ABSTRACT
A major confrontation on the railways had been gathering momentum since 1906. The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants had grown in numbers and influence, and its leaders had acquired the experience and confidence to put forward a programme to improve working conditions and rates of pay for their members. Meanwhile the railway companies were not organized and not willing to recognize the unions. The government feared that if some action to avert the dispute was not taken, there might be a nationwide strike on the railways that would paralyse the transport system and bring the country’s industries to a standstill. Askwith’s success as an arbitrator and conciliator and his willingness to give his undivided time and attention to the case at hand had not gone unnoticed. Lloyd George, the President of the Board of Trade, had clearly decided that Askwith was the man he needed. In August 1907 Askwith stated that he ‘entered the Board of Trade as a civil servant, Mr Lloyd George, the then President, whom I had never previously seen or spoken to, proposing that I should come in as Assistant Secretary in control of the Railway Department’. 1 Exactly why Askwith decided to give up a lucrative legal career and become a full-time civil servant is not known. There is nothing in his letters or in the diary of Ellen, his wife-to-be, to give us a reason for this decision, other than that he felt it was his duty and the country needed him.
