Welcome to the SSLH

Chartism Day 2026: venue, date and call for papers.

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

Online Talk: South and North rather than North and South: The ‘Big Strike’ Novel

To mark the centenary of the 1926 General Strike, Professor Michael Sanders (University of Manchester) will deliver an online talk on Wednesday 20 May at 7pm covering two Mancunian female trailblazers. Elizabeth Gaskell may have been one of the first to write a ‘picket-line’ romance, in her much-loved classic North and South but she was certainly not… Continue reading Online Talk: South and North rather than North and South: The ‘Big Strike’ Novel

Labour history news

Vale Rawlings: the lost story of a Burton-upon-Trent trade unionist continues

In July 2024, I shared my plans to tell the story of forgotten Staffordshire trade unionist, Vale Rawlings, in a play and a book. You can read that story here. Now, the play has been staged, filmed, and the book is published, but discoveries about new aspects of Vale’s story continue to emerge. I tracked… Continue reading Vale Rawlings: the lost story of a Burton-upon-Trent trade unionist continues

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.