Reclaim The Crone: Lillian Bilocca

This episode of Reclaim The Crone is about a fabulous woman I learnt about whilst watching – don’t judge me here – Flog it.

Lillian Bilocca.

If you search her name, it often comes up with ‘fish wife’ but she was actually a force of nature, passionate and campaigned for better safety measure for fisherman (reflecting the time she lived in).

Lillian worked in the fisheries. Born in Hull on the well-known Hessle Road and with a father who was a trawlerman, she grew up in the heart of the fishing industry. Lillian married a sailor from Malta who worked as a trawlerman and her son also worked in the industry.  Well known in the area she was referred to as ‘Big Lil’.

Lillian and her friends were angry about the working conditions for their husbands and the frequent loss of life and accidents.  She became the leader of a campaign for better conditions.  It is recorded that she attempted to stop under-manned trawlers from leaving Hull and was restrained by police men and police women.  As you can imagine, for a woman of Lillian’s determination this did not stop her and probably galvanised her to continue.

With three more women, Christine Jensen, Mary Denness and Yvonne Blenkinsop they started the ‘Hessle Road Women’s Committee’.  They were known as the ‘Headscarf revolutionaries’.  Their purpose was simple:  to prevent undermanned trawlers from going to sea, for all vessels to have a radio operator, improved health and safety and a ‘mother’ ship with medical facilities to accompany the vessels.  They created ‘The Fisherman’s Charter’ and within 10 days had 10,000 signatures.   Lillian took the campaign to the government and met with the PM at the time, Harold Wilson.

Ultimately these Headscarf Revolutionaries achieved change for the better: safer working conditions for the men.  Love is never mentioned in any of this, but all these women wanted better working conditions for their husbands, sons, uncles and nephews because they did not want them to die and for families to be without their fathers. 

Sadly, Lillian received death threats and was told not to get involved with men’s work and men’s matters. 

For a woman who created change for the better for the men in her community – along with other women. out of care and compassion, the fishing industry was not kind to Lillian.  After taking time off work to focus on this campaign she was sacked and blacklisted.  For the industry that she wanted to save, it did not want her.  Back in the 1960s and 1970s being blacklisted meant that she would find it hard to find any work again in any industry.

I would love to say that times have changed and in our contemporary time if a woman was to campaign for the safety of the man she loved, those men would honour and respect her, not blacklist her. 

Fortunately, her life has been celebrated in print, plays and documentaries.

If you want to find out more:

“Turning the Tide: The 1968 Trawler Tragedy and the Wives' Campaign for Safety” by Rupert Creed is based on interviews with the women involved.

“The Headscarf Revolutionaries: Lillian Bilocca and the Hull Triple-Trawler Disaster” by Brian W. Lavery

A BBC documentary from February 2018 “Hull’s Headscarf Heroes” (notice the heroes, not heroines) marks the fiftieth anniversary since of the loss of the trawlers that set these women into action. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09r8jvr

To Lillian and all the women, past and present who campaign for safety for those they love, I doff my headscarf to you with huge admiration and respect.