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north east history north north east history volume 44 east history N orth Volume 44 2013 E ast H istory 44 2013 Consett: a photo essay Peter Brabban Popular Politics Project Final Event March 2013 Politics in the Piggery: Chartism in the Ouseburn 1838-1848 Mike Greatbatch An Uneasy relationship? Labour and the Suffragettes The north east labour history society holds regular meetings on in the North East Sue Jones a wide variety of subjects. The society welcomes new members. We have an increasingly busy web-site at www.nelh.org Competition, conflict and regulation: the Foyboatmen Supporters are welcome to contribute to discussions 1900-1950 Adrian Osler Their Geordies and Ours- Part 1 Dave Harker journal of the north east labour history society Volume 44 http://nelh.org/ 2013 journal of the north east labour history society north east history north east Volume 44 2013 history ISSN 14743248 © 2013 NORTHUMBERLAND Printed by Azure Printing Units 1 F & G Pegswood Industrial Estate Pegswood Morpeth TYNE & Northumberland WEAR NE61 6HZ Tel: 01670 510271 DURHAM TEESSIDE journal of the north east labour history society www.nelh.net 1 north east history Contents Editorial 5 Covers Notes & Acknowledgements 9 Notes on Contributors 11 Mapping Popular Politics Project Consett: a photo essay Peter Brabban 15 Politics in the Piggery: Chartism in the Mike Greatbatch 33 Ouseburn 1838-1848 Parentages of Martin Jude and John Burnett Edward Davies 62 Oral History Interviews Liz O’Donnell 66 Thomas Wilson: the Great Hoarder Maria Goulding and 73 Judith MacSwaine A Cemetery for Newcastle’s Dissenters Sue King 77 Daniel Liddell Judith MacSwaine 81 Articles Labour and the Suffragettes: An uneasy Sue Jones 86 relationship Easington Colliery 1919-1934: Harry Barnes 104 The Years of Definition A battle not for jobs but livelihoods: James English 123 the Miners’ strike in County Durham (2012 Winner of the Sid Chaplin Labour History Trophy) Owenism in Action: Ashington and Thomas uinceyQ 138 Hirst Co-operative Society in the 1920s Competition, conflict and regulation: Adrian Osler 154 the Foyboatmen 1900-1950 Their Geordies and Ours –Part 1 Dave Harker 169 Appreciations Rene Chaplin Michael Chaplin 190 Pete Steffens Tony Wild 194 2 north east history Poems A Prayer for the Loners Keith Armstrong 196 Turn the telly on Billy Hunt-Vincent 198 Reviews, edited by Willie Thompson Chris Foote Wood, T. Dan Smith: Downfall of a Visionary, 2010. John Creaby 200 Jim Phillips, Collieries, communities and the miners’ strike in Scotland, 1984- 85. Manchester University Press, 2012. Don Watson 209 Derek Gillum, Banners of Pride: Memories of the Durham Miners’ Gala , Summerhill Books, Newcastle, 2009. Stuart Howard 212 Peter Ford Mason,The Pitsinkers of Northumberland and Durham. The History Press, 2012 Win Stokes 213 Jane Bowen (ed), Further Aspects of Belford, Belford, 2011 John Charlton 215 Mick Neave & Susan Lynn, Blaydon & Winlaton Through Time, Amberley, 2012 Roger Hall 216 At the back... Secretary’s Report 219 Committee 224 Sid Chaplin Memorial Trophy 225 Constitution 226 How to join the Society 227 3 north east history This book can be obtained free of charge from email: [email protected] 4 north east history EDITORIAL This year’s journal again reflects the healthy state of interest in the history of the lives, work and struggles of people in the north east of England. It is very striking that many of the themes are so politically resonant still today both locally, nationally and even internationally: struggles for political and employment rights, campaigns to keep jobs, protect livelihoods and support communities. The opening section includes a series of articles which have directly or indirectly emerged from the Mapping Popular Politics Project which concluded on March 13th this year with a large celebratory event in the Bewick Hall, Newcastle Central Library. This project had taken up nearly three years of some of our lives and must be regarded as a great success. It has created a data base which can be an important resource for many historians of the north east England. It can be accessed at: www.nelh2010. org Of equal importance it has brought into the Society many new people, several of whom have already become writers for North East History. Over the next few years more should be making a contribution to its pages. This year we open with Peter Brabban’s eye-witness account (with photos) of the Consett Ironworks closure campaign. This piece also raises interesting questions about the nature of photographs as historical evidence. We also have a substantial article on local Chartism by Mike Greatbatch which is one of the few attempts in chartist scholarship to trace the story of working class Chartism in one small industrial village. This