Christine Jensen (campaigner)
{{Short description|British safety campaigner}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Christine Jensen
| image = Plaque to Christine Jensen MBE (geograph 4502314).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Plaque in her honour at Hull Maritime Museum
| birth_date = 1939
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death year and age|2001|1939}}
| death_place =
| nationality = British
| other_names =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for = Safety campaign following the 1968 Hull triple trawler tragedy.
| notable_works =
}}
Christine Dorothy Jensen, MBE (1939–2001) was a British safety campaigner. She helped to lead a campaign that led to improvements in the safety of fishing trawlers following the 1968 Hull triple trawler tragedy, in which her brother was killed. Jensen later served on the committee of the British Fishermen's Association and founded a fishing heritage organisation. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2000.
Hull trawler tragedy
Christine Jensen (née Gay and formerly Smallbone) was born in 1939 and lived in Hull.{{cite news |last1=Campbell |first1=James |title=2,500 sign petition for Queen to honour Headscarf Revolutionaries |url=https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/2500-sign-petition-recognise-hulls-1180495 |accessdate=24 January 2019 |work=Hull Daily Mail |date=7 February 2018}} The city was hit by the triple trawler tragedy in early 1968. The fishing trawler St. Romanus was thought lost with all 20 hands on 26 January and the Kingston Peridot was reported lost with all 20 of her crew on 30 January.{{cite web|title=Wreck Report for 'St. Romanus', 1968|url=http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/scclibraries/wreckreports2002/20819.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107025705/http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/scclibraries/wreckreports2002/20819.asp|url-status=usurped|archive-date=7 November 2017|website=www.plimsoll.org|publisher=Board of Trade|accessdate=1 November 2017|language=en}}{{cite web|title=Wreck Report for 'Kingston Peridot', 1968|url=http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/scclibraries/wreckreports2002/20821.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107022314/http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/scclibraries/wreckreports2002/20821.asp|url-status=usurped|archive-date=7 November 2017|website=www.plimsoll.org|publisher=Board of Trade|accessdate=1 November 2017|language=en}} Together with a group of local women – Lillian Bilocca, Mary Denness and Yvonne Blenkinsop – Jensen founded the Hessle Road Women's Committee to co-ordinate a campaign to improve safety on the trawlers. They demanded that all trawlers should have a radio operator on board when they put to sea; that ships be fully manned; that improved training and safety equipment be provided; that better weather forecasts be sourced; and that a dedicated medical vessel should accompany the fleet at sea.{{cite news |title=Hull fishermen's safety campaigner Mary Denness dies |url=http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2017-03-05/hull-fishermens-safety-campaigner-mary-denness-dies/ |accessdate=22 January 2019 |work=ITV News |date=5 March 2017 |language=en}}
Jensen arranged a public meeting at a community hall on 2 February that was attended by more than 300 local women, who shared the committee's concerns.{{Cite ODNB|id=72725|title=Bilocca [née Marshall], Lillian [Lil]}} Later that same day she met with Harold Wilson to discuss the matter.{{cite web |title=The delegation to see Mr Wilson are Mrs Yvonne Blenkinsop, Mrs Mary... |url=https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/the-delegation-to-see-mr-wilson-are-mrs-yvonne-blenkinsop-news-photo/916450734 |website=Getty Images |date=9 February 2018 |accessdate=24 January 2019 |language=en-gb}} Jensen however missed a subsequent meeting with Fred Peart, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and J. P. W. Mallalieu, a minister at the Board of Trade. This was because she had just learnt of the death of her older brother, Phil Gay, who was skipper of the Ross Cleveland which sank at sea leading to the deaths of 18 of its crew.{{cite web|title=Wreck Report for 'Ross Cleveland', 1968|url=http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/scclibraries/wreckreports2002/20820.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107012954/http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/scclibraries/wreckreports2002/20820.asp|url-status=usurped|archive-date=7 November 2017|publisher=Board of Trade|language=en|accessdate=1 November 2017}}{{cite news |title=Fishing-disaster trawler found at bottom of fjord |url=http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/fishing-disaster-trawler-found-at-bottom-of-fjord-1-2435899 |accessdate=24 January 2019 |work=Yorkshire Post |date=27 September 2002 |language=en}} Gay's last words by radio were: "I am going over. We are laying over. Help me. I'm going over. Give my love and the crew's love to the wives and families".{{cite web|title=Triple Trawler Tragedy|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/humber/content/articles/2008/01/24/trawler_tragedy_feature.shtml|publisher=BBC Local History|language=en-gb|accessdate=1 November 2017}} She lost a nephew on another trawler.{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Alan |title=The Long and Winding Road |date=2016 |publisher=Transworld |isbn=9781473526761 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0LjCwAAQBAJ |accessdate=24 January 2019 |language=en}}
