These articles provide comment and analysis on topics of interest to labour historians. They are typically signed.
In the eighth of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Keith Flett encounters the Black London Chartist leader William Cuffay. William Cuffay (1788-1870) was born in Medway to a local woman and a descendant of slaves who had come to the area as a sailor. He worked as a tailor in London and became active in the Chartist movement to the extent … Continue reading Class Encounters: William Cuffay, Chartist
In the seventh of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Constance Bantman encounters the French anarchist Antoinette Cazal. Was Antoinette ‘Trognette’ Cazal (1862-1902) even a figure of the labour movement? Her entry in the biographic dictionary of the French labour movement, Le Maitron, describes her as ‘a seamstress; a brewery girl; an anarchist; a defendant in the [1894 anti-anarchist] Trial of the … Continue reading Class Encounters: Antoinette Cazal, anarchist
In the sixth of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Vic Clarke encounters the Chartist leader, MP and newspaper proprietor Feargus O’Connor. Any collective effort is bound to include a clash of personalities, and self-proclaimed ‘people’s friend’ Feargus O’Connor certainly came to clashes in the Chartist movement. A surprisingly understudied figure, O’Connor’s charismatic and bombastic editorials, or ‘letters’ to his readers in … Continue reading Class Encounters: Feargus O’Connor, Chartist leader
In the fifth of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Mike Mecham encounters the ‘peasant poet’ John Clare. For Malcolm Chase 1820 was a pivotal political year for Britain and Ireland. It also saw the publication of the first, and most successful, collection of poems by John Clare (1793-1864), selling more copies than his stable-mate John Keats. The ‘Peasant Poet’ was then … Continue reading Class Encounters: John Clare, poet
In the fourth of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Jennifer Reid encounters the collector of Lancashire dialect poets, John Harland John Harland 1806–1868 was a renowned journalist and ballad collector. Although originally from Kingston-upon-Hull, as chief reporter for the Manchester Guardian he was aware of all the Lancashire dialect poets and worked hard to immerse himself in people’s lives in Manchester. … Continue reading Class Encounters: John Harland, ballad collector
In the third of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Mark Crail encounters George Julian Harney, editor of the Northern Star and Red Republican. On a bitterly cold Christmas Day 1840, George Julian Harney walked eighteen miles across North-East Scotland from Elgin to Keith in the hope of reviving the town’s Chartist Association. But when he got there, no lecture room could … Continue reading Class Encounters: George Julian Harney, Chartist journalist
In the second of our series on meetings with figures from labour history, Janette Martin encounters her namesake, the Owenite lecturer Emma Martin I would most like to meet Emma Martin (1812-1851), the feisty woman who escaped an unhappy marriage to earn a living as an itinerant Owenite lecturer while bringing up her three young daughters. Emma was born in Bristol to a lower middle-class … Continue reading Class Encounters: Emma Martin, Owenite lecturer
If you could meet one person from labour history, who would it be? We asked labour historians to tell us who they would invite for a cup of tea, a pint at the pub or even Christmas Dinner. In the first of a new series, Joe Stanley encounters miners’ union activist John Auty I first encountered John Auty when he was named ‘Paymaster General’ of … Continue reading Class Encounters: John Auty, miners’ trade union activist
Walter Kendall was a socialist historian and labour movement activist who for more than fifty years combined his research with a commitment to active membership of the shopworkers’ union USDAW and the Labour Party. Politically, he was a a Labour Party Marxist and opponent of Communism who occupied the ground between reform and revolution, becoming involved in initiatives such as the Socialist Workers’ Federation, the … Continue reading Recuperating and re-evaluating the life and work of Walter Kendall
In 1966, the last general election to be captured on black and white newsreel by British Pathé saw Harold Wilson’s Labour government win a landslide victory, taking 48% of the vote and winning an overall majority of 98. A newsreel from election night shows revellers thronging Trafalgar Square and splashing through the fountains, while at the party’s headquarters in Transport House, Minister of Labour Ray … Continue reading ‘Labour Romps Home’ in last black and white general election
Society for the Study of Labour History 