is complemented by a short piece on the genealogy of two local chartists, Martin Jude and John Burnett, by Edward Davies. We then have an article by Liz O’Donnell on the contribution of oral history to the project; we hope that the next edition of the journal will reflect the continuation of this work. We are also carrying three pieces by project members which might be considered work 5 north east history in progress. They are Sue King’s work on the political campaign by dissenters to obtain a proper burial ground, Judith MacSwaine’s brief biography of the anti-corn law campaigner, Daniel Liddell. Finally for this volume we also carry Judith McSwaine and Maria Goulding’s note on working with the Thomas Wilson Papers at the Newcastle Central Library. Among the pieces hoped for in future editions of the journal are a comparative study of Berwick on Tweed in 1913 and 2013, the origins of public parks in Newcastle and Sue Pearson’s work on the radical Newcastle Councillor, William Newton. The next section opens with Sue Jones’ article on Labour and the Suffragettes in the North East which provides an insight into the active campaigning of women for the vote and their sometimes uneasy relationship with the growing Labour Party. This discussion is timely in a year in which events marking the women’s suffrage campaign have been held across the region. The next group of articles builds on the coalfield communities series from the 2012 edition. Harry Barnes concludes his three part monograph on Easington Colliery, for the first part of which he was deservedly awarded the Local History prize. Part 3 focuses on 1919-1939, years which were characterised both by the rapid growth of the coalfield community and by long disputes. The author’s personal engagement with the town of his birth is illustrated by a photograph of a local football team which includes his father and two of his father’s brothers. This is followed by two articles by novice researchers, both of whom have adapted much longer academic theses to meet the requirements of the journal. The first of these is by James English who won the Sid Chaplin Labour History Trophy in 2012 with his article on the miners’ strike in Co. Durham. His article emphasises the importance of focusing on local experiences and voices; it draws on interviews with nine people who played varying roles in the strike. What emerges both complements and also sometimes contrasts with the histories which foreground national leaders and their powerful stories. 6 north east history Thomas Quincey’s article on the Ashington and Hirst Co-operative Society in the 1920s is a welcome addition which extends the exploration of co-operatives which was the second key theme of the 2012 edition into Northumberland. It discusses the role of the Co-op in Ashington, a role which went well beyond its shops with their dividends to support for the provision of welfare and recreation. It saw itself as a proud upholder of the Owenite principles of the pioneering Rochdale Co-op in often difficult times. Adrian Osler’s article on the foyboatmen is a wonderful tribute to a lost occupation on the Tyne and to the huge value of this kind of detailed research using local archives. He focuses mainly on the twentieth century but also looks back to the early years of the nineteenth when enterprising foyboatmen competed with each other to hook on to a ship before it entered the Tyne. Dave Harker knows more than anyone about the shared popular culture and language of Northumberland, Scotland and the borders in between. His detailed examination of the word ‘Geordies’ in songs and pamphlets is a good reminder a year before the referendum in Scotland on independence, of the porous nature of borders and of how they unite as well as divide. In the first part of his study published this year, Dave traces the use of ‘Geordies’ from 1600 until the late nineteenth century; he will conclude next year with a discussion of political activity among the Geordies. Appreciations of those who have made significant contributions to the society and/or the wider world of the lives of working people have always been a feature of the journal. This year we have a wonderfully warm one by Michael Chaplin of his mother Rene who died in 2012 in the words he spoke at the ceremony of farewell and celebration This is followed by Tony Wild’s appreciation of Pete Steffens, who also died in 2012 and is remembered with affection by many. Poems can often make an impact and catch the emotions in ways which more formal writing does not and our two poems this year by Keith Armstrong and Billy Hunt- Vincent are no exception. Keith’s is from his 7 north east history poetry collection, Splinters and it is followed by Billy Hunt- Vincent’s Turn the Telly On ; both express the outrage many of us feel at the moment.