Author: EditorMC

I am a former journalist by trade, turned labour and family historian with a special interest in Chartism. I launched the Chartist Ancestors website since 2003, and am currently a member of the Society for the Study of Labour History executive committee, managing its website and social media in my free time.
Events, SSLH news

John Halstead Memorial Lecture 2025: reserve your place

Professor Peter Gurney will deliver the fourth John L. Halstead Memorial Lecture at the John Rylands Library, Deansgate, Manchester, on Saturday 14 June 2025. He will be speaking on ‘The Chartist Revolution’. Book a free ticket for this event. The lecture is held annually in memory of the late John Halstead, who was among the earliest members of the Society for the Study of Labour … Continue reading John Halstead Memorial Lecture 2025: reserve your place

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

Freya Willis (Oxford) on social care workers’ experiences of work, gender and class, 1979-2010

My PhD investigates the lives and labours of social care workers in England and Wales between 1979 and 2010. Between 1979 and 1999, care assistants were the fastest growing sector of employment, increasing by 419%, while industrial jobs saw the greatest decline. Care work was, in many ways, the model of post-industrial working-class employment, characterised by low-paid, feminised, precarious, and emotionally demanding labour. My PhD … Continue reading Freya Willis (Oxford) on social care workers’ experiences of work, gender and class, 1979-2010

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Advice & reference, Annual guides

Additions to labour history archive collections 2024

UK archives take in new labour history accessions every year. The SSLH-Archives and Resources Committee tracks these and publishes an annual guide for researchers. The latest guide, for 2024, has now been published and can be freely downloaded here. This year’s largest accession is of the National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers’ records from 1910 to the 2000s, which now occupies 36 liner … Continue reading Additions to labour history archive collections 2024

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Documents & objects

A Nation on Strike: first thoughts on 1926

In September 1926, Walter Milne-Bailey, head of the TUC research department, sat down to record his thoughts on the General Strike, which had taken place in May of that year. As we approach the centenary of that event, the typewritten script of his report has been digitized and published online by the TUC Library Collections.1 Milne-Bailey notes at the very start of his report that … Continue reading A Nation on Strike: first thoughts on 1926

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Bursary reports, MA & BA bursaries

Ariane Weller (Manchester) on the role of women in the anarchist movement of the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

My dissertation investigates the role of women in the Anarchist movement of the Spanish Civil War. I have a particular interest in the revolutionary organisation Mujeres Libres founded in 1936 which united thousands of women across Spain in the broader anarchist and anti-fascist cause. Mujeres Libres was dedicated to the development of unique educational and labour initiatives and ideologically committed to empowering Spanish working-class women … Continue reading Ariane Weller (Manchester) on the role of women in the anarchist movement of the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

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Events

PHM offers end-of-the-miners’-strike archive exploration

People’s History Museum (PHM), Manchester, is offering an opportunity to join its archive team in delving into the museum’s miners’ strike collections. The event takes place on the 40th anniversary of the final day of the 1984-1985 miners’ strike and tells the stories of a defining event in Britain’s history. Visitors can also explore the galleries where they will see objects such as a poster featuring the … Continue reading PHM offers end-of-the-miners’-strike archive exploration

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Grants, SSLH news

BME Small Grants: 2025 Recipients

We are delighted to announce the results of the latest round of the BME small grants funding scheme. This scheme is administered by the Social History Society in partnership with the Society for the Study of Labour History, Economic History Society, History UK, History of Education Society (UK), History Workshop Journal, Royal Historical Society, and Women’s History Network. It was set up in 2019 in … Continue reading BME Small Grants: 2025 Recipients

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Events, Grants

Symposium: the history and legacy of the miners’ strike of 1984/5

A one-day symposium on the history and legacy of the miners’ strike of 1984/5 takes place at National Mining Museum England in Wakefield on 22 February 2025. The event is organised by National Mining Museum England and supported by the Society for the Study of Labour History. Attendance is free, but please register at the link below if you wish to attend. Programme 10am – … Continue reading Symposium: the history and legacy of the miners’ strike of 1984/5

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

The Labour Party and empire in the 1940s

Jack Taylor reports on his research into 1940s’ attitudes to empire in the Labour Party policy apparatus and among the leading Labour figures of the era. In researching the Labour Party’s post-war imperial policy in the Middle East, I became interested in ideas around British expertise and experience in shaping political institutions. A Society for the Study of Labour History research bursary allowed me to … Continue reading The Labour Party and empire in the 1940s

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Labour history news

Historical Studies in Industrial Relations 2024 now online

The latest issue of Historical Studies in Industrial Relations (Vol. 45, September 1, 2024) is now available online via Liverpool University Press (subscription required). Table of contents Research ArticlesSmashing the Subversive Unemployed: State Containment and Coercion of the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement, 1921–39Emanuel Bourges Espinosa Nancy Seear and the Investigation of Women’s EmploymentSusan Milner The British Labour Movement’s Involvement in West Indian Labour Struggles, 1934–39: … Continue reading Historical Studies in Industrial Relations 2024 now online

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