In Screen Workers and the Irish Film Industry, Dr Denis Murphy traces the evolution since the 1950s of screen production industries on the island of Ireland. More specifically he looks at the people who work in its film, television dramas, documentary and animation industries – how they have shaped the work they do and the conditions under which that work is carried out. This is … Continue reading A labour history of Ireland’s film industry
Professor John Shepherd, one of the founders of the Labour History Research Unit at Anglia Ruskin, died last week. John taught History in the 1980s at the institution which became Anglia Ruskin, serving the university in multiple roles and in recent years became Research Fellow at the University of Huddersfield. John did his PhD with Eric Hobsbawm at Birkbeck and went on to become a very … Continue reading Tribute: John Shepherd (1942 – 2024)
One hundred and eighty years after was published in Leeds for the final time, the Chartist Northern Star newspaper now has a blue plaque in the heart of the city marking its importance as a voice of working-class radicalism. Unveiled by Shirley Chase, whose late husband, the Chartist historian Professor Malcolm Chase, long sought to have the paper commemorated in the city where it was … Continue reading Northern Star shines in Leeds once more
The Irish labour movement, and especially its labour history community, is mourning one of its most respected and recognisable figures, Dr Kieran Jack McGinley who died suddenly on 25 November. Throughout his life, Jack, as he was generally known, was a passionate advocate for workers’ rights either through his trade union activism or public campaigns, all the while giving forty-five years of service to Trinity … Continue reading Keiran Jack McGinley (1954 – 2024)
In 2012, Ian Gasse came to live in Dumfries and Galloway, settling in the Kirkcudbrightshire village of Kirkpatrick Durham. Then aged 64, Ian was guided by several impulses, but retirement as we know it was surely not among them. In his new location, Ian found the local bus service facilitated his genius for connection. It was at a bus stop that he first met his … Continue reading Ian Andrew Gasse (1948 – 2024): an appreciation
A photographic exhibition exploring how acts of resistance have shaped life in the UK, and the powerful role of photography in documenting and driving change, opens at the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate in February 2025. Conceived by artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen and curated in collaboration with Clarrie Wallis, Resistance promises to be ‘a compelling exploration of overlooked histories, shedding light on the forgotten … Continue reading Exhibition: Resistance – exploring overlooked histories
Work to index the records of the National Union of Mineworkers and its predecessor unions has hit an important milestone, with more than a dozen catalogues now searchable online. In addition to the trade unions listed below, catalogues have also been completed for Women Against Pit Closures, including financial information for the period of the 1984-85 strike, and organisational records from 1984 to 1995, and, … Continue reading NUM archives project hits milestone with Women Against Pit Closures and predecessor union indexes online
Dr Natalie Thomlinson delivered the Society’s third annual John Halstead Memorial Lecture, Remembering the Strike: the miners’ strike of 1984-5 in popular memory at the University of Huddersfield on Saturday 9 November 2024. The lecture can be viewed on YouTube here. Dr Thomlinson is Associate Professor of Modern British Cultural History at the University of Reading, and co-author of Women and the Miners’ Strike (2023). She has … Continue reading Video: Remembering the Strike: the miners’ strike of 1984-5 in popular memory
My thesis examines the policy and activism of the Irish Labour Party and Trade Union Congress (ILP&TUC) during the late revolutionary period (c.1918 to 1923). I seek to understand how the party responded to, and navigated, the various socioeconomic crises (unemployment, poverty, wage inequality, and cost of living) which plagued the island of Ireland post-First World War. My thesis also considers the issues of British, … Continue reading Ciarán Kelly (Trinity College Dublin) on the Irish Labour Party and Trade Union Congress, 1918-1923
Entries are invited for the Labour History Review postgraduate essay prize for 2025. The deadline for entries is 31 March 2025, and details are set out below. Download the entry form (Word document). The editors of Labour History Review established this essay prize with the purpose of encouraging a high standard of scholarship amongst postgraduate research students in the United Kingdom and abroad. The winner’s … Continue reading Labour History Review essay prize 2025
Society for the Study of Labour History 