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Lillian Bilocca had three sisters. [2] [3] Her father, husband and son all worked at sea on the Hull fishing trawlers and Bilocca worked at an on-shore fish factory, filleting the catch. [3] [4] [5] She became known as "Big Lil". [6] Headscarf Revolutionaries trawler safety campaign [ edit ]
The front cover of the Hull Daily Mail on 5 February, 1968, the day the loss of the third trawler, the Ross Cleveland, was confirmed. Dozens of locals donned their fanciest headscarves in Queen Victoria Square to raise awareness and celebrate the achievements of the four revolutionaries, Lillian Bilocca, Yvonne Blenkinsop, Christine Jensen, and Mary Denness.
For me, it was an honour to know Blenkinsop and to tell her story. She was brave, funny, direct and unfailingly cheerful. She had been ill for a few years but always made supreme efforts when asked to appear in public.
Yvonne Blenkinsop and Chrissie Smallbone joined Lillian on the stage. The two women were well-known in the community, especially Yvonne, a local cabaret singer. Lillian Marshall was born in 7 Welton Terrace, Wassand Street, Hessle Road, Hull [1] on 26 May 1929 to Ernest Marshall, trawlerman and former Royal Navy engineer, and his wife, Harriet, née Chapman. She left the Daltry Street Junior School, Hull at the age of 14 and worked as a cod skinner. She married Carmelo [Charlie] Bilocca (1902–1981), a Maltese sailor who worked with the Hull-based Ellerman-Wilson Line, and later as a trawlerman. [1] They had two children – Ernest (b. 1946) and Virginia (b. 1950). The family lived in a terraced house in Coltman Street, Hull. For decades, that remained the only tribute to these remarkable women, whose fight for better safety at sea saved countless lives, then and since. Outside of Hull their story was forgotten – a footnote in maritime history.
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Maxine Peake has written a play entitled The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca which opened in Hull in November 2017. An earlier play by Val Holmes, who grew up in Hull at the time of the tragedy, was entitled Lil. [4] The Red Production Company is working on a TV drama adaptation of Lil's actions during and after the tragedy. [4] The women met with the ministers, after which they learned that Harry Eddom had been found alive. His survival became worldwide news. Earlier this month, the special memorial garden to honour those lost at sea found its permanent home on St Andrew's Quay.
Their campaign captured the public imagination and shamed bosses and government into immediate action. Fishing was suspended off Iceland until the weather improved. Owners were legally forced to launch a ‘control ship’, the Ross Valiant. A new full-time ‘mother ship’ later replaced it. In October 1968, a public inquiry resulted in the Holland-Martin Report into Trawler Safety. All the demands of the Fishermen’s Charter were met, most before the inquiry, and the remainder soon after. a b "The Headscarf Revolutionaries and Lilian BIlocca". Barbican Press. 1 March 2015 . Retrieved 31 October 2017.
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Hull’s mural depicting Lillian Bilocca, who led a campaign to improve safety conditions on board North Sea trawlers
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