![Jarrow Marchers en route to London (3084877308)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Jarrow_Marchers_en_route_to_London_%283084877308%29.jpg)
The Jarrow March of 5–31 October 1936, also known as the Jarrow Crusade, was an organised protest against the unemployment and poverty suffered in the English town of
Jarrow
Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. It is home to the southern portal of the Tyne ...
, near
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
, during the 1930s. Around 200 men (or "Crusaders" as they preferred to be referred to) marched from Jarrow to London, carrying a petition to the British government requesting the re-establishment of industry in the town following the closure in 1934 of its main employer,
Palmer's shipyard. The petition was received by the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
but not debated, and the march produced few immediate results. The Jarrovians went home believing that they had failed.
Jarrow had been a settlement since at least the 8th century. In the early 19th century, a coal industry developed before the establishment of the shipyard in 1851. Over the following 80 years more than 1,000 ships were launched in Jarrow. In the 1920s, a combination of mismanagement and changed world trade conditions following the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
brought a decline which led eventually to the yard's closure. Plans for its replacement by a modern steelworks plant were frustrated by opposition from the
British Iron and Steel Federation
The British Iron and Steel Federation (BISF), formed in 1934, was an organisation of British iron and steel producers responsible for the national planning of steel production. Its creation was imposed on the industry by Ramsay MacDonald's Nation ...
, an employers' organisation with its own plans for the industry. The failure of the steelworks plan, and the lack of any prospect of large-scale employment in the town, were the final factors that led to the decision to march.
Marches of the unemployed to London, termed "
hunger marches
Hunger marches are a form of social protest that arose in the United Kingdom during the early 20th century. Often the marches involved groups of men and women walking from areas with high unemployment, to London where they would protest outside pa ...
", had taken place since the early 1920s, mainly organised by the
National Unemployed Workers' Movement
The National Unemployed Workers' Movement was a British organisation set up in 1921 by members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. It aimed to draw attention to the plight of unemployed workers during the post First World War slump, the 1926 ...
(NUWM), a
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
-led body. For fear of being associated with communist agitation, the
Labour Party and
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre
A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...
(TUC) leaderships stood aloof from these marches. They exercised the same policy of detachment towards the Jarrow March, which was organised by the borough council with the support of all sections of the town but without any connection with the NUWM. During their journey the Jarrow marchers received sustenance and hospitality from local branches of all the main political parties, and were given a broad public welcome on their arrival in London.
Despite the initial sense of failure among the marchers, in subsequent years, the Jarrow March became recognised by historians as a defining event of the 1930s. It helped to foster the change in attitudes which prepared the way to social reform measures after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, which their proponents thought would improve working conditions. The town holds numerous memorials to the march. Re-enactments celebrated the 50th and 75th anniversaries, in both cases invoking the "spirit of Jarrow" in their campaigns against unemployment. In contrast to the Labour Party's coldness in 1936, the post-war party leadership adopted the march as a metaphor for governmental callousness and working-class fortitude.
National background
Unemployment in Britain between the wars
In the period immediately after the end of the First World War, Britain's economy enjoyed a brief boom. Businesses rushed to replenish stocks and re-establish peacetime conditions of trade and, while prices rose rapidly, wages rose faster and unemployment was negligible. By April 1920 this boom had given way to Britain's first post-war slump, which ushered in an era of high unemployment. Britain's adoption of generally deflationary economic policies, including a return to the
gold standard
A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the la ...
in 1925,
[Pearce and Stewart, pp. 355–56] helped to ensure that the percentage of the workforce without jobs remained at around 10% for the rest of the 1920s and beyond,
[ well above the normal pre-war levels. During the world recession that began in 1929 and lasted until 1932, the percentage of unemployed peaked at 22%, representing more than 3 million workers.][
Unemployment was particularly heavy in Britain's traditional staple export industries—coal mining, shipbuilding, iron and steel and textiles—all of which were in a slow decline from their Victorian heyday. Because of the concentration of these industries in the north of England, in ]Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
and in Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, the percentage of unemployed persons in these regions was significantly higher, sometimes more than double, than in the south throughout the interwar period.[ The decline of these industries helped to create pockets of long-term unemployment outside the normal cyclical variations; some workers had no work for years.
