It was great to see the news this week that Hull had at last marked the home of headscarf hero Lillian Bilocca with a blue plaque.
I last wrote about Lillian Bilocca along with her three comrades Christine Jensen, Mary Denness and Yvonne Blenkinsop who became known as the “headscarf revolutionaries” when they campaigned relentlessly following the 1968 triple trawler tragedy when three Hull trawlers sank in winter storms, with the loss of 58 lives.
Over 50 years ago in the opening months of 1968 some of the worst ever winter storms hit the Icelandic fishing grounds.
At the time Hull had a huge fleet of deep water trawlers supplying cod and haddock for what was then Britain’s most popular dish, fish and chips. Indeed it was the only takeaway food available.
In that stormy winter three of Hull’s trawlers were lost and a total of 58 crew members drowned. The Hull trawler fleet was the biggest fishing fleet in the world and deep-sea fishing in Arctic waters was the most dangerous work anywhere on the face of the globe.
The news of the three lost trawlers and the deaths of so many men hit hard at the whole of the Hull fishing community but a group of women fishermen’s family members decided to do something more than mourn — they would fight to make the industry safer.
Lillian Bilocca, Christine Jensen, Mary Denness and Yvonne Blenkinsop called a meeting of concerned family members which resulted in the formation of the Hessle Road Women’s Committee. The group became known as the “Headscarf Revolutionaries.”
Read more:
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/heroes-headscarves-hull-honours-women-who-risked-all-safety-sea