary Catherine (Kitty), Margaret, Sarah, John, Bridget, John Joseph (Slasher), Norah, Robert and James Connolly Quinn. The eldest daughter Kitty worked as a part-timer in Gallaher’s tobacco factory York Street in order to supplement the family income, going to Earl Street school in the morning and to work in the afternoon. This was not uncommon in some Belfast districts.
Remembering Belfast 1907 Francie Devine, SIPTU
Cupples, Quinn, Lynch: first names in a smudgy ledger threepences and sixpences, month aBer month, year upon year.
McMullen, Carney, BenneS: order, sense and strategy, all for each and each for all, unity and union scaSering pigeon-‐chest employers.
O’Hara, McCann, Brunton: spellsmen and beetle-‐heads hold, hatch, bale, billhook and winch back-‐work, franNc and frazzling.
Rafferty, Ridgway, Flanagan: picket captains, stoic and unmoved Peelers and Borderers, bayonet spike gun barrel, a wilNng inNmidaNon.
McGhee, McHugh, McKeown: ‘The Three Mac’s, buSon makers tutoring bloody Schooling Sheds how to fight-‐jab, duck, block.
Fleming, Kelly, Walls: back below but ever up above, red handed, stout-‐hearted, faithful to a new theology, an earthbound paradise.
McLarnon, Brown, McBrinn: canters, trimmers and slingers truck, derrick and winch linen and lime, lumber and lopped limb.
AusNn, BenneS, Boyd: striking mural in Pilot Street Industrial archaeology rustholed with sweat mesothelioma a roSen, ro[ng legacy.
McDonnell, McGreevy, McIlroy: pick up dockers, down the houl sink the hatch and liB the floor In the shaBs Nll no more ropes.
O’Neill, McCrystal, Morgan: silent wharfs, outsource contractors turnabouts, tonnage and Nme Latvian and Pole, Larkins moaning ghost.
Meehan, Taggart, McAllister: Ndal organisaNons, in and out lunar equaNons never solar energy Nll Larkin walked shiBing waters.
Cupples, Quinn, Lynch: lasNng names to reorganise heritage stow futures bright beyond docks unify class divided by Mammon.
Dockers Born for the quayside with the gulls and the tide Inherited buttons from sadness and pride The loss of a father a brother a son A Docker’s tradition forever passed on Hard times and sad times before 1910 Till Connolly and Larkin unionised men For pay and conditions together we call United we win but divided we fall Schooled on a corner and later a pen Casual labour a derisory term The art of experience from father to son The skills of the father passed on to the son Driving a winch or slinging a heave The derricks controlled from a strong offshore breeze Bowlines and sheepshanks or shortening a sling Bollards and shackles and old mooring rings High tides and low tides bring life even death Low risk loose cargoes that suck out your breath Ever present the danger from a heave that might slip Or a fall down the houl from a knock or a trip Remember the good times remember the cost Remember the comrades in tragedies lost There but for fortune could you be the last For all the old Dockers from the port of Belfast
Tommy O’Hara
The 1907 Belfast Strike Young John was still in his teens when he had sailed on the ‘windjammers’ from his native city to far away ports such as Riga, in the Baltic Sea. He witnessed many events whilst there, such as the corruption of the Cossacks who supervised the Russian dockworkers who often got paid, not with money, but with grain. The Cossacks would take their ‘cut’ of that grain from the workers. Life was very unfair it seemed for those who did the hardest work and this led John to believe that a revolution in Russia was inevitable. Back home, he hated how Belfast dock workers were treated similarly by their employers. He believed that a worker should be paid a proper wage in a proper way and should not have to pander to hiring agents. John detested the fact that wages were often doled out in public houses at the end of a working week and that the dock workers had to buy the hiring agent a drink to stay on their right side so that when they gathered at the dock gates the following week they would be picked out for employment for that day. John’s view was that a docker ‘should be able to go home with his full pay’ and he was determined to play his part in unionising labour for the benefit of all. There are few events in the turbulent history of sectarian conflict in Belfast where the working class of both traditions managed to stand united. Yet, this is what happened in the summer of 1907 when, for a brief period, tribal divisions were set aside and working people united into an effective labour movement. At the