]
Hunger Marches
In 1921, in reaction to the rising levels of unemployment, the newly formed British Communist Party
The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...
set up the National Unemployed Workers' Movement
The National Unemployed Workers' Movement was a British organisation set up in 1921 by members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. It aimed to draw attention to the plight of unemployed workers during the post First World War slump, the 1926 ...
(NUWM). From 1922 until the late 1930s, under its charismatic leader Wal Hannington
Walter "Wal" Hannington (1896–1966) was a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and National Organiser of the National Unemployed Workers' Movement, from its formation in 1921 to its end in 1939, when he became National Organis ...
, the NUWM organised regular marches in which unemployed workers converged on London to confront Parliament, in the belief that this would improve conditions.[Pearce and Stewart, p. 359] These became known as "hunger marches
Hunger marches are a form of social protest that arose in the United Kingdom during the early 20th century. Often the marches involved groups of men and women walking from areas with high unemployment, to London where they would protest outside pa ...
", reviving a name coined by the press in 1908, when a group of London's unemployed marched to Hyde Park
Hyde Park may refer to:
Places
England
* Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London
* Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds
* Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield
* Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Austra ...
.
The 1922 marchers sought a meeting with the new prime minister, Bonar Law
Andrew Bonar Law ( ; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923.
Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a ...
, who refused to see them because of their undemocratic leadership. The march leaders were denounced in ''The Times'' as "avowed Communists ... who have been identified with disturbances in their own localities". The Labour Party and the TUC kept aloof, fearful of being tainted by association with the communist organisers.[ The same pattern was followed with subsequent NUWM marches; successive prime ministers—]Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars, serving as prime minister on three occasions, ...
in 1929, Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...
in 1930 and 1934—declined to meet the marchers' representatives, and the Labour Party and the TUC continued to keep their distance. In 1931 MacDonald became head of a Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
-dominated National Government A national government is the government of a nation.
National government or
National Government may also refer to:
* Central government in a unitary state, or a country that does not give significant power to regional divisions
* Federal governme ...
that imposed a means test
A means test is a determination of whether an individual or family is eligible for government assistance or welfare, based upon whether the individual or family possesses the means to do without that help.
Canada
In Canada, means tests are use ...
on unemployment benefits. Anger at the means test was the rationale for the 1932 hunger march, in which a series of rallies and demonstrations across London broke out into considerable violence; the leaders provoked clashes with opponents and police in Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson commemo ...
and Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
which led to the arrest and imprisonment of the march's leaders. Although women were not allowed to march on the Jarrow march, women's contingents were present at other hunger marches across the 1930s. These women, who were often the wives of unemployed men, were often faced with restrictions, such as being forced to stay in workhouse
In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...
s if the local Labour Party would not accommodate them.
Two additional national marches were held in 1934 and 1936. By this time the country had made a substantial recovery from the worst depression years of 1929–32. Unemployment was significantly down,[ annual growth was averaging 4%, and many parts of the country were enjoying a substantial boom in housing and consumer goods. The increasing prosperity was not, however, uniformly spread, and there were sharp contrasts between economic conditions in the south and those in the north-east, South Wales, Scotland and elsewhere, where the rate of recovery was much slower. At the same time, the national mood was changing; external factors such as the rise of ]fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
in Europe helped to unify the British left, and there were more supportive voices in parliament on behalf of the unemployed. The idea of marching as a means of expressing political or social grievances had by now become an accepted and well-established tactic, and there was a growing awareness of the problems complained of, which counterbalanced their exploitation by the Communists. The historian A. J. P. Taylor
Alan John Percivale Taylor (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was a British historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his televis ...
considered that the hunger marchers had "displayed the failure of capitalism in a way that mere figures or literary description could not. Middle-class people felt the call of conscience".
