As the county's teachers strike and schools close readers may be interested in the teachers' strike of 1914.

Poorly paid teachers decided to strike for higher wages and found support from their students. At the Ledbury Girls School 40 students walked out, refusing to be taught by substitute 'scab' teachers. The girls marched into town shouting "We want a strike".

The students then returned to school and upturned inkpots and desks and blocked the entrance to deny the returning sub teachers entry in the afternoon. They sang songs of support for the strike and demanded their own teachers back. They pulled down the blinds, threw clothes out of the window and repeatedly rang the school bell. The substitute teachers eventually gave up and left only to be followed by a crowd of jeering school girls.

The strike was successful and teachers pay was increased to reflect wages across the county.

[Source: Thanks to the Hereford Heckler who researched this story and published a version of it recently: 1914 Herefordshire Teachers' Strike.]