Samuel Smiles and working-class politics: a new work from the late Malcolm Chase

A new posthumously published article by the late Malcolm Chase appears in the current issue of the Journal of Victorian Culture thanks to the efforts of his family and friends1. It deals with the champion of working-class self improvement Samuel Smiles, and is made available on open access here. The article is based on papers which were never published, but which Malcolm gave in person, … Continue reading Samuel Smiles and working-class politics: a new work from the late Malcolm Chase

EditorMCOctober 19, 2023

SSLH news

SSLH bursaries: financial support for labour history researchers

Are you supervising a student studying a labour history topic for their dissertation in 2023-24? Or do you know a postgraduate researcher (MA and doctoral) or independent scholar engaged in postgraduate-level research in labour history? A bursary could provide support to fund archive or library research. The Society for the Study of Labour History offers up to £500 for undergraduate (final year) and taught Masters … Continue reading SSLH bursaries: financial support for labour history researchers

EditorMCOctober 8, 2023

Labour history news, SSLH news

A touch of labour history for BBC Union history series

In Union, a major new television series for the BBC, historian Professor David Olusoga examines questions of national identity, social class and inequality, ‘shining a light on our fractured modern society through the lens of the past, exposing the fault lines dividing the UK’, as publicity material for the four-episode series puts it. And in episode three, The Two Nations, he reaches the nineteenth century, … Continue reading A touch of labour history for BBC Union history series

EditorMCOctober 3, 2023

SSLH news

SSLH members’ newsletter, October 2023

The October 2023 issue of our members’ newsletter is out now. If you are a member of the Society for the Study of Labour History, you will have received this in a PDF document by email. You can also download it from the Members’ Resources page here on the website. The newsletter is not sent to non-members, who are, instead, invited to join us. Continue reading SSLH members’ newsletter, October 2023

EditorMCOctober 2, 2023

SSLH news

University of Chichester: cuts to history programmes

The Society for the Study of Labour History joins the Social History Society and many other organisations and individuals in regretting the announcement by the University of Chichester to suspend recruitment to two important history programmes, the unique MRes in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora and the BA Modern History. In axing these programmes, the University of Chichester has placed two highly respected historians … Continue reading University of Chichester: cuts to history programmes

EditorMCAugust 7, 2023

Events, Grants, SSLH news

Report: Working-class Anti-imperialism and the Global Left: New Directions of Study

The Labour and Empire Working Group has held conferences and other events for nearly ten years as part of the European Labour History Network (ELHN). In 2023, the Group held a one-day conference titled ‘Working-class Anti-imperialism and the Global Left: New Directions of Study’ at the University of Bristol, which we were able to attend thanks to travel bursaries made possible by the Society for … Continue reading Report: Working-class Anti-imperialism and the Global Left: New Directions of Study

EditorMCJuly 14, 2023July 14, 2023

SSLH news

SSLH members’ newsletter, July 2023

The July 2023 issue of our members’ newsletter is out now. If you are a member of the Society for the Study of Labour History, you will have received this in a PDF document by email. You can also download it from the Members’ Resources page here on the website. The newsletter is not sent to non-members, who are, instead, invited to join us. Continue reading SSLH members’ newsletter, July 2023

EditorMCJune 30, 2023

Events, SSLH news

Chartism Day 2023 report: ‘You tyrants of England! Your race may soon be run…’

This year’s Chartism Day was in Sheffield, with papers on the land plan, the poet Thomas Cooper, the ‘paper pantheon’, Chartism’s first historian of the modern era, and the lives of Chartists in France Held on Saturday 17 June, Chartism Day 2023 opened with a fitting tribute to Stephen Roberts – the organiser of the first such event in 1995, and a leading Chartist historian … Continue reading Chartism Day 2023 report: ‘You tyrants of England! Your race may soon be run…’

EditorMCJune 20, 2023June 20, 2023

Labour history news, SSLH news

The Gallows Pole: how a community of weavers nearly crashed the economy

A television drama that tells the extraordinary story of the Cragg Vale Coiners is now on BBC iPlayer. And you may just spot a familiar face in the cast. Even by the standards of the day, life in the Pennines weaving communities of Cragg Vale in the second half of the eighteenth century could be tough. But in the 1760s, this isolated valley, close to … Continue reading The Gallows Pole: how a community of weavers nearly crashed the economy

EditorMCMay 15, 2023June 1, 2023

SSLH news

SSLH members’ newsletter April 2023

The April 2023 issue of our members’ newsletter is out now. If you are a member of the Society for the Study of Labour History, you will have received this in a PDF document by email. You can also download it from the Members’ Resources page here on the website. The newsletter is not sent to non-members, who are, instead, invited to join us. Continue reading SSLH members’ newsletter April 2023

EditorMCMarch 30, 2023