Colonel St. John Fox, Commandant of the Headquarters Central Division of the Metropolitan Special Constabulary Reserve, addressing the division (including 'regulars', in uniform and 'emergency' men) before dismissing them in the quadrangle of the foreign office. In support of a strike by coal miners over the issue of threatened wage cuts, the Trades Union Congress called a General Strike in early May 1926. The strike only involved certain key industrial sectors (docks, electricity, gas, railways) but, in the face of well-organised government emergency measures and lack of real public support, it collapsed after nine days