turn of the 20th century, unskilled workers in Belfast lived in grinding poverty matched by a harsh working regime of low wages, long hours and bleak conditions. It was against this background that Jim Larkin, organiser of the National Union of Dock Labourers, arrived from Liverpool. He was sent to Belfast by James Sexton, head of the NUDL, with the aim of bringing the Belfast dock workers and carters into the union. Addressing crowds of people on the steps of Belfast’s Custom House, Larkin articulated the grievances of the working classes. Due to his charismatic personality and considerable oratorical skill, Larkin succeeded in unionising the unskilled Protestant and Catholic workers. “Those who want to divide the workers have resorted to the foulest methods” James Larkin By April 1907, Larkin had recruited 4,000 members. John Quinn was a union delegate for the deep sea dockers and represented the union on the Trades Council. Quinn family members researching the family history suggest that John’s home then at 3 Dock Lane was regarded as the unofficial headquarters of the union and provided bed and breakfast for Larkin and Connolly on occasions. The strike started on 27th April and quickly spread to workplaces across the city. By the end of May, thousands of workers were either on strike or threatening strike action. The following month, coalmen across Belfast demanded a 2 shilling rise, with four firms conceding. Firemen and seamen also joined the strike. On the June 20, the National Union of Dock Labourers submitted a claim to all shipping companies in Belfast
for a minimum wage of 27 shillings & sixpence, as well as a 60hour working week. The shipping bosses refused, and an all-out dockers’ strike involving 3,000 men began on June 26. Despite support by workers in other parts of Ireland and Britain, the Trade Union Congress in Britain failed to call for a general strike, which would have prevented the movement of troops by ship and rail. Instead, leaders of various unions and TUC leaders began arriving in Belfast and began to engage in settlements, over the strikers’ heads. This divisive action marked the beginning of the end of the strike. Events in early August rushed the TUC into forging a deal with the employers, when 3,000 troops and members of the Royal Irish Constabulary were sent into the Falls Road area and thus began a series of searches and the harassment of people. This evoked a strong reaction and riots broke out before soldiers opened fire on a crowd assembled on the Grosvenor Road, killing two people and wounding several others. The British trade union leaders became alarmed at events and without any consultation with Larkin, commenced talks with the employers. They agreed to a pay increase of 26 shillings and to the right of the employers to employ non-union labour. They argued that nothing more could be gained, while inexperience on the part of the Belfast strike leaders meant that no alternative strategy to win the strike was advocated. The strike ended on August 28 and Belfast returned to its old sectarian politics. John’s disappointment can only be imagined. He had, with the support of his wife, played an important role during the previous
months and this involvement certainly led to him being ‘blackballed’ from gaining further work at the docks. Margaret had become the main bread winner, visiting large houses on the Antrim Road taking in second hand clothes to sell on and also selling herrings from a barrow. John had already been charged with riotous behaviour in July as part of the strike and despite the ‘not guilty’ verdict he had become a highly visible and vulnerable figure in the union and a target for discrimination that would eventually force him to leave his native city in search of work. A proud man, he battled against this prejudice for more than two years before returning to the sea to make a living. It almost cost him his life. .
