Category: Commentary

These articles provide comment and analysis on topics of interest to labour historians. They are typically signed.

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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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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Commentary

The correspondence columns of the anarchist press: a place in labour history

Continuing our series on places in labour history, Constance Bantman explains why the back pages of French anarchist newspapers are her happy place. Much of my work focuses on piecing back together often elusive anarchist networks and understanding how they operated in the decades preceding the First World War, and so my happy place is the correspondence sections of anarchist periodicals, where groups and individuals … Continue reading The correspondence columns of the anarchist press: a place in labour history

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Commentary

Coney Street, York: a place in labour history

Continuing our series on places of significance in labour history, Kathy Davies introduces Coney Street in York. As a resident of York, I frequently walk down Coney Street, one of the city’s oldest and most familiar commercial thoroughfares. Now bustling with ‘brunchers’ heading to The Ivy and tourists searching for Betty’s Tea Room, this street was once the home of the Yorkshire Evening Press and … Continue reading Coney Street, York: a place in labour history

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Commentary

West Ham: a place in labour history

In our continuing series on places in labour history, Mike Mecham argues that West Ham and Canning Town in East London form a cornerstone of the British labour movement. There is a good case for West Ham, in East London, being recognized as the cornerstone of the British labour movement and of political radicalism more generally. For Caroline Benn, in her biography of Keir Hardie, … Continue reading West Ham: a place in labour history

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Commentary

Baddiley churchyard: a place in labour history

In our continuing series on places in labour history, Mark Crail visits a rural churchyard to pay his respects to the first translator of the Communist Manifesto. Drive along the narrow country lanes of Cheshire for far enough that you begin to question whether your satnav is working properly and you will eventually come across St Michael’s Church in the small, scattered settlement of Baddiley. … Continue reading Baddiley churchyard: a place in labour history

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Commentary

Wembley Stadium: a place in labour history

In the second part of our series on places in labour history, Jane Donaldson recalls the great co-operative movement pageant held at Wembley Stadium in London in 1938. Wembley Stadium is known for hosting football tournaments and other sports events, but in 1938, it was host to a large Co-operative Pageant called ‘Towards Tomorrow.’ Held during International Co-operative Day, on 7 July 1938, it was … Continue reading Wembley Stadium: a place in labour history

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Commentary, Uncategorized

County Hotel, Durham: a place in labour history

In the first of a series of articles on places of significance in labour history, Duncan Hamilton tells the story of the Durham Miners’ Gala’s long association with the County Hotel. On the corner of Old Elvet and New Elvet in the city of Durham sits the Royal County Hotel. The Grade II listed building is an amalgam of upper-class housing from the late eighteenth … Continue reading County Hotel, Durham: a place in labour history

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Commentary

Blood in the Wear: the Sunderland sailors’ strike and the 1825 North Sands massacre

Buried in the records of the Durham Assizes are the proceedings of a coroner’s inquest on the body of a sailor named Thomas Aird. The document reveals details of a dramatic but little-known seamen’s strike that was brutally suppressed by troops under orders from a Sunderland magistrate. In an article for The National Archives website, Dr Joe Cozens, nineteenth century social and political records researcher … Continue reading Blood in the Wear: the Sunderland sailors’ strike and the 1825 North Sands massacre

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Commentary

Co-operative Party campaigning in the constituencies at the 1945 election

The 1945 general election saw the Co-operative Party return a record twenty-three MPs in alliance with the Labour Party. Here, Ellie Townsend introduces research that shows how candidates tailored their electoral message about co-operation to suit local circumstances. The Co-operative Party, set up in 1917, was an attempt to protect the interests of the consumer co-operative movement in parliament.1 From its outset, the Co-operative Party … Continue reading Co-operative Party campaigning in the constituencies at the 1945 election

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