Local background: Jarrow
Town history
Jarrow
Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. It is home to the southern portal of the Tyne ...
, situated on the River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...
in County Durham
County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly â€About North East E ...
, northern England, entered British history in the 8th century, as the home of Bede
Bede ( ; ang, BÇ£da , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
, the early Christian monk and scholar.[Wilkinson, pp. 11–12] After Bede, little changed in the remote rural community for a thousand years, although his monastery was dissolved under Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
in the 16th century. The discovery of coal in the 17th century led to major changes. Mining on an industrial scale began in the early 1800s, resulting in the population of Jarrow more than doubling between 1801 and 1821 to around 3,500, largely from the influx of mineworkers.[Wilkinson, pp. 13–16]
The town's years as a coalfield were unhappy. Living conditions in many of the hastily erected cottages were insanitary, lacking water and drainage. There was a serious outbreak of cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
in Jarrow and northeast England in the winter of 1831–32, as part of an epidemic that spread from Europe and resulted in more than 200 deaths in Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
alone.[ Relations in Jarrow between employer and employee were poor; workers were held by the "bond" system whereby they were tied to a particular employer for a year, whether or not that employer could provide work. Working conditions in the mines were dangerous: there were explosions in 1826, 1828 and 1845, each with large loss of life. Attempts by workers to organise into a trade union were fiercely opposed by the employers. Nevertheless, miners conducted lengthy strikes in 1832 and 1844, each ending when hunger forced them back to work. After the easier seams of coal were exhausted, the Jarrow pits became less profitable, and in 1851 the owners abandoned them altogether.
]
Shipbuilding
Jarrow began its development as a shipbuilding town with the establishment in 1851 of Palmer's shipyard on the banks of the River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...
. The first ship from the yard was launched in 1852, an iron-built and steam-powered collier; many more such carriers followed. In 1856 the yard began building warships, and was soon supplying many of the world's navies. With its associated iron and steel works, it became the largest shipbuilding centre in the country, employing thousands of men. Jarrow's population, at around 3,800 in 1850, had increased nearly tenfold to 35,000 by 1891.[ ] Palmer's was central to Jarrow's economy, both for the numbers employed there and for the ancillary businesses that served the needs of both the yard and town.[Ritchie, p. 15]
The shipyard generated high employment to Jarrow, but the industrial works created a harsh environment. Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Cicely Wilkinson (8 October 1891 – 6 February 1947) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Minister of Education from July 1945 until her death. Earlier in her career, as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jarrow, s ...
, the town's historian and member of parliament from 1935 to 1947, quotes a newspaper source from 1858: "There is a prevailing blackness about the neighbourhood. The houses are black, the ships are black, the sky is black, and if you go there for an hour or two, reader, you will be black". According to Wilkinson, the yard's founder, Sir Charles Palmer, "regarded it as no part of his duty to see that the conditions under which his workers had to live were either sanitary or tolerable".
In the 1890s, Britain held a near monopoly of the world's shipbuilding, with a share of around 80%. This proportion fell during the early years of the 20th century to about 60%, as other countries increased their production. Palmer's remained busy, and during the years of the First World War built many of Britain's warships: the battleship , the light cruiser , and numerous smaller vessels were all built in Jarrow. During the brief postwar boom of 1919–20, orders remained plentiful and Palmer's prospered. However, the firm's management had not anticipated the conditions that developed in the 1920s when, as Wilkinson says, "every industrial country that had bought ships from Britain was now building for itself". The firm made over-optimistic assessments of future demand, and invested accordingly. The anticipated demand did not materialise; by the mid-1920s, Palmer's was incurring heavy losses, and was close to bankruptcy.[ It was temporarily reprieved by a short-lived boom in 1929, when orders rose and the town briefly enjoyed the prospect of an economic recovery.
