Welcome to the SSLH

Founded in 1960, the Society for the Study of Labour History (SSLH) is the UK’s principal organisation dedicated to the study of labour history.

Membership is open to everyone who would like to learn more about labour history and heritage whether on a professional or amateur basis.

The SSLH publishes the journal the Labour History Review, organises regular conferences and actively promotes the preservation of historical resources connected to the labour movement.

What’s new

Events

Llafur 1926 centenary programme

Llafur, the Welsh People’s History Society, continues its summer series commemorating the centenary of the 1926 General Strike and seven-month lock-out. The final two sessions look at 1926 in archives, libraries, and collections, as well as the strike’s enduring legacy in the present. All online sessions are accessible to all and will be held via… Continue reading Llafur 1926 centenary programme

Bursary reports

Rosa Lange (European University Institute) on self-organised labour in late colonial Accra

In March 2026, with the support of the Society for the Study of Labour History, I visited the National Archives in Kew. During this research trip, I collected material for the third chapter of my PhD project. In my research, I investigate urban labour struggles in late and post-colonial Accra, the capital of today’s Ghana… Continue reading Rosa Lange (European University Institute) on self-organised labour in late colonial Accra

Events

Chartism Day 2026 Programme

The programme for Chartism Day 2026 is now live. What is Chartism Day? The Chartism Day Conferences were launched at the University of Birmingham in September 1995 by the renowned Chartist historian Dorothy Thompson (1923–2011). Apart from the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic, the annual meetings, which are endorsed by the Society for the… Continue reading Chartism Day 2026 Programme

Bursary reports

Isaac Stephenson (Oxford) on the organisation and politics of gunworkers in England and Belgium, 1886-1914

The generosity of the Society for the Study of Labour History enabled me to conduct research in Belgium and the Netherlands for my MSt (Modern European History) dissertation exploring the impact of the Second Industrial Revolution (specifically, mechanisation) upon the organisation and politics of gunworkers during the fin-de-siècle. The global arms trade was highly political… Continue reading Isaac Stephenson (Oxford) on the organisation and politics of gunworkers in England and Belgium, 1886-1914

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