Wales, 1926 and the coalfield community

Llafur, the Welsh People’s History Society, is holding a series of summer talks, panels and discussions on the 1926 General Strike and lock-out in Wales. The following programme of six online sessions will take place over the course of this summer and early autumn. All online sessions are accessible to all and will be held via Zoom at the times shown below. Summer Programme: “Now … Continue reading Wales, 1926 and the coalfield community

Exhibition: When Britain Stood Still: The General Strike at 100

To mark the 100th anniversary of the British General Strike, a new exhibition at the University of Newcastle, reveals how workers, politicians, and trade unionists faced the challenge of the General Strike and how its opponents organised to resist it. The exhibition is part of the broader General Strike 100 which brings together stories, exhibitions and events to remember the strike and its impact on working … Continue reading Exhibition: When Britain Stood Still: The General Strike at 100

1926 General Strike centenary open day report

Academics, independent historians, heritage professionals, trade unionists, activists, and many more gathered in Manchester at the People’s History Museum for a one-day conference marking the centenary of the 1926 General Strike. May 2026 marks the centenary of the 1926 General Strike when, for nine days – from 3 to 12 May 1926 – industrial production across Britain ground to a halt as trade unionists and … Continue reading 1926 General Strike centenary open day report

Call for poems for the 1926 General Strike Centenary

The Fig Tree online webzine and Crooked Spire Press of Chesterfield have announced a new special issue to commemorate the centenary of the 1926 General Strike. Submissions are sought for poems covering the following topics: Poems written specifically for this project, and not previously published elsewhere, will be selected for inclusion in a special issue of The Fig Tree. If there is sufficient interest, Crooked … Continue reading Call for poems for the 1926 General Strike Centenary

Call for 2026 SHCG Journal and Conference Submissions 

The organisers are pleased to announce an open call for submissions to the 2026 editions of the Social History Curators Group journal and conference, under the theme of ‘The Long March – Strikes, Protests and Riots Through History’.   Inspired by the centenary of the 1926 General Strike, this year’s theme invites papers that examine how museums and heritage sites engage with stories of strike, protest, rebellion, and resistance. The organisers … Continue reading Call for 2026 SHCG Journal and Conference Submissions 

On the Line: PHM explores the 1926 General Strike

A major new People’s History Museum exhibition titled On the Line explores the General Strike, bringing together powerful images and objects from the past one hundred years and taking visitors to the ‘front line’, shining a light on how communities provided ‘lifelines’ and retracing ‘battle lines’ while asking the question, ‘Where is the line?’ Marking the centenary of the 1926 strike, the exhibition opens at … Continue reading On the Line: PHM explores the 1926 General Strike

Call for papers: General Strike Exploration Day

Date – 9 May 2026Venue – People’s History MuseumAudience – Public audience and those with an interest in the working-class history, the labour movement and Manchester regional history May 2026 will mark the centenary of the General Strike when, for 9 days in May 1926, industrial production in Britain ground to a halt after trade unionists and workers tried unsuccessfully to force the government to … Continue reading Call for papers: General Strike Exploration Day

Cramlington: a place in labour history

In our continuing series on places in labour history, Quentin Outram recounts the story of the Northumberland miners who came to be known as the Cramlington train wreckers. This lonely stretch of the East Coast Main Line, nine miles north of Newcastle and still well over a hundred miles from Edinburgh, seems an unlikely site for history making. But during the 1926 General Strike it … Continue reading Cramlington: a place in labour history

Canklow meadows: a place in labour history

In our continuing series on places in labour history, Joe Stanley draws on his family’s history to recall the pit pony races that raised money and the morale of Rotherham miners during the 1926 general strike. In 1997, my great uncle Denis Stanley (1920-2011) published a history of his childhood in Brinsworth, Rotherham, in the Ivanhoe Review, a journal of local history in his home … Continue reading Canklow meadows: a place in labour history

CfP: The British General Strike of 1926: New Directions of Research

To commemorate the centenary of the British General Strike and miners’ lock-out, Newcastle University’s Labour & Society Research Group (LSRG) is organising a conference that revisits the historical experience of 1926 through the lens of new scholarship that is concerned with the global, spatial and maritime turns in labour history. Titled ‘The British General Strike of 1926: New Directions of Research’, the conference will take … Continue reading CfP: The British General Strike of 1926: New Directions of Research