North East History 39 2008 History Volume 39 2008
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north east history north north east history volume 39 east biography and appreciation North East History 39 2008 history Volume 39 2008 Doug Malloch Don Edwards 1918-2008 1912-2005 John Toft René & Sid Chaplin Special Theme: Slavery, abolition & north east England This is the logo from our web site at:www.nelh.net. Visit it for news of activities. You will find an index of all volumes 1819: Newcastle Town Moor Reform Demonstration back to 1968. Chartism:Repression or restraint 19th Century Vaccination controversies plus oral history and reviews Volume 39 north east labour history society 2008 journal of the north east labour history society north east history north east history Volume 39 2008 ISSN 14743248 NORTHUMBERLAND © 2008 Printed by Azure Printing Units 1 F & G Pegswood Industrial Estate TYNE & Pegswood WEAR Morpeth Northumberland NE61 6HZ Tel: 01670 510271 DURHAM TEESSIDE Editorial Collective: Willie Thompson (Editor) John Charlton, John Creaby, Sandy Irvine, Lewis Mates, Marie-Thérèse Mayne, Paul Mayne, Matt Perry, Ben Sellers, Win Stokes (Reviews Editor) and Don Watson . journal of the north east labour history society www.nelh.net north east history Contents Editorial 5 Notes on Contributors 7 Acknowledgements and Permissions 8 Articles and Essays 9 Special Theme – Slavery, Abolition and North East England Introduction John Charlton 9 Black People and the North East Sean Creighton 11 America, Slavery and North East Quakers Patricia Hix 25 The Republic of Letters Peter Livsey 45 A Northumbrian Family in Jamaica - The Hendersons of Felton Valerie Glass 54 Sunderland and Abolition Tamsin Lilley 67 Articles 1819:Waterloo, Peterloo and Newcastle Town Moor John Charlton 79 Chartism – Repression of Restraint? Ben Nixon 109 Smallpox Vaccination Controversy Candice Brockwell 121 The Society’s Fortieth Anniversary Stuart Howard 137 People's Theatre: People's Education Keith Armstrong 144 2 north east history Recollections John Toft interview with John Creaby 153 Douglas Malloch interview with John Charlton 179 Educating René pt. 1 René Chaplin 191 Poem Splinters (For my Father) (Keith Armstrong) 198 Appreciations Bill Griffiths Bill Lancaster 200 Don Edwards John Charlton 205 Tony Hepburn Fergus Campbell 208 Reviews Lewis H. Mates, The Spanish Civil War and British Left: Political Activism and the Popular Front (Keith Armstrong) 211 Malcolm Chase, Chartism – A New History (Matt Perry) 221 Jill Liddington, Rebel Girls: Their Fight for the Vote (Val Duncan) 224 Robert Lee, The Church of England and the Durham Coalfield – Clergymen, Capitalists and Colliers; (Win Stokes) 227 Byran Talbot, Alice in Sunderland – an Entertainment (Win Stokes) 229 Bill Griffiths (compiler) Pitmatic: The Talk of the North East Coalfield ; A Dictionary of North East Dialect (Michael Chaplin) 230 3 north east history Jane Bowen, ed., and Members of the Belford and District Local History Society, Aspects of Belford (John Charlton) 235 Jacky Longstaff & Chris Wharton, Room: photographs & essays from the Town Moor, Newcastle upon Tyne (John Charlton) 237 Kevin Morgan, Gidon Cohen and Andrew Flinn, Communists and British Society 1920-1991 (Willie Thompson) 238 Grigor McClelland (ed), Arthur McClelland: From Tyne to Tsar – a cargo steamer’s voyage in 1905 (Nick Howard) 242 Joan Allen, Joseph Cowen and Popular Radicalism on Tyneside, 1829-1900; (Nigel Todd) 246 Ian Roberts and Bellingham WEA, Telling Tales Out of School: A History of Education in North Tynedale and Redesdale from 1870-1944 (Nigel Todd) 248 Dave Renton, Colour Blind? Race and Migration in North East England Since 1945 (Nigel Todd) 250 Ken & Jean Smith, The Great Northern Miners (Bernard Newbold) 252 At the Back... North East Labour History Society notebook 255 Secretary’s Report 256 Sid Chaplin Memorial Trophy 260 WEA 2008 Report 261 Enthusiasms 264 Constitution 265 Public Meetings 266 4 north east history EDITORIAL In 1807 the British government was at last pressured (after procrastinating for nearly two decades supposedly to protect British liberties from French revolutionaries) into declaring the prohibition of the slave trade which had flourished for nearly a century and a half –though this measure did not abolish slavery itself, which remained wholly legal in the British Empire (mostly the West Indies) until 1833 – and even then the slaves were not fully freed until five years later. The trade itself continued illegally of course, but at least this was a start. Forced, or virtually forced, labour in various forms was intrinsic to the Industrial Revolution; slavery was the tip of the iceberg. Marx commented on the most advanced form of industrial production being tightly linked to the most primitive – Lancashire cotton mills with the slave plantations in the USA. In commemoration of the bicentenary, North East History No. 39 features a selection of items dealing with various aspects of connections between the North East, the slave trade, slave production and the campaign for abolition. It is surprising to discover how significant both slave connections and the abolition campaign were to the North East, as had been generally assumed that, so far as slavery was concerned, the west coast and its ports were the only really important areas. These article provides the main section of the issue. 