Throughout the 20th century, cities grew, and steel erectors—also known as ‘spider-men’—were among the workers who built our new urban landscapes. Reports and photographs from the Daily Herald provided a unique perspective on their work.
The 20th century saw the creation of new possibilities for urban expansion as innovative materials, technologies and construction techniques were developed. Cities spread out into suburbs, connected to commuter towns, and grew skywards.
This is a story about the workers-on-high who helped build our cities. It features images of steel erectors captured by photographers working for the Daily Herald.
Science Museum Group © Mirrorpix/SMG Images
What is the Daily Herald Archive?
The Daily Herald was a British national newspaper published between 1912 and 1964. At one point, it was the top-selling newspaper in the world, with a monthly circulation of more than 2 million.
Every photograph and negative taken for the newspaper was stored in a picture library, categorised and filed for easy access should they ever be needed again. This amazing collection—comprising 3.5 million photographs, contact sheets and glass negatives—is the Daily Herald Archive, which we now care for at the National Science and Media Museum here in Bradford.
This story is based on a selection of images from the archive.
‘Spider-men’ and the Herald
‘Spider-man’ is mid-20th-century British slang for a person who works at great heights in building work.
The nickname usually refers to steel erectors, though it’s sometimes also applied to other trades specialising in work that happens high overhead, such as steeplejacks. An almost exclusively male trade, steel erectors construct frameworks for skyscrapers, bridges, and other major infrastructure projects.
The Daily Herald offered a particular perspective on the challenges faced by workers such as these. Originally founded as a strike sheet and part-owned by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the paper was left-leaning and had strong ties with the labour movement.
The Herald was first the creation of part of the labour movement and then the property of the whole of it.
Huw Richards, The Bloody Circus: The Daily Herald and the Left (1997)
The Daily Herald consistently struck an anti-establishment tone and reported on the conditions experienced by, among others, British workers—workers like the steel erectors, who faced low wages, dangerous employment conditions, and the highest mortality rates in the construction industry.
A risky trade with many names
Steel erectors. Spider-men. Suicide squads. These were all terms that appeared in the Daily Herald to describe the trade that had the highest accident rate in the building industry.
With its union affiliations, the Herald frequently promoted workers’ rights and related issues—so it’s perhaps unsurprising that stories about ‘spider-men’ were regular fare. Photography had an important role to play in this; images of steel erectors at work show just how risky their roles were.
The images below show steel erectors scampering across beams and weaving webs of steel girders as they work on buildings such as the new telephone exchange at Tottenham Court Road in London. It’s easy to see how they acquired the spider-man nickname!
A risky trade with many names - gallery
Scotsman Jock Barry bolts together steel girders for a new office block on Farringdon Road, London—a ‘typical’ job for spider-men, Fox Photos Ltd., 1946
Science Museum Group © Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Original caption: ‘Contrasts under the clouds... in the heart of London the steel-men ply their dangerous trade hundreds of feet above the busy City streets’, Saidman, 1938
Science Museum Group © Mirrorpix/SMG Images
Workers building the new telephone exchange on Tottenham Court Road, Planet News Ltd., 1939
Science Museum Group © TopFoto/SMG ImagesOne Daily Herald report detailed how a group of workers were accompanied by a life-sized dummy of a boy, affectionately dubbed ‘Aston’, who acted as their ‘lucky talisman’. The workers claimed there were fewer accidents when he was around. Anecdotes such as this, accompanied by evocative photographs, highlighted the dangers faced by steel erectors while revealing the inadequate measures in place to protect them.
Skywalkers
Steel erectors went by other names, too—it all depended on where they worked. The Kanien’kehá꞉ka (Mohawk) workers who helped build the iconic Manhattan skyline, for example, are known as ‘skywalkers’. The men shown in these photographs aren’t skywalkers, but it’s easy to see where the title comes from!
Innovations in steel
The age of skyscrapers is perhaps most associated with New York City’s Art Deco-inspired skyline, but the innovations that made these modern monuments imaginable came out of England’s industrial north.
In 1856, British engineer Henry Bessemer (1813–98) introduced an experimental smelting process: he blew air directly into molten pig iron. Carbon impurities bonded with oxygen in a fiery explosion, leaving behind pure iron. With refinements introduced over the next quarter-century, it became possible to produce five tons of high-quality steel in only 20 minutes!
