Seeking information on the mining explosion at Maypole Colliery, Wigan (1908)

Do you have information on the mining explosion at the Mapole Colliery, in Abram, Wigan in August 1908? Tish Gibbons would like to hear from you. Tish is researching the Irish men killed in the mining explosion at the Maypole Colliery, in Abram, Wigan on the 18 August 1908.  Newspaper coverage at the time suggested that 18 were Irish, and 13 from County Mayo alone. … Continue reading Seeking information on the mining explosion at Maypole Colliery, Wigan (1908)

Online series: Radical Women, 1819 to 1928

Michael Herbert (Red Flag Walks) has announced an eight week course covering the history of radical women in Britain between 1819 and 1918. The course will run online via Zoom each Sunday for eight weeks at 2:00pm, beginning on Sunday 11 October and ending on Sunday 29 November. The course will cover the following themes: Female Reform Societies and the 1819 Peterloo Massacre: In the … Continue reading Online series: Radical Women, 1819 to 1928

Book: Minutes of Manchester and Salford Women’s Trades Union Council

“All help possible will be given”: The complete Minutes of the Manchester and Salford Women’s Trades Union Council, 1895 – 1919. Transcribed by Bernadette Hyland, edited by Michael Herbert. Manchester and Salford Women’s Trades Union Council was set up in 1895 and continuing in existence until 1919 when it merged with the men’s trades council to form a single body. During its quarter of a … Continue reading Book: Minutes of Manchester and Salford Women’s Trades Union Council

Charles Glyde’s The Bradford Socialist Vanguard is now available online

Researchers and labour historians can now get access to The Bradford Socialist Vanguard via The British Newspaper Archive. Launched in 1908 by its editor Charles Glyde, the paper was to ‘be run in the interest of the wage-earners’ as an alternative to ‘chaotic capitalism’. Originaly costing just one halfpenny as a monthly edition, it is available in two runs from 1908-10 and 1912-1920. The Bradford … Continue reading Charles Glyde’s The Bradford Socialist Vanguard is now available online

Book reviews in Labour History Review volume 90 (2025), Issue 1

The books listed below are reviewed in Labour History Review (2024), 89, (3). Read more. Joseph Stanley reviews John Sanders, Workers of Their Own Emancipation: Working-Class Leadership and Organisation in the West Riding Textile District, 1829–1839, London: Breviary Stuff Publications, 2024, pp. xii + 536, p/b, £24.99, ISBN 978 19161 58672 John Cunningham reviews Peter Gray, William Sharman Crawford and Ulster Radicalism, Dublin: UCD Press, 2023, pp. xix + 467, … Continue reading Book reviews in Labour History Review volume 90 (2025), Issue 1

Gertrude Tuckwell and the Women’s Trade Union League papers online

From 1885 when she first arrived in London aged twenty-four to become secretary to her aunt, the writer, suffragette and trade unionist Emily Dilke, until her retirement in January 1921, Gertrude Tuckwell was among the most prominent and influential figures in the women’s trade union movement. In nearly four decades of activism, she first became active in the Women’s Trade Union League, serving as its … Continue reading Gertrude Tuckwell and the Women’s Trade Union League papers online

Are you a socialist? The ILP’s six-point test for would-be members

‘Are you a socialist?’ enquired the Independent Labour Party in a recruitment leaflet published in March 1909. It went on to list six questions about the reader’s beliefs, to which, if the answer were to be ‘yes’, the appropriate course of action would be to join the ILP and help carry its principles into effect. The leaflet itself is of little significance. It includes an … Continue reading Are you a socialist? The ILP’s six-point test for would-be members

Dockers’ union rosette in red, white and green

This fine rosette carries at its centre the badge of the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Workers’ Union. Originating as the Tea Operatives and General Labourers’ Association in 1887, the union played a central role in the London dock strike two years later, becoming that same year the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers’ Union of Great Britain. The rosette and badge shown here, however, … Continue reading Dockers’ union rosette in red, white and green

Alex Doyle (Leeds) on the Cuban labour movement’s opposition to colonialism and imperialism, 1898-1914

Having spent a long time studying Cuba from afar, I was thrilled to get the opportunity to visit and experience the country beyond the written word. My research looks at workers’ movements and imperialism in early twentieth century Cuba. With the help of funding from the Society for the Study of Labour History, I was able to visit the country to consult new archival material, … Continue reading Alex Doyle (Leeds) on the Cuban labour movement’s opposition to colonialism and imperialism, 1898-1914