]
Closure of Palmer's
On 24 July 1930 Palmer's launched its thousandth ship, the tanker ''Peter Hurll'', but by this time the brief shipbuilding boom had been ended by the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, and there were no new orders on the firm's books.[Wilkinson, pp. 153–55] Rumours of impending reorganisation and rationalisation in the industry gave the workforce cause for anxiety, which deepened with the formation in 1930 of National Shipbuilders Security Ltd (NSS). This was a company created by the government to assist shipbuilders by acquiring failing yards and dismantling them, so that production was concentrated within a smaller number of profitable yards. To ensure this rationalisation was sustained, the closed yards were banned from any shipbuilding activity for at least 40 years.[Betty Vernon, p. 140]
During 1931, NSS was busy closing shipyards elsewhere in the country,[ while an order from the ]Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
* Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
* Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
*Admiralty, Tr ...
for two destroyers kept Palmer's working until mid-1932. The second of these ships, , was the last ship launched from the yard, on 19 July 1932.[Wilkinson, pp. 157–58] By this time, Palmer's was insolvent, but retained a faint hope of further naval contracts. These failed to materialise, and in June 1933 the firm's creditors appointed a receiver.[ By December 1933 rumours of NSS interest in the yard were appearing in the press, and in the House of Commons Walter Runciman, the ]President of the Board of Trade
The president of the Board of Trade is head of the Board of Trade. This is a committee of the His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, first established as a temporary committee of inquiry in the 17th centu ...
, told members: "There is nothing to be gained by giving Jarrow the impression that Palmer's can be revived". He continued: "Would it not be very much better to make a clean sweep of that as a shipyard, and throw open to the world for sale what is one of the finest and most convenient sites anywhere in Europe?" Despite efforts by management and workers to find an alternative solution, in the early summer of 1934 NSS acquired the yard, closed it, and began to dismantle its plant. Blythe wrote: "The only sound to compete with the unfamiliar noise of the marsh birds ... was the ring of the breakers' hammers."
Following the Palmer's closure, a small hope of relief and some industrial resurrection was offered by the industrialist Sir John Jarvis, who held the ceremonial office of High Sheriff of Surrey
The list of known High Sheriffs of Surrey extends back to 1066. At various times the High Sheriff of Surrey was also High Sheriff of Sussex (1229–1231, 1232–1240, 1242–1567, 1571–1635).
1066–1228
(High Sheriffs of Surrey only)
1229– ...
. He was the prospective Conservative candidate for Guildford
Guildford ()
is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
. On 4 October 1934, Jarvis announced the "adoption" of Jarrow by the county of Surrey, and promised to bring new industries to the town; he mentioned ship breaking
Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extraction ...
, bottle manufacture and furniture-making. While acknowledging the generous principle behind Jarvis's scheme, Betty Vernon (biographer of Jarrow politician Ellen Wilkinson) described it as ultimately superficial, offering little more than patchwork assistance. Blythe observes: "This excellent man failed, as anyone must fail who tries to play the good squire to a town of nearly forty thousand people".
Ellen Wilkinson
In the 1931 general election, in the nationwide rout of Labour, the Jarrow constituency was won by the National Government's candidate, William Pearson, a Conservative borough councillor and former mayor. In 1932, when the mood in Jarrow was desperate—"a workhouse without walls" according to one commentator—the local Labour Party selected Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Cicely Wilkinson (8 October 1891 – 6 February 1947) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Minister of Education from July 1945 until her death. Earlier in her career, as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jarrow, s ...
as its parliamentary candidate for the next general election.[Bartley, pp. 62–63] Wilkinson had helped to found the British Communist Party in 1920, and had a firebrand reputation.[ ] She had been associated with Hannington and the NUWM in the early 1920s, but had left the Communist Party in 1923 and had served as Labour MP for Middlesbrough East
Middlesbrough East was a parliamentary constituency in the town of Middlesbrough in North East England. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-po ...
between 1924 and 1931.[
Wilkinson felt a deep bond of sympathy with the people of Jarrow and the loss of the shipyard which was the life-source of the town.][ Early in 1934 she led a deputation of Jarrow's unemployed to meet the prime minister, MacDonald, in his nearby ]Seaham
Seaham is a seaside town in County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as a result of investments in its harbour and c ...
