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, Grants

Commemorating Robert Rumble and the tenants’ strike of 1938

Liz Millman reports on an event to mark a significant event in the history of Jamaica. On 23 April 1938, the Poor Man’s Improvement and Land Settlement Association set up by activist Robert Rumble sent a petition to the Governor of Jamaica demanding a minimum wage for agricultural workers and peasants, and an end to exploitation by landlords. The petition stated that a century after … Continue reading Commemorating Robert Rumble and the tenants’ strike of 1938

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Events

1923: a year that changed politics forever

The North West Labour History Society is holding a celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the 1923 general election that led to the first Labour government, and telling the stories of some of the newly elected MPs of 1923. The event takes place at Manchester Central Library on Saturday 11 November, starting at 10am. North West Labour History Society. Continue reading 1923: a year that changed politics forever

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Commentary, Labour history news

Don’t Mourn, Digitise! Building a list of radical online archives

Evan Smith offers a guide to the growing volume of left, labour and radical history resources now online, and introduces the directory of more than 500 collections to be found on his New Historical Express blog. Digitisation is a major part of archival practice and historical research today. While it is not a substitute for archival research and only a small percentage of archival material … Continue reading Don’t Mourn, Digitise! Building a list of radical online archives

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Labour history news

Print matters: conserving and promoting the printworkers’ story

The Printworkers’ Collection is a huge documentary archive of labour history. Mark Crail visited the Marx Memorial Library to ask director Meirian Jump about a project to conserve and open it up to researchers and the public. Since 2009, the Marx Memorial Library and Workers School has been home to a unique collection of material on the history of those who worked in the print, … Continue reading Print matters: conserving and promoting the printworkers’ story

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Events

From 1984 to 2024: industrial disputes and social movements in the UK since the Great Miners’ Strike

Call for papers  This CFP concerns submissions:    Please see below for the submission guidelines for the one-day conference and the journal issue.    The one-day conference and journal issue focus on the past four decades of industrial disputes and social movements in the UK. The year 2024 is the fortieth anniversary of the beginning of the Great Miners’ Strike of 1984-1985. As such, it provides an … Continue reading From 1984 to 2024: industrial disputes and social movements in the UK since the Great Miners’ Strike

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Events

Chile Solidarity Campaign: fiftieth anniversary archive open day

The People’s History Museum is marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Chilean military coup of 1973, by offering an opportunity to join the Manchester museum’s archive team to delve into material from the Chile Solidarity Campaign (CSC) collection. The event runs from 11am to 3pm on Saturday 9 September. Find out more and book a ticket. The coup led to international outcry. In its aftermath, … Continue reading Chile Solidarity Campaign: fiftieth anniversary archive open day

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Bursary reports, Research bursaries

Duncan Hamilton (Manchester) on the abandoned romances of Thomas Cooper

My PhD focuses on the literary activism of the Chartist poet and autodidact, Thomas Cooper. Unlike several other members of Chartism’s leadership, who came from middle-class or even aristocratic backgrounds, Cooper was proudly a working-class leader who worked as a shoemaker in Gainsborough before his entry into the movement. Aspiring to a career as an author, Cooper wrote prodigiously throughout his life, particularly during a … Continue reading Duncan Hamilton (Manchester) on the abandoned romances of Thomas Cooper

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Notes & queries

Researching the Preston lock-out

Dr Andrew Hobbs writes… I’m writing something on weekly publications produced during the 1853-54 Preston Lock-Out in North-West England, when thousands of cotton workers were locked out of the mills over their demand for a 10% restoration of wages (the event which inspired Charles Dickens’s Hard Times and Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South). These publications called themselves balance sheets — they list donations to the … Continue reading Researching the Preston lock-out

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SSLH news

University of Chichester: cuts to history programmes

The Society for the Study of Labour History joins the Social History Society and many other organisations and individuals in regretting the announcement by the University of Chichester to suspend recruitment to two important history programmes, the unique MRes in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora and the BA Modern History. In axing these programmes, the University of Chichester has placed two highly respected historians … Continue reading University of Chichester: cuts to history programmes

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Notes & queries

In search of the International Freedom League

Researcher Michael Samaras is seeking information about an organisation called the International Freedom League, which was active in the UK in the early 1930s. It was closely associated with an Australian radical Edward Alexander ‘Ted’ Dickinson (sometimes, in error, Dickenson). Dickinson was born in Grimsby and grew up a Wobbly in Australia, where he was jailed for riot and sedition. Returning to the UK in … Continue reading In search of the International Freedom League

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