Bursary reports, Research bursaries

Micaela Panes (Cardiff) on Labour women’s political activism in south Wales and south-west England, c.1920s-1969.

My thesis explores the experiences of socialist women throughout south Wales and south-west England across a period of rapid political, social, and economic change (c.1920s-1969). Local histories of Labour Party politics have long demonstrated the importance of exploring the grassroots and have been vital in uncovering the role and experiences of women. While historians have covered substantial ground in this area, particularly when exploring interwar … Continue reading Micaela Panes (Cardiff) on Labour women’s political activism in south Wales and south-west England, c.1920s-1969.

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Books etc

Len Johnson, Manchester’s uncrowned boxing champion and communist

‘I am here  to meet all comers’: the story of Len Johnson, Manchester’s Uncrowned Boxing Champion and Communist, by Michael Herbert. ‘Anything that I have and anything that I am, I owe unconditionally to the booth. The booth with its work, its careful living and, above all, its frame of mind… I am here to meet all comers and all comers I must meet,’ so … Continue reading Len Johnson, Manchester’s uncrowned boxing champion and communist

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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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