Books etc

All Chartists great and small: three new books

Three new books offer insights into the lives of Chartist activists. Feargus O’Connor: Repealer, Chartist, and icon of Plebian Melodrama, by Huw Griffiths (paperback, 330pp) is a meticulously researched and detailed new biography of the Chartist leader which seeks to appraise the life of ‘the most famous Irishman of his generation to remain all but forgotten and unheralded in his own country’, to deconstruct ‘the … Continue reading All Chartists great and small: three new books

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Events, SSLH news

John Halstead Memorial Lecture 2026

The fifth annual John Halstead Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Professor John Goodridge, President of the John Clare Society.  Organised by the Society for the Study of Labour History and taking place at the John Rylands Library, Manchester on Saturday 13 June 2026, the lecture will be titled ‘Reading by glow worm: the struggles of labouring-class poets’. All are welcome, but you must register … Continue reading John Halstead Memorial Lecture 2026

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Commentary

St George’s Plateau, Liverpool: a place in labour history

Concluding our series on places in labour history, Greg Billam takes us to St George’s Plateau, where crowds have gathered for more than a century for key social, political, and cultural episodes in the city’s history. As visitors arrive at Liverpool’s Lime Street Station, they are greeted by the large, open public space that is St George’s Plateau. The flat area between the hall and … Continue reading St George’s Plateau, Liverpool: a place in labour history

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Commentary

Miners’ Hall, Barnsley: a place in labour history

In our continuing series on places in labour history, Liz Wood introduces the headquarters building of the South Yorkshire Miners’ Association and its continuing importance now the coal industry has gone. It is impossible, even by night, to approach the town of Barnsley without seeing the inclined ramp of a surface drift mine or the pulley wheels of one of the larger deep collieries. For … Continue reading Miners’ Hall, Barnsley: a place in labour history

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Commentary

Manchester Free Trade Hall: a place in labour history

In our continuing series on places in labour history, Keith Flett revisits the contested site of the Peterloo Massacre. The Manchester Free Trade Hall was built on the site of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, its address being Peter Street. Constructed on land given by Richard Cobden it was designed to mark the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 and was completed in 1856. While … Continue reading Manchester Free Trade Hall: a place in labour history

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Commentary

Cramlington: a place in labour history

In our continuing series on places in labour history, Quentin Outram recounts the story of the Northumberland miners who came to be known as the Cramlington train wreckers. This lonely stretch of the East Coast Main Line, nine miles north of Newcastle and still well over a hundred miles from Edinburgh, seems an unlikely site for history making. But during the 1926 General Strike it … Continue reading Cramlington: a place in labour history

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Events

Seminar to mark 40th anniversary of the Wapping dispute

The Marx Memorial Library & Workers’ School is holding a day-long seminar marking forty years since the Wapping dispute. The seminar will take place on Saturday 24 January and it will be possible to attend either online or onsite. This event will commemorate the year-long struggle of workers for their jobs and trade union rights and reflect on its legacy. The Wapping dispute began when Rupert Murdoch’s News … Continue reading Seminar to mark 40th anniversary of the Wapping dispute

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Commentary

New Palace Yard: a place in labour history

Continuing our series on places of significance in labour history, Dave Steele recalls the long history of extra-parliamentary activity in New Palace Yard, on Parliament’s doorstep. New Palace Yard originated as part of the eleventh century Palace of Westminster. It formed an enclosed outer bailey much larger than the fenced-in area which survives today, and once hosted tournaments, jousts, public executions and a pillory. Later … Continue reading New Palace Yard: a place in labour history

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Labour history news

Peggy Seeger to perform ‘Songs for the Workers’

Legendary folk singer, musician and political activist Peggy Seeger is to perform at a special one-off concert to mark International Workers Day. The event will take place at Cecil Sharp House, London, on the evening of 7 May 2026, and tickets are on sale now. Buy tickets. Seeger will perform alongside prominent folk singers and musicians Jackie Oates and Nick Hart, Lancashire ballad singer and … Continue reading Peggy Seeger to perform ‘Songs for the Workers’

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Commentary

Canklow meadows: a place in labour history

In our continuing series on places in labour history, Joe Stanley draws on his family’s history to recall the pit pony races that raised money and the morale of Rotherham miners during the 1926 general strike. In 1997, my great uncle Denis Stanley (1920-2011) published a history of his childhood in Brinsworth, Rotherham, in the Ivanhoe Review, a journal of local history in his home … Continue reading Canklow meadows: a place in labour history

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