Chartism Day 2025 report: landscape and the crowd, emancipation and revolution

Academic and independent historians, Chartist enthusiasts and the Chartism curious gathered in Huddersfield for the annual Chartism Day event, the latest in a series of conferences that first ran in 1993. With centuries of history as a site of working-class radicalism from Luddism to Owenite socialism and beyond, Huddersfield proved to be the ideal venue for Chartism Day 2025. Taking place at Heritage Quay, a … Continue reading Chartism Day 2025 report: landscape and the crowd, emancipation and revolution

Chartism Day 2025: book now

Chartism Day 2025 will take place on Saturday, 6 September at Heritage Quay, University of Huddersfield. Book your ticket now on Eventbrite PAPERSProfessor Peter Gurney: The Chartist Revolution: an argumentDr Joan Allen Daniel O’Connell, the Chartists and contested understandings of the language of emancipation, 1819-1840Dr Dave Steele: The Powerful Crowd: reputational power and Chartist meetingsProfessor Stephen Milner: Pre-modern Italy and the working class: the renaissance … Continue reading Chartism Day 2025: book now

Both Sides of the Barricade: Luddite Memorial Lecture 2023

During the Luddite and Peterloo period, many radical activists were ex-servicemen of the Napoleonic Wars. This year’s Luddite Memorial Lecture, titled Both Sides of the Barricade, looked at the soldiers and ex-servicemen in early nineteenth-century popular politics. During the evening, Professor Nick Mansfield of the University of Central Lancashire, the author of a two-volume labour history of rank-and-file soldiers, highlighted many of the ‘military radicals’ … Continue reading Both Sides of the Barricade: Luddite Memorial Lecture 2023

Nature’s missionary: the life of Seth Lister Mosley

Seth Lister Mosley was one of those great Victorian social radicals who by the latter years of the nineteenth century were doing so much to transform life in Britain’s towns and cities. Born into a working-class family and with little formal education, he became a pioneering naturalist and populariser of science – and can fairly be described as an early exponent of environmentalism. Widely known … Continue reading Nature’s missionary: the life of Seth Lister Mosley

Going to the dogs: celebrating fifty years with Professor Keith Laybourn

Keith Laybourn drew on a lifetime of learning and experience for his valedictory lecture this month to an audience filled with colleagues and friends, as Janette Martin reports. Diamond Jubilee Professor Emeritus Keith Laybourn delivered his valedictory lecture, marking fifty years’ service at the University of Huddersfield, to an audience filled with friends, colleagues and former students. Keith’s theme was ‘The politics of working-class gambling … Continue reading Going to the dogs: celebrating fifty years with Professor Keith Laybourn

John L Halstead (1936-2021)

John Halstead, who has died aged 85, was among the earliest members of the Society for the Study of Labour History, and over a period of six decades occupied nearly every post within the Society, contributing his time and expertise unstintingly to serve as editor, chair, secretary and latterly vice-president. Born in Huddersfield, and educated at Highburton Church of England elementary school and Penistone Grammar … Continue reading John L Halstead (1936-2021)

SSLH backs campaign to save Luddite pub from demolition

An 18th century pub that played a central part in the story of Luddism in West Yorkshire faces demolition after plans to replace it with housing were submitted to the local council. The Shears Inn at Liversedge was host to regular gatherings of local croppers at the start of the 19th century, and in early 1812 was the venue for a meeting at which plans … Continue reading SSLH backs campaign to save Luddite pub from demolition

SSLH-backed video puts Caribbean connection at the heart of Huddersfield’s NHS history

A new production from Kirklees Local TV (KLTV) offers a local perspective on the wider history of the National Health Service. Produced as part of Black History Month 2020, the video is made in partnership with the University of Huddersfield and received funded from the Society of Social History and the Society for the Study of Labour History. It can be seen here. The production … Continue reading SSLH-backed video puts Caribbean connection at the heart of Huddersfield’s NHS history

Huddersfield’s NHS: the Caribbean connection

The contribution made by the African Caribbean descent community (ACDC) to the NHS in the Kirklees area of West Yorkshire forms the focus of a local history initiative sponsored by the Society for the Study of Labour History. Led by Professor Barry Doyle and colleagues at the University of Huddersfield, and working with not-for-profit community filmmaker Kirklees Local TV (KLTV), the project will result in a 30-minute digital production, … Continue reading Huddersfield’s NHS: the Caribbean connection