Events, Labour history news

Event: Blood is the price of coal: coal communities, health and welfare in Britain and beyond

The University of Warwick’s Modern Records Centre is hosting a free one day conference on 18 June (9:15am – 5:30pm) to explore the history of health and welfare in Britain’s coal mining industry. Held jointly by the University of Warwick’s Centre for the History of Medicine, Science and Technology, and Modern Records Centre, the conference aims to bring together researchers from higher education, libraries, archives, museums, and … Continue reading Event: Blood is the price of coal: coal communities, health and welfare in Britain and beyond

Unknown's avatargregorybillam
Events

Event: Spineless Wonders: songs and street literature

On 6 May, acclaimed performer, balladeer, and SSLH EC member Jennifer Reid will be performing a unique set of historic broadside ballads at the John Rylands Library, University of Manchester. This unique event offers the chance to hear selections from the library’s broadside ballad collections brought vividly to life. Broadside ballads were short narrative verses or songs, printed on a single sheet of inexpensive paper … Continue reading Event: Spineless Wonders: songs and street literature

Unknown's avatargregorybillam
Events, Labour history news

Joshua Hobson: His radical publishing and work on the Northern Star

Earlier this week, Dr Vic Clarke delivered a lively talk on Joshua Hobson, his radical publishing, and his work on the Northern Star at the University of Huddersfield for the annual Luddite Memorial Lecture. Vic Clarke focused on Hobson’s life as a publisher and politician, charting his journey from teenage handloom weaver to a radical publisher of the unstamped press, through to his entry into … Continue reading Joshua Hobson: His radical publishing and work on the Northern Star

Unknown's avatargregorybillam
Labour history news

Call for poems for the 1926 General Strike Centenary

The Fig Tree online webzine and Crooked Spire Press of Chesterfield have announced a new special issue to commemorate the centenary of the 1926 General Strike. Submissions are sought for poems covering the following topics: Poems written specifically for this project, and not previously published elsewhere, will be selected for inclusion in a special issue of The Fig Tree. If there is sufficient interest, Crooked … Continue reading Call for poems for the 1926 General Strike Centenary

Unknown's avatargregorybillam
Events, Labour history news

Centenary: The 1926 General Strike on Stage

A century on, the strike that shook Britain comes to life on stage – and it’s now just weeks away. May 1926. Millions of workers across the country walked out, standing shoulder to shoulder for a fairer world. To mark the one hundredth anniversary of the 1926 General Strike, ‘Centenary’ celebrates the event at the Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead. Created by Wisecrack … Continue reading Centenary: The 1926 General Strike on Stage

Unknown's avatargregorybillam
Events

Online Talk: South and North rather than North and South: The ‘Big Strike’ Novel

To mark the centenary of the 1926 General Strike, Professor Michael Sanders (University of Manchester) will deliver an online talk on Wednesday 20 May at 7pm covering two Mancunian female trailblazers. Elizabeth Gaskell may have been one of the first to write a ‘picket-line’ romance, in her much-loved classic North and South, but she was certainly not the last. In the centenary year of the ‘General … Continue reading Online Talk: South and North rather than North and South: The ‘Big Strike’ Novel

Unknown's avatargregorybillam
Events, Labour history news, SSLH news

1926 General Strike Centenary Open Day

The People’s History Museum in Manchester is hosting a special open day to mark the centenary of the 1926 General Strike on the 9 May 2026. The event will delve into the strike’s continuing significance and legacy. Academics, activists, trade unionists, and heritage professionals will explore the 1926 General Strike through a range of papers and panels, and highlight rare archival material. The event is … Continue reading 1926 General Strike Centenary Open Day

Unknown's avatargregorybillam
Labour history news

Vale Rawlings: the lost story of a Burton-upon-Trent trade unionist continues

In July 2024, I shared my plans to tell the story of forgotten Staffordshire trade unionist, Vale Rawlings, in a play and a book. You can read that story here. Now, the play has been staged, filmed, and the book is published, but discoveries about new aspects of Vale’s story continue to emerge. I tracked down a number of Vale’s granddaughters and found that one … Continue reading Vale Rawlings: the lost story of a Burton-upon-Trent trade unionist continues

Unknown's avatargregorybillam
Labour history news

Left on the Shelf enters a new era

Left on the Shelf Books, the UK’s largest dealer in radical second-hand books, pamphlets and journals, has changed hands following the retirement of its founder and long-term owner Dave Cope. Set up in 1992 after Cope bought the second-hand stock of Central Books, and for many years the main retail and wholesale outlet for the Communist Party of Great Britain, Left on the Shelf relocated … Continue reading Left on the Shelf enters a new era

Unknown's avatargregorybillam
Labour history news, SSLH news

HELP NEEDED IN UPDATING Bibliography of the 1926 General Strike

In 2006, Historical Studies in Industrial Relations (HSIR) 21 published ‘The General Strike and Mining Lockout of 1926: A Select Bibliography’, compiled by John McIlroy, Alan Campbell, Keith Laybourn and Quentin Outram. To mark the one hundredth anniversary of the strike, this is now being updated for publication in HSIR 47 later this year by Dave Lyddon and Quentin Outram. We are asking users of … Continue reading HELP NEEDED IN UPDATING Bibliography of the 1926 General Strike

Unknown's avatargregorybillam