Bliss Tweed Mill: Prosecuted Strikers/Supporters, 1914 CN = Chipping Norton Name Address Age Started Work at Bliss Mill Occupation Sentence Re-engaged Walter Bowen 1 Finsbury Place, CN 25 Baker (his father, John, was a striker) Bound over 12 months John Bowen re-engaged 06/11/1916 Annie Cooper 16 Spring Street, CN 50 About 1888 Machine Feeder 14 days No Charles A Dixon 4 London Road, CN 21 About 1905 Yarn Store Hand Bound over 12 months No John (Jack) Gee 3 Kimberly Place, West Street, CN 29 […]
"Founded in 1960, the Society for the Study of Labour History (SSLH) is the UK’s principal organisation dedicated to the study of labour history. Membership is open to everyone who would like to learn more about labour history and heritage whether on a professional or amateur basis. The SSLH publishes the journal the Labour History Review, organises regular conferences and actively promotes the preservation of historical resources connected to the labour movement."
"Welcome to the website of the Scottish Labour History Society. We are an independent organisation unaffiliated with any political party, but have enjoyed strong practical, moral and financial support from the broader trade union, labour and co-operative movement for over half a century. We aim to strengthen these links, and we welcome new members and affiliates who can help us to: Promote labour and working class history; form and run regional labour history groups and workshops; expand our […]
The North West Labour History Society was formed in 1973 to promote and popularise the knowledge and study of all aspects of labour history in the north west of England. Members and contributors to our journal include Trade Unionists, academics, students – ordinary people with a passion for our history. Our aims include the following: bringing together those interested in the history of the working class and its organisations, unions, co-operative societies or political bodies publishing an […]
"Founded in 1967, the North East Labour History Society is Britain's oldest regional labour history society. It is dedicated to the study of working people's history in the region, particularly during the modern period. We have a committee drawn up from labour historians and activists in the region. We encourage an atmosphere of debate and discussion on both historical and contemporary issues."
1910 saw a renewed outbreak of industrial strife as significant sections of the trade union rank-and-file began to express their frustration at the lack of progress made in their struggle for better working conditions and a new social order. Strikes reached levels not seen since the ‘new unionism’ upsurge of 1889-92. Worker unrest combined with clashes over Home Rule for Ireland and the militant tactics of suffrage campaigners added to the problems of the ruling class who, confronted by these […]
On 16 November 1913, the Bristol Trades Council held a public meeting at the Empire Music Hall in support of the workers locked out by their employers in Dublin. Some 2,000 people turned up to hear William Partridge of the Dublin Trades Council condemn the attempt to destroy the militant Irish Transport and General Workers Union and starve 25,000 workers, men and women into surrender. The Dublin employers had the full backing of the Liberal government with Bristol MP, Augustine Birrell, Chief […]
Eighteenth of December 2013 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the commencement of the Bliss Tweed Mill strike in Chipping Norton. The years 1910 to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 witnessed an upsurge in strike activity in Great Britain and Ireland involving many thousands of workers. By the summer of 1914, strikes, in the coal, cotton, transport, metal, engineering, shipbuilding and building industries, were viewed by the government as a crisis of severe proportions. This […]
The National Health Service founded in 1948 was inspired by a self-help system which Aneurin Bevan had participated in as a young man. After working as a coal miner in South Wales, he served on the hospital committee of the Tredegar Medical Aid Society which ran hospitals and convalescent homes for miners as well as employing family doctors and even providing benefits for the dependants of the members. Later as a Labour MP for Ebbw Vale he took up the idea which was familiar to him and, as […]
In 1834, six Dorset farm labourers were condemned to transportation to Australia for forming an early trade union. These 'Tolpuddle Martyrs' have become an iconic part of modern British history. But three years before the events in Tolpuddle, rural England was rocked with a massive upr1sing of farm labourers known as the 'Swing Riots'. Dr. Ball analyses why 'Tolpuddle' has lodged in popular memory and the far more significant events of 'Swing' have been distorted and forgotten. W.l. Hall, North […]