Larkin
Connolly
Carney
Quinn
I CARE FOR THE PEOPLE. I care for the people, the poor and the needy, exploited and used by the rich and the greedy. Forever downtrodden by power and rank, kept on their knees by the boss and the bank. I care for the people, bewildered and sad, slaving in jobs where conditions are bad. Deadend positions that stifle and stun, whilst promotion's reserved for the manager's son. I care for the people; how can they save, existing on handouts from cradle to grave? Watching their children passed over, ignored, craving possessions they just can't afford. I care for the people and long for the hour, they cast off their shackles and blossom and flower. And join in the fight to live equal and free, without touching forelocks and bending the knee. John Campbell
1907 Street Scenes
What the Papers Said
Titanic John Quinn was no stranger to tragedy, but then fate dealt him a better hand when he volunteered to work as a fireman aboard the RMS Titanic. The RMS Titanic was grabbing all the headlines in the spring of 1912. “The most luxurious, the fastest, the most expensive”. John Quinn saw only a chance of work and joined the liner as a fireman member of the temporary crew that would put her through her sea trials. He boarded Titanic with his shipmates at 4.00am on Monday 1st April 1912. The ship’s crew list states; “The said crew shall be on board: firemen at four o’clock, and from that time until she is safely moored in one of the Southampton docks, they shall perform all work required of them by the Officers in command without any further payment than is entered against their names. Firemen to clean down after arrival as may be required. Food and bedding will be provided on the way round to Southampton, also tickets for the return journey to Belfast.” Titanic came through the trials with top marks as engines and speed were tested, lifeboats and equipment inspected and turning and stopping abilities assessed. By the end of that first day, the ship had been signed over from the builders, Harland and Wolff, to the White Star Line owners. Captain John Smyth then took command. John was disappointed after the successful two-day trip to Southampton to have his request to sail on the liner’s maiden
voyage to New York turned down, despite his conduct and ability being judged as ‘very good’. Potential wages were good and work guaranteed but John had to make do with an extra five shillings earned as a result of a day’s delay in Belfast harbour at the start of the trials. His disappointment was short-lived, however, when news of Titanic’s sinking reached an incredulous Belfast. Had John stayed on board it is more than likely he would have been one of the first to die on board ship as the furnaces where he worked would have been the first compartments to have filled with water. Subsequently, the descendants of Norah and (James) Connolly Quinn would never have been born. On shipping records it was normal practice that a ship’s crew list would state certain particulars about its personnel, for example, Seaman’s Identity number, age, place of birth and address. Given this it is also possible to trace the previous sailing career of crew members and this is the case with John Quinn. The Titanic records state that John had previously served on the ‘Iroquois’ in 1911, sailing out of Belfast. This ship Iroquois belonged to the Anglo American Oil Company (now Esso) and in 1911 it made 2 journeys - Belfast to New York and London to New York. John made both these journeys working as a ‘trimmer’ in the engine room (he levelled the coal forward so that the stokers could shovel it onto the fires). He also worked as a trimmer on the ship
‘Teelin Head’ in 1911 sailing from Belfast - Liverpool - Wales and onto Riga in Russia. John Quinn was still shipping out at the age of 58, an old man in the 1930s. He died of a heart attack in 1935 and as his funeral left his home at 77 North Thomas Street several days later, a wreath arrived from his comrade James Larkin and Liberty Hall, Dublin, bearing the words, “forgotten in life, but remembered in death” John was buried in Milltown cemetery in a grave that he bought for the burial of two of his children, Bridget and Robert. Also in this grave is his nephew Gerard Quinn, son of his brother Frank. This grave has always been unmarked. In 2013, the Ship Project, with the support of the Department of Foreign Affairs, proudly remember and recognise the life of John Quinn by erecting a memorial at this grave.
Titanic leaving Belfast with John Quinn on board
John Quinn
1876-1935
Beloved husband of Margaret (Pollard) and loving father of James, Kitty, Margaret, Sarah, John, Bridget, John Joseph, Norah, Robert and James Connolly Quinn
Native of Sailortown, Belfast Seaman, Docker, Trade Unionist
A participant in the 1907 Belfast Dockers and Carters Strike and one of the founder members of the ITGWU. Friend and colleague of Winifred Carney, James Connolly and James Larkin. Member of the temporary crew aboard the Titanic, he disembarked at Southampton on 4th April 1912
Forgotten in Life, but Remembered in Death
Also buried here are,
Daughter Bridget Son Robert Nephew Gerard
d. 1915 aged 7 d. 1916 aged 1 d. 1921 aged 1
The journey never ends, the job is never finished Ar dheis DĂŠ go raibh siad
Shared History Interpretive Project
About S.H.I.P. ‘Shared History Interpretive Project’ S.H.I.P. was established in 2006 to accept, collate and record information to allow us to promote and organise historical heritage projects showcasing a shared history. The project records a living history of Belfast dock and mill workers, and their families. We have built up a portfolio of banners, books, photographs and documentation allowing us to exhibit the social history of Belfast port and its associated industries. We strive to share with others, the contribution made to the city’s history by those who worked in Belfast port. Research and oral testimonies from this living history project will be published to promote mutual and community understanding, develop an archive and contribute to the establishment of a sustainable living history museum. A lot of the work that we have carried out since 2006 has been recorded using various methods, video, photographs, newspaper articles etc. Some of these are available on our website shipbelfast.com
Dedication of Gravestone Milltown Cemetery Saturday 14th December 2013
Ar dheis Dé go raibh siad
An early union badge