A Snap-Shot of Striketime Society: Lady Mary Ashley-Cooper and Lady Carmichael-Anstruther peeling potatoes in Hyde Park. Front cover of The Sketch 'emergency issue' produced during the General Strike of May 1926. In support of a strike by coal miners over the issue of threatened wage cuts, the Trades Union Congress called a General Strike in early May 1926. The strike only involved certain key industrial sectors (docks, electricity, gas, railways) but, in the face of well-organised government emergency measures and lack of real public support, it collapsed after nine days. During the strike, society ladies were given much publicity for helping out at the canteens set up in Hyde Park, London, to feed food transport workers. Lady Mary Ashley-Cooper was the eldest daughter of the Earl and Countess of Shaftesbury and Lady Carmichael-Anstruther was the wife of Sir Frederick Carmichael-Anstruther, 10th baronet of Nova Scotia, and 7th of Great Britain.