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Culture wars? Bristol's colour bar dispute of 1963 |
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One of Bristol's conductors
© Courtesy of Bristol United Press |
Ian Patey, the Company's general manager, was a man who believed in hierarchy and who had inherited the colonialist assumptions of the late Empire. He had few inhibitions about voicing his disapproval of black workers. His management style still seemed acceptable in some circles.
Britain's oldest tabloid, The Tory Daily Sketch, reporting on the furore that followed Patey's stand, saw him as a man of conviction and professionalism. The more leftish elements in the British press were far more critical. The weekly New Statesman, implied Patey had fascistic leanings, condemning him as 'a tall blond man who uses terms like Liberal and Labour as though they were unclean'.
© Students protest against discrimination in Bristol |
Both local union officials and Paul Stephenson, who led the campaign against the bus company's policy, asserted Patey had openly objected to the idea of having black busmen associating with white women.
Jack Hodge, a local busman told me,"they (the management) tried to use every avenue they had, i.e. how dangerous it would be for a young girl to be out that late at night with a coloured conductor on the top deck, the evil onto everything."
The management, for its part, told the public that it was the white busworkers themselves who insisted on the colour bar.
Words: Madge Dresser
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