Bravery comes
in many guises and Robert Tissyman is an example of that rare person who,
despite knowing that his actions will have dire consequences for him and his
family, nonetheless does what he considers to be the right thing.
Tissyman joined
Liverpool City Police in October 1894, having been born in 1869 and worked as a
miner in Yorkshire. By 1912 he had been promoted to sergeant and police
records show him as living at 37 Albert Edward Road L7. (Priornto this he had
lived at 72 Handfield Street L5) Given later
events in his life it was somewhat ironic that in 1911 he would have been at
the heart of the suppression of the Liverpool Transport Strike, a dispute which
greatly soured the relationship between the Liverpool working class and the
police. One feature of that dispute was the realisation that police wages were
often less than the striking workers and moves began to organise officers to
press for improvements.
Tissyman was an
enthusiastic supporter of the then newly formed National Union of Police and
Prison Officers and became its Liverpool leader. In 1919 the NUPPO called for
national strike action and Tissyman gave the call his full backing. In fact outside
London and Merseyside there was little response and the London action lasted
less than a week. The strong support in Liverpool was in part due to the
conditions of service in the city being particularly poor. With wages lower
than a labourer’s officers also had the burden of being required to live in ‘respectable’
areas with consequent higher rents. Often required to work unpaid excess hours
there was also much resentment that promotion favoured those who had not walked
the beat and was heavily influences by Freemason and sectarian interests.
Tissyman was convinced that the strike would have wide public support and the
backing of fellow trade unionists. In this he was sadly disappointed.
On 1st
August the Liverpool Watch Committee issued an ultimatum that officers not
reporting for work would be dismissed. About half of the force did not return
to duty and were all summarily dismissed and required to return their uniforms
to an ever-growing pile at St George’s Hall. The Chief Constable would later
report that nearly 1000 serving officers had been dismissed. With the force
halved mobs hit the streets of the city in a wave of looting which resulted in
350 being charged with various offences and the introduction of 3000 soldiers
to maintain order.
Robert Tissyman
like his striking colleagues lost his
job, his house and his pension. Whilst he might justifiably have been
disillusioned by his experiences he instead threw himself into union and political
activity, becoming a Labour (later Independent Labour) councillor. He died at
Whiston Hospital in 1936.
In the 1930s
Robert Tissyman was living in Wavertree at 52 Eastdale Road L15, later moving
to live in Huyton.
