Category: Labour history news

News and information of interest to labour historians.

Labour history news, SSLH news

Victory in campaign to save historic wills from destruction

Ministers have ditched proposals made under the previous government to destroy millions of wills dating back to 1858 as a money-saving measure. The Society for the Study of Labour History was among 1,600 organisations and individuals to respond to a Ministry of Justice consultation document, issued in December 2023, which put forward proposals to digitise 110 million wills before destroying the original documents in a … Continue reading Victory in campaign to save historic wills from destruction

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Labour history news

Ten labour history anniversaries in 2025

Our annual review of labour history anniversaries takes in the shifting legal framework for trade unions, the first legislation on sex discrimination and equal pay, and the lead up to the General Strike. It starts, however, in 1775 with Thomas Paine, the author of The Rights of Man, and ends in 2000 with the Human Rights Act coming into force. Continue reading Ten labour history anniversaries in 2025

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Labour history news

Labour history journals round-up, 2024

Labour history societies throughout the UK and beyond have published the year-end editions of their journals for 2025. Here we offer a summary of their contents. The round-up includes the journals of : North West Labour History SocietyNorth East Labour History SocietyScottish Labour History SocietyIrish Labour History SocietyAustralian Labour History Society North West History Journal – North West Labour History Society The front cover of … Continue reading Labour history journals round-up, 2024

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Labour history news

NUM archives project hits milestone with Women Against Pit Closures and predecessor union indexes online

Work to index the records of the National Union of Mineworkers and its predecessor unions has hit an important milestone, with more than a dozen catalogues now searchable online. In addition to the trade unions listed below, catalogues have also been completed for Women Against Pit Closures, including financial information for the period of the 1984-85 strike, and organisational records from 1984 to 1995, and, … Continue reading NUM archives project hits milestone with Women Against Pit Closures and predecessor union indexes online

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Labour history news

ILHS publishes directory of historic trade unions online

The Historical Directory of Trade Unions in Ireland, first published in 2017 by the Irish Labour History Society and the Working Class Movement Library, is now online. Both the original 616-page directory, edited by Francis Devine and John B. Smethurst, and a substantial 38-page update compiled by Devine, can be found on the ILHS website, and are free to download in PDF format. The directory, … Continue reading ILHS publishes directory of historic trade unions online

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Labour history news

RHS finds cuts to history courses fall disproportionately on post-92 universities

The Royal Historical Society has warned of ‘an alarming increase’ in the number of university history departments facing cuts to staffing and degree options – even as numbers studying the subject at GCSE and A level continue to rise. A briefing paper issued by the Society suggests that its survey of historians working in UK higher education shows that 88% of post-92 universities and 68% … Continue reading RHS finds cuts to history courses fall disproportionately on post-92 universities

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Labour history news

People’s History Museum names Clare Barlow as Director

People’s History Museum has appointed Dr Clare Barlow as its new Director. Dr Barlow joins the Manchester museum from the Foundling Museum, where she was director of programmes and audiences, and has previously worked at the Science Museum, Wellcome Trust, Tate and the National Portrait Gallery. Dr Barlow completed her PhD in 2010, as an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded collaborative doctoral award between the … Continue reading People’s History Museum names Clare Barlow as Director

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Events, Labour history news

Radical Halifax exhibition: from the Luddites to peace campaigners

Runing until 20 October 2024, Radical Halifax is a unique art exhibition, historical enquiry, and political intervention that seeks to recover hidden histories of the Yorkshire town’s radical past and demonstrate how people from, or with a strong connection to, Halifax have played important roles in transformative movements that sought to build a better world. The exhibition will include artworks by local artist Marcus Jack, … Continue reading Radical Halifax exhibition: from the Luddites to peace campaigners

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Labour history news

Transactions: 170th anniversary of the Preston strike and lock-out of 1853–1854

Six months into the Preston lock-out, the most famous novelist of the day visited the town in search of a story for Household Words and inspiration for his novel-in-progress, Hard Times. After three days at the Bull Hotel Charles Dickens declared Preston a ‘nasty place’ and the whole situation a ‘deplorable calamity’. He returned to London with his suspicions of trade union leaders intact and … Continue reading Transactions: 170th anniversary of the Preston strike and lock-out of 1853–1854

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Labour history news

First tranche of NUM archives now indexed online in huge Warwick MRC project

Just over half way through its three-year project to conserve and catalogue the archives of the National Union of Mineworkers, the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick has published the first five catalogues relating to early workers’ organisations in the mining industry. The vast archive collection, previously held at the NUM headquarters in Barnsley, was relocated to Warwick in January 2023 following specialist … Continue reading First tranche of NUM archives now indexed online in huge Warwick MRC project

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