The architectural implications of this new supply of high-quality steel were incredible. ‘Steel structural members’—engineered plates, angles, I-beams, and U-shaped channels—could be bolted, riveted or welded together, creating possibilities for stronger and taller structures that were less material-intensive than stone, brick or wood.
Innovations in steel - gallery
Sample of Bessemer steel, cut from the muzzle of a gun, 1860
© Science Museum Group Collection
Scale model of Bessemer Converter, c.1865. Air bellowed in through the bottom of the convertor reacts with molten pig iron; the resulting explosion of flames is directed through a small opening in the top
© Science Museum Group Collection
A 74-ton mild steel plate girder, then the largest girder used to date in British building, The Sun, 1965
Science Museum Group © Mirrorpix/SMG ImagesSteel erectors in action
Steel frame construction was adopted widely in urban construction projects across the United Kingdom from the early 20th century.
Liverpool’s Royal Insurance Building, designed by James Francis Doyle (1840–1913) in 1895 and erected 1896–1903, became England’s first structure built entirely using the new steel frame technique. Skyscrapers, like the nearby 322ft (98m) Royal Liver Building, erected 1908–11, soon followed.
The new materials and construction techniques needed for such projects required skilled labourers to navigate the risks of working at ever-increasing heights. Tasks like examining drawings, erecting scaffolding, positioning girders and beams, and bolting and welding metal parts are far from ordinary when accomplished high above a city street without a safety net.
We don’t know very much about the workers who feature in the series of photos below. Captured in January 1935, they are uncaptioned except for the date. Nevertheless, they provide a glimpse of the range of tasks (and precarious perches) undertaken by steel erectors.
Steel erectors in action - gallery
Three steel erectors examine plans while perched on a steel girder, Weekly Illustrated, 1935
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Two steel erectors carefully slide a steel structural member into place, Weekly Illustrated, 1935
Science Museum Group © TopFoto/SMG Images
A steel erector leans over a building frame to tighten bolts, while pedestrians pass below, Weekly Illustrated, 1935
© Science Museum Group Collection
A steel erector perched gingerly atop a steel girder tightening bolts, Weekly Illustrated, 1935
Science Museum Group © TopFoto/SMG Images
One steel erector passes a wrench up to a colleague. Dropping even a small tool could be fatal to those working below. Weekly Illustrated, 1935
Science Museum Group © TopFoto/SMG Images‘Engineers Turn Down Wage Cuts’
This was the headline for a story by the Daily Herald’s Industrial Correspondent that appeared in the newspaper in 1931:
The employers admit that ‘no industry is so dependent as engineering upon skill’. Yet the time rate for the skilled fitter is only 58s. a week, and the fitter’s present piecework rates, according to the employers, do not average more than 1s. 7½d. an hour.
Daily Herald (25 February 1931)
In 2020 terms, spider-men earned about £500–600 per week as their base rate, with potential to almost double that through overtime and piecework. This rate remained stable through to at least the mid-20th century, and has increased to an average of £700 per week in the 21st century. Data from Careersmart provides more information about the steel erector trade in the present day.
Cranes, derricks, and Manchester’s CIS Building
At 387ft (118m), the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) Building on Miller Street was Britain’s tallest office block when it was completed in 1962. Built from glass, enamelled steel and aluminium so that it could remain clean in a polluted environment, this Grade II listed building remained the highest building in Manchester until 2006. And, as of 2021, it is still the loftiest office building in the United Kingdom outside London.
Initially proposed in 1958 as the new prestige headquarters for the Co-operative Banking Group, the high-rise was testament to the success of the local co-operative movement.
By January 1961 the building was well on its way to completion. Daily Herald photographer Roy Spencer captured images of ‘spider-men’ at work during this late stage of construction. His photographs depict workers constructing and maintaining the cranes and derricks that were essential for lifting heavy beams and girders into place for the top six storeys of the skyscraper.
While the views are striking, the dangers to workers imposed by heavy machinery and strong winds are equally apparent.
