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.
Documents & objects

Radical ambition: Ramsay MacDonald and the 1895 general election

David Hanson reflects on the political trajectory of a firebrand would-be Labour MP whose early radical ambitions were set out during his first foray into electoral politics in 1895 James Ramsay MacDonald fought his first parliamentary election in 1895. The Independent Labour Party had been founded just two years earlier, and though not a founder member, MacDonald had joined early on after gaining political experience … Continue reading Radical ambition: Ramsay MacDonald and the 1895 general election

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SSLH news

An Ownerless Corner of Earth: songs to lift the spirits

Mike Mecham introduces a double CD of songs by Francis Devine, a published Irish labour historian, poet, singer and songwriter from Howth, County Dublin. A former President, and now Honorary President, of the Irish Labour History Society and editor of its journal Saothar, Francis Devine remains actively involved in the labour movement An Ownerless Corner of Earth is the second offering from Howth based singer Francis Devine. His first … Continue reading An Ownerless Corner of Earth: songs to lift the spirits

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Documents & objects

The Stepney branch committee of the Municipal Employees Association, 1901

This formal studio portrait (technically a cabinet card) captures the officers of the Stepney branch of the Municipal Employees Association shortly after the union came into being in 1901. Dressed in suits and ties, some in fashionable wing-collars, each wears what is most likely to be the union’s badge on their jacket lapel, ceremonial sashes across their chests recording the office they held. The MEA … Continue reading The Stepney branch committee of the Municipal Employees Association, 1901

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Labour History Review, SSLH news

LHR postgraduate essay prize 2022

Postgraduates are encouraged to submit articles for consideration for the 2022 essay prize to the editors of Labour History Review. This annual prize awards £500 for the best essay, which will be published in the LHR.  The essay prize is open to anyone currently registered for a higher research degree, in Britain or abroad, or to anyone who completed such a degree no earlier than February 2019. … Continue reading LHR postgraduate essay prize 2022

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Obituaries

John L Halstead (1936-2021)

John Halstead, who has died aged 85, was among the earliest members of the Society for the Study of Labour History, and over a period of six decades occupied nearly every post within the Society, contributing his time and expertise unstintingly to serve as editor, chair, secretary and latterly vice-president. Born in Huddersfield, and educated at Highburton Church of England elementary school and Penistone Grammar … Continue reading John L Halstead (1936-2021)

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