The fifth annual John Halstead Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Professor John Goodridge, President of the John Clare Society. Organised by the Society for the Study of Labour History and taking place at the John Rylands Library, Manchester on Saturday 13 June 2026, the lecture will be titled ‘Reading by glow worm: the struggles of labouring-class poets’. All are welcome, but you must register … Continue reading John Halstead Memorial Lecture 2026
Manchester (with Liverpool and Chester) Branch of the Historical Association is running a series of lunchtime lectures, taking place at Friends’ Meeting House, 6 Mount Street, Manchester, M2 5NS. Admission is free for members of the Historical Association and £4 for non-members. All lectures begin at 12 midday. Saturday, 18 October 2025. Talk by Dr. Natalie Zacek (University of Manchester) on Manchester and Transatlantic Slavery. Saturday, … Continue reading Lunchtime lectures in Manchester
Liberal interpretations of the Chartist movement continue to dominate the views of historians and of general society, Professor Peter Gurney argued in delivering the Society’s fourth annual John Halstead Memorial Lecture at the John Rylands Library in Manchester in June. Setting out to challenge the dominance of liberal readings which commonly argued that those Chartist demands which had proved feasible had eventually found their way … Continue reading The Chartist Revolution: a challenge to liberalism and market capitalism
Professor Peter Gurney will deliver the Society for the Study of Labour History’s annual John Halstead Memorial Lecture at the John Rylands Library, Manchester, on Saturday 14 June 2025. All welcome. Booking essential as places are strictly limited. Reserve your place. Continue reading Lecture: The Chartist Revolution – book now
The Labour Movement originated not in a single event or location but over time and as the result of events in many places. Among the most important of these was the West Riding of Yorkshire, where the Independent Labour Party was formed in the 1880s. In the second annual John L. Halstead Memorial Lecture, Professor Keith Laybourn spoke on ‘The Rising Sun of Socialism: The … Continue reading Video: The Rising Sun of Socialism and the Labour Movement in West Yorkshire 1884-1914
Mike Sanders, Professor of Nineteenth Century Literature & Culture at the University of Manchester and a member of the Society’s executive committee, delivered his inaugural professorial lecture at the John Rylands Library on Wednesday 31 May. The lecture was titled ‘Singing Sweet Liberty’: John Stafford and the creation of radical memory from Luddism to Chartism. The lecture explored the role played by song in creating … Continue reading ‘Singing Sweet Liberty’: Michael Sanders’ inaugural professorial lecture
Labour historian and former People’s History Museum director Nick Mansfield is to deliver his inaugural professorial lecture at the University of Central Lancashire on “Nineteenth century misfits: celebration, insurrection and ‘back to the land’. A lecture for Mental Health Awareness Week, 2021.” Professor Mansfield has researched 19th and 20th century working class history since the 1970s, and has written extensively on artisans, farmworkers, patriotic labour … Continue reading Nineteenth century misfits: Nick Mansfield inaugural professorial lecture
Society for the Study of Labour History 