2008 also sees the 40th anniversary of the North East Labour History Society’s foundation and we are publishing in this issue a special article by Stuart Howard to mark the event. The article is based on an interview with Archie Potts, a founder member of the Society and well known to our readers. 5 north east history It is accompanied by articles dealing with labour struggles along with social and cultural issues in the region during the nineteenth century – principally an account of the strike action and radical agitation in Newcastle in 1819; the authorities response to Chartist activity later in the century; the issue of compulsory vaccination towards its end and a first-hand account of the Newcastle People's Theatre. Poetry, an innovation in North East History and is represented in this number with a striking poem by Keith Armstrong. The next main section takes us into life histories in the twentieth century, two in the form of a lengthy interviews with labour activists John Toft and Dougie Malloch, another the other the first part of an engaging and thoughtful account by Rene Chaplin of her early life. The section following consists of a number of obituaries of recently deceased Society members and friends. Reviews on a variety of themes complete the main part of this number, ranging from an analysis of Chartism to a striking and very innovative history of Sunderland in comic-book but very substantial format, and is followed by the usual reports and announcements which keep members and the public in touch with what the Society is doing. North East History welcomes articles and short items submitted for publication and is particularly keen to encourage new writers on any relevant historical subject. 6 north east history NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Keith Armstrong is a poet, freelance writer and community publisher living in Whitley Bay. He was awarded a doctorate at the University of Durham in 2007 for his work on Jack Common. An archive of Armstrong's literary output is available for consultation at Durham University's Palace Green Library. Candice Brockwell, graduated from Newcastle University in 2007 and is currently completing a masters in British History there on Victorian Sexuality and the Beetons. Here article is adapted from the dissertation which won her the Sid Chaplin Prize. John Charlton was born and educated in Newcastle. He taught history at Leeds Polytechnic and Leeds University for thirty years before returning ‘home’. His published work includes books on Chartism and New Unionism. His new book, The Slavery Business and North East England will be published in October 2008. He is Secretary of the North East Labour History Society. Sean Creighton is a freelance historian. He was Archival Mapping and Research Officer for the Tyne & Wear Remembering Slavery Project 2007. He is volunteer co-ordinator of the North East Slavery & Abolition Group. His historical involvements include labour, mutual and social action, UK Black & Asian, and culture. www.seancreighton.co.uk Valerie Glass became interested in Caribbean History through teaching pupils of Caribbean origin in Primary Schools in Bedford, Leicester and Leeds. She retired from her position as Head Teacher in 2004 and now lives in North Northumberland. She is Secretary of the local branch of the Northumberland and Durham Family History Society. Patricia Hix taught in Hampshire Primary Schools with special responsibility for Environmental Studies including History. She 7 north east history became Hampshire's Multicultural Development Officer and then Intercultural Resources Officer. From 1991 until she retired, she was Slide Librarian and then Lecture Service Co-ordinator for the National Trust. Her special interests are social history and the history of race relations. She is currently secretary to both Fawdon and Coxlodge Local History Society and the Association of Northumberland History Societies. (At the time of writing,) Tamsin Lilley was Curatorial Assistant for the Tyne and Wear Museums' Remembering Slavery 2007 programme. She is now working as Heritage Officer for the Greater Morpeth Development Trust, working with the local community to develop and promote Morpeth's heritage. Peter Livsey was Senior Education Inspector - Secondary with Durham LEA. He is a member of the Literary and Philosophical Society and was a volunteer on projects commemorating the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. Ben James Nixon is a postgraduate at Newcastle University and a native of Wallsend. He is a self-proclaimed all-rounder with interests ranging from the Classical World to the Modern period. He looks forward to a restful break and seeing his work on Chartism in print. Acknowledgements and permissions Thanks to the Tyne and Wear Archives for use of the Women's Anti-slavery Petition (cover), the portrait of James Field Stanfield and the Milk Jug.