The women's committee became known as the "headscarf revolutionaries" for their direct-action tactics which included storming the offices of ship owners and preventing ships from leaving the harbour.{{cite news|last1=Youngs|first1=Ian|title=Why Hull fishwife is Maxine Peake's hero|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41748455|accessdate=31 October 2017|work=BBC News|date=26 October 2017}}{{cite news|title=Mural honours trawler safety fighter|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-35735318|accessdate=31 October 2017|work=BBC News|date=5 March 2016}} The women organised a "Fishermen's Charter" petition with more than 10,000 signatures of support, collected within 10 days, which was presented to the British government.{{cite news|last1=Willetts|first1=Chloe|title=Quest for change penned in memoir – Kapiti News – Kapiti News News|url=http://www2.nzherald.co.nz/kapiti-news/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503789&objectid=11499726|accessdate=1 November 2017|work=The New Zealand Herald|date=19 August 2015}}{{cite news|title=Actress honours safety fighter Big Lil|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-41101415|accessdate=31 October 2017|work=BBC News|date=31 August 2017}} Jensen said at the time: "there seems to be a couldn't-care-less attitude among trawler owners about safety conditions. we intend to shake them up. Our campaign has become the rallying point for discontent over safety and working conditions which has been boiling up among trawler folk for 18 months".{{cite journal |last1=Howden |first1=Peter |title=The Hull fishermen and workers' control |journal=Anarchy |date=April 1968 |volume=8 |issue=4 |page=100 |url=http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/TOC/TOC0009.pdf |accessdate=24 January 2019}} Prime Minister Harold Wilson subsequently granted all of the requests and the campaign became known as one of the most successful civil actions of the 20th century.
Later life
File:Bench dedicated to Christine Jensen MBE (geograph 4513852).jpg
Jensen later served on the committee of the British Fishermen's Association. She campaigned for redundancy pay for trawlermen who had previously been paid by the Ministry of Defence for reporting sightings of Russian warships. She met with Labour politician Alan Johnson to discuss the campaign which was eventually successful, though not until after her death. Jensen was also a proponent of union membership and campaigned for universal membership amongst trawlermen.{{cite journal |last1=Howden |first1=Peter |title=The Hull fishermen and workers' control |journal=Anarchy |date=April 1968 |volume=8 |issue=4 |page=105|url=http://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/TOC/TOC0009.pdf |accessdate=24 January 2019}} She founded the organisation Stand to help preserve fishing heritage.
Jensen became the only former headscarf revolutionary to be awarded a British honour when she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2000 New Year Honours for "services to trawler safety and to the community in Hull".{{London Gazette |issue=55710|date=31 December 1999|page=25|supp=y}}{{cite news |title=So many lives lost to the cruel sea |url=http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/so-many-lives-lost-to-the-cruel-sea-1-2488803 |accessdate=24 January 2019 |work=Yorkshire Post |date=30 January 2008 |language=en}} When a community theatre put on a play about the triple trawler tragedy that featured the death of her brother, Jensen acted as an adviser.{{cite web |title=An interview with Jon Oram |url=https://communitytheatreplaywright.wordpress.com/author/communitytheatreplaywright/page/2/ |website=community / theatre / playwright |date=18 March 2017 |accessdate=24 January 2019}} She died in 2001.{{cite news |title=Hundreds honour trawler safety fight |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-33034608 |accessdate=24 January 2019 |date=6 June 2015|work=BBC News}}
In May 2015, the four lead headscarf revolutionaries, including Jensen, were honoured with plaques at the Hull Maritime Museum.{{cite news |title=Plaques honour trawler safety fight |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-32888537 |accessdate=24 January 2019 |date=26 May 2015|work=BBC News}} She was depicted in a mural on Hull's Hessle Road in October 2017.{{cite news |last1=Campbell |first1=James |title=Headscarf revolutionary daughter in tears as latest Hessle Road mural revealed |url=https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/daughter-headscarf-revolutionary-burst-tears-568248 |accessdate=24 January 2019 |work=Hull Daily Mail |date=3 October 2017}}
References
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Category:British women activists
Category:Fishing in the United Kingdom