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

Exhibition: Resistance – exploring overlooked histories

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

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Labour history news

NUM archives project hits milestone with Women Against Pit Closures and predecessor union indexes online

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

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Events, SSLH news

Video: Remembering the Strike: the miners’ strike of 1984-5 in popular memory

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

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MA & BA bursaries

Ciarán Kelly (Trinity College Dublin) on the Irish Labour Party and Trade Union Congress, 1918-1923

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

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Labour History Review

Labour History Review essay prize 2025

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

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Commentary

Recuperating and re-evaluating the life and work of Walter Kendall

Walter Kendall was a socialist historian and labour movement activist who for more than fifty years combined his research with a commitment to active membership of the shopworkers’ union USDAW and the Labour Party. Politically, he was a a Labour Party Marxist and opponent of Communism who occupied the ground between reform and revolution, becoming involved in initiatives such as the Socialist Workers’ Federation, the … Continue reading Recuperating and re-evaluating the life and work of Walter Kendall

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Labour history news

RHS finds cuts to history courses fall disproportionately on post-92 universities

The Royal Historical Society has warned of ‘an alarming increase’ in the number of university history departments facing cuts to staffing and degree options – even as numbers studying the subject at GCSE and A level continue to rise. A briefing paper issued by the Society suggests that its survey of historians working in UK higher education shows that 88% of post-92 universities and 68% … Continue reading RHS finds cuts to history courses fall disproportionately on post-92 universities

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Events

Exhibition: Hard Graft: Work, Health and Rights

An exhibition now running at the Wellcome Collection titled Hard Graft: Work, Health and Rights delves into the stories of under-represented workers and their rights within precarious and unsafe labour environments. From protests to healing practices, the exhibition unveils hidden histories of resistance and collective action through a collection of more than 150 items, including objects, artworks, films and new commissions. The organisers offer a … Continue reading Exhibition: Hard Graft: Work, Health and Rights

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

David Torrance on researching the history of the Labour Party in Scotland

I am currently working on a book titled A History of the Labour Party in Scotland (to be published by Edinburgh University Press) which will examine the party’s origins in late nineteenth-century working-class politics and trade unionism, through to the formation of a distinct and ‘national’ Scottish Advisory Committee during the First World War. It will then chart the breakthrough of the Red Clydesiders’ at … Continue reading David Torrance on researching the history of the Labour Party in Scotland

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Members' Area, SSLH news

SSLH AGM set for 9 November

The 2024 annual general meeting of the Society for the Study of Labour History will take place on Saturday 9 November at Heritage Quay, University of Huddersfield. The agenda and other papers for the meeting will be found in Members’ Resources. The business of the meeting begins at 11am, with a lunch break from 12.30 to 2pm, including (at 1.30pm) an optional tour of Heritage … Continue reading SSLH AGM set for 9 November

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