Category: Commentary

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

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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Commentary

One strike or two? How data changes undermine what we know about stoppages

Changes over the past decade to the ways in which data on strikes is collected and published risk undermining the value for academics and policy-makers of a series which has been running since the 1890s, according to an analysis by industrial relations specialist Dr Dave Lyddon. In an open access article for the Industrial Relations Journal, Dr Lyddon argues that the most recent change, which … Continue reading One strike or two? How data changes undermine what we know about stoppages

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Commentary

Class Encounters: Thomas Hepburn, pitmen’s union leader

In the final part of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Quentin Outram tells the story of miners’ leader Thomas Hepburn’s encounter with mine owner Lord Londonderry, and the two men’s very different lives. Thomas Hepburn (1796-1864) and Charles William Vane, formerly Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, KG, GCB, GCH, PC (1778-1854) ‘Where is this great man of yours, your leader Hepburn?’ … Continue reading Class Encounters: Thomas Hepburn, pitmen’s union leader

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Commentary

Class Encounters: Walter Hannington unemployed workers activist

In the twelfth of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Gregory Billam encounters Walter Hannington of the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement. Walter Hannington was a young toolmaker from Camden, best known as the National Secretary of the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement (NUWM) during the interwar period. The 1930s, often popularly referred to as the ‘Hungry Thirties’, was a period marked by high … Continue reading Class Encounters: Walter Hannington unemployed workers activist

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Commentary

Class Encounters: A.V. Alexander, co-operator

In the eleventh of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Jane Donaldson encounters co-operator, government minister and peer A.V. Alexander. My place of work at the Co-op Archives in Holyoake House in Manchester is among many buildings in an area still known sometimes as the Co-operative Quarter and I am surrounded by collections which tell the history of the co-operative movement. Holyoake … Continue reading Class Encounters: A.V. Alexander, co-operator

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Commentary

Class Encounters: Gwendolyn Adams de Puertas, Spanish civil war activist

In the tenth of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Liz Wood encounters the Shropshire-born nurse and anti-Franco activist Gwendolyn de Puertas. I first encountered the distinctively named Gertrude Gwendolyn Adams de Puertas about twelve years ago, when digitising Trades Union Congress archives on the Spanish Civil War. Gwendolyn Adams, a Shropshire plumber’s daughter and teenage milliner’s apprentice, was born in 1895. … Continue reading Class Encounters: Gwendolyn Adams de Puertas, Spanish civil war activist

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Commentary

Class Encounters: Joseph Ettor, IWW organiser

In the ninth of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Mick Moreton encounters the Wobblies trade union organiser Joseph Ettor Although not a figure from British labour history, my wish would be to meet Joseph Ettor (1885-1948), an American organiser for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) during the Lawrence ‘Bread and Roses’ strike of 1912. I would ask him about … Continue reading Class Encounters: Joseph Ettor, IWW organiser

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