Cranes, derricks - gallery
Ground level shot of the CIS building project in Miller Street, Manchester, showing clear view of the fitted and working jib arm of a Scotch derrick, Roy Spencer, 1961
Science Museum Group © Mirrorpix/SMG Images
Spider-men feeding cable through the jib-arm of a Scotch derrick on the 19th floor level of the new CIS building, 250ft (76m) above the ground, Roy Spencer, 1961
Science Museum Group © Mirrorpix/SMG Images
A view of the Scotch derrick as spider-men work on the newly fitted jib-arm , Roy Spencer, 1961
Science Museum Group © Mirrorpix/SMG Images
Two spider-men feed cable through the jib-arm of a Scotch derrick, Roy Spencer, 1961
Science Museum Group © Mirrorpix/SMG ImagesThe right machine for the job
The Scotch derricks, also known as stiffleg derricks, featured in the images above comprise a boom arm attached to the base of a mast and secured with two ‘stifflegs’. Steel sills—horizontal members—connect the stifflegs to the mast.
This type of derrick is favoured for building high-rises and on jobs that require lift capacity over lengthy periods of time. The stifflegs are resistant to both tensile and compressive force, making it safer for pedestrian traffic below. This article from Popular Mechanics explores the reasons why cranes fall and the dangers they can pose in urban environments.
The race to the top: London’s GPO Tower
Manchester’s claim to the tallest building in the United Kingdom was quickly succeeded by the GPO Tower (now known as the BT Tower) in Fitzrovia, London. Situated just off Howland Street, the communications tower rose a full 620ft (189m) in the air when completed in autumn 1963.
The tower was designed by the Ministry of Public Works. It was constructed in concrete and glass, following a narrow cylindrical shape that was capable of withstanding high winds with very little movement. The technical requirements of the communications masts at the top meant that no more than 10in (25cm) of sway in winds up to 95mph were allowable.
The photos below, which show workers completing the final stages of the tower’s construction, capture the lighter side of the job: amazing views and a break for a ‘cuppa’. It’s not quite watercooler time, but still an extraordinary opportunity to catch up with a colleague!
The GPO Tower held onto its title as the highest building in Britain until 1980, when it was overtaken by the NatWest Tower in London.
GPO tower - gallery
Thomas Connelly (right) and Barry Carmody enjoy their ‘cuppa’ 220ft (67m) above the ground as they complete work on the General Post Office Tower, Howland Street, London, C. Smith, 1963
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Contact sheet featuring images of ‘spider-men’ at work on the new Post Office Tower, London, C. Smith, 1963
Science Museum Group © Mirrorpix/SMG Images
Clipping of Daily Herald story about ‘spider-men’ at work on the new Howland Street Post Office tower, image by C. Smith, 1963
Science Museum Group © Mirrorpix/SMG ImagesWorkers, unions and the press
Steel erectors provided the essential labour for shaping the iconic skylines of our cities. But unresolved disputes about pay and work conditions meant a sometimes rocky road to development, with strikes and work-to-rule actions influencing project deadlines.
In 1946, for example, 11,000 steel erectors from the Constructional Engineering Union slowed steel frame building production by about 50% in a work-to-rule action. By studiously following every safety regulation, they hoped to convince employers of their essential work and educate stakeholders about the risks they faced when working high overhead.
Daily Herald photographers waded into the fray by putting human faces on industrial-scale actions, explaining the demands of unions in terms of the experiences of individuals.
The photograph below, for example, features a hard-hat-wearing and safety-conscious veteran of the trade, Tony O’Donoghue. The accompanying story introduces the risks Tony faces every day on the job site and the constant worries experienced by his wife.
Science Museum Group © Mirrorpix/SMG Images
Science Museum Group © Mirrorpix/SMG Images
In the report, Tony advocates for practical changes like:
- Industry regulation
- Limits on overtime
- Better design standards
- Training standards
- More safety inspectors
The Herald’s coverage of work-to-rule actions, strikes, and day-to-day conditions provided readers with a worker-friendly context for understanding disruptions in the construction industry and demands for reform.
Further reading
Online
- Occupations: Steel erectors, Careersmart
- The Entire History of Steel, Jonathan Schifman, Popular Mechanics
- Architecture: Iron and steel, Roger Scruton, Britannica
- CIS Tower, Manchester, Claire Barrett, The Twentieth Century Society
- Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) building, Historic England
- Working high overhead: Steeplejacks, National Science and Media Museum
Books
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Huw Richards, The Bloody Circus: The Daily Herald and the Left, 1997
