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

Waiting for Wesley: torn between church and rebellion

Set during the events of August 1842 in the Calder Valley, the specially written play Waiting for Wesley is to be performed this summer at Halifax Museum. Commissioned by Heptonstall Museum, written by Michael Crowley and first performed in August 2022 by The Brutish Multitude Theatre Company, the play has since been developed as a result of audience feedback to include the character of Ben … Continue reading Waiting for Wesley: torn between church and rebellion

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Labour history news

University of Sheffield acquires Arthur Scargill archive

The archive of Arthur Scargill, activist and former President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982-2002, has found a new home at the University of Sheffield Library Special Collections, Heritage and Archives.  The Arthur Scargill Archive covers his life, from the day he started work at the age of 15 at Woolley Colliery in the North Barnsley area; his time in the Young … Continue reading University of Sheffield acquires Arthur Scargill archive

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Obituaries

Patrick Renshaw (1936 – 2023)

Patrick Renshaw, who has died aged 87, began his academic career with a series of well-received books on trade union and labour history, and went on to teach American Studies at the University of Sheffield for nearly thirty years, turning his hand to significant and enduring works on US labour and political history. Born in West Ham and educated at Wanstead County High School, Renshaw … Continue reading Patrick Renshaw (1936 – 2023)

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Books etc

A Nation in Crisis: Division, Conflict and Capitalism in the United Kingdom

Since the 2007-8 financial crisis and its aftershocks, international capitalism has once again been in crisis. The crisis has been particularly marked in the UK and its outcome is currently unclear. A Nation in Crisis: Division, Conflict and Capitalism in the United Kingdom is a new book by Neville Kirk that examines the systemic crisis facing the nations of the UK. The book is set … Continue reading A Nation in Crisis: Division, Conflict and Capitalism in the United Kingdom

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Commentary

I don’t know where he gets his fucking language from

Did people in the eighteenth century use the word ‘fuck’ in everyday language? Quentin Outram looks at swear words in BBC Two’s The Gallows Pole: A true story of resistance, and questions their authenticity. ‘Get your fucking hands off me!’ says David Hartley as people struggle to help him and from there on the use of ‘fuck’ and ‘fucking’ rarely stops for more than a … Continue reading I don’t know where he gets his fucking language from

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Events, Grants

Moral Economy at the Crossroads of History and Social Sciences: Finding Customs in Common?

Call for papers: a workshop on Moral Economy at the Crossroads of History and Social Science is to take place at the University of Strathclyde in November 2023. Contributions are invited from academic researchers, practitioners, and activists. Abstracts of 250 words are due by 31 August. The event is supported by the Society for the Study of Labour History and the University of Strathclyde. Download … Continue reading Moral Economy at the Crossroads of History and Social Sciences: Finding Customs in Common?

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Documents & objects, Notes & queries

‘Your Britain’: Labour’s programme for a general election that never was?

Labour’s policy document offers a radical programme for government, and presents it in persuasive language and an attractive package. But Mark Crail wonders whether anyone can put a firm date on it. ‘A Labour Council has built this pleasant estate of happy homes for the people,’ declares the caption on the front of this vintage Labour Party magazine. Printed in bright colours, and with its … Continue reading ‘Your Britain’: Labour’s programme for a general election that never was?

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Events

‘Singing Sweet Liberty’: Michael Sanders’ inaugural professorial lecture

Mike Sanders, Professor of Nineteenth Century Literature & Culture at the University of Manchester and a member of the Society’s executive committee, delivered his inaugural professorial lecture at the John Rylands Library on Wednesday 31 May. The lecture was titled ‘Singing Sweet Liberty’: John Stafford and the creation of radical memory from Luddism to Chartism. The lecture explored the role played by song in creating … Continue reading ‘Singing Sweet Liberty’: Michael Sanders’ inaugural professorial lecture

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Events

Collective action, associational culture and the politics of organisation in Britain and Ireland, c.1790-1914

Save the date for a two-day conference at Durham University this summer titled ‘Organise! Organise! Organise! Collective Action, Associational Culture and the Politics of Organisation in Britain and Ireland, c.1790-1914’. REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN. Registration closes 17 July 2023. All are also welcome to attend the book launch for Henry Miller’s A Nation of Petitioners: Petitions and Petitioning in the United Kingdom, 1780-1918 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023). … Continue reading Collective action, associational culture and the politics of organisation in Britain and Ireland, c.1790-1914

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Labour history news, SSLH news

The Gallows Pole: how a community of weavers nearly crashed the economy

A television drama that tells the extraordinary story of the Cragg Vale Coiners is now on BBC iPlayer. And you may just spot a familiar face in the cast. Even by the standards of the day, life in the Pennines weaving communities of Cragg Vale in the second half of the eighteenth century could be tough. But in the 1760s, this isolated valley, close to … Continue reading The Gallows Pole: how a community of weavers nearly crashed the economy

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