constituency. She records that at the end of the meeting MacDonald said to her: "Ellen, why don't you go out and preach socialism, which is the only remedy for all this?" This "priceless remark", she says, brought home the "reality and sham ... of that warm but so easy sympathy". She became Jarrow's MP in the general election of November 1935, when she won the seat with a majority of 2,360. In the opening debate of the new parliamentary session, on 9 December 1935, she pleaded on behalf of her new constituents: "These are skilled fitters, men who have built destroyers and battleships and the finest passenger ships ... The years go on and nothing is done ... this is a desperately urgent matter and something should be done to get work to these areas which, Heaven knows, want work."
Proposed steelworks
While Jarvis's palliative measures were being developed, a more substantial project to bring industry back to Jarrow was under consideration. An American entrepreneur, T. Vosper Salt, became aware of the impending sale and break-up of Palmer's yard. He was convinced that the world demand for steel was about to rise, and thought that the site, with its ready-made docking and rail facilities, would be ideal for a new, modern steelworks. In January 1934, when an initial feasibility study report had proved favourable, Salt began discussions with the British Iron and Steel Federation
The British Iron and Steel Federation (BISF), formed in 1934, was an organisation of British iron and steel producers responsible for the national planning of steel production. Its creation was imposed on the industry by Ramsay MacDonald's Nation ...
(BISF), a steel producers' organisation formed that year as part of the National Government's rationalisation of the iron and steel industry.[Wilkinson, pp. 172–73]
The British steel industry was protected from more efficient foreign competition by the government's high tariff wall. The BISF, through its control of pricing, could also present a united front against new competition at home. When the feasibility report was received by the BISF in March 1935 the Federation's chairman, Sir Andrew Duncan, at first reacted positively; his members from the north-east were rather less enthusiastic. Only one of the large steel firms in the region, the Consett Iron Company
The Consett Iron Company Ltd was an industrial business based in the Consett area of County Durham in the United Kingdom. The company owned coal mines and limestone quarries, and manufactured iron and steel. It was registered on 4 April 1864 a ...
, offered support for a Jarrow steelworks, while other BISF members put pressure on London's financial institutions to withhold capital from the new scheme.[Wilkinson, pp. 180–81] Reports of such tactics caused great anxiety in the Jarrow area, where the people were desperate for the new works to come about. In a reassuring speech shortly before the November 1935 general election, Baldwin, now leading the National Government, informed his listeners in Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
: "There is no truth in any of the reports that either the banks or any other authorities ... are making a dead set to prevent anything of the kind being done in the area".
After the election and the return of the National Government, little happened to support Baldwin's optimistic words. In the House of Commons on 2 March 1936, Wilkinson spoke of the "atmosphere of mystery" that surrounded the Jarrow scheme: "Publicly one sees tremendous optimism ... but when you see people privately there is a great deal of humming and ha'ing, and they are not quite sure".[ Meanwhile, the BISF argued that increased steel production should be achieved by expanding capacity in existing facilities, rather than by building new plant. Duncan, in a reversal of his earlier attitude, now opposed the provision of finance for Jarrow which, he felt, might create a precedent that other distressed areas could exploit. The BISF finally succeeded in watering down the scheme to the extent that it became unviable; Salt and his syndicate withdrew, and the scheme was dead, "strangled at birth" according to Wilkinson.
In a series of exchanges in the Commons with Runciman on 30 June, Wilkinson requested in vain that the matter be reconsidered by an independent body, rather than being decided by the BISF. One of the government's own negotiators, who had been involved in the project since its early stages, wrote in ''The Times'': "A system which permits the adjudication on a proposal of national importance ... to be left in the hands of parties whose financial interests may run counter to that project, is not conducive to the enterprising development of the steel industry".
When, later in the summer, Runciman met workers from Jarrow the deputation encountered, in Wilkinson's words, "a figure of ice. Icily correct, icily polite, apparently completely indifferent to the woes of others." His insistence that "Jarrow must work out its own salvation",][ was described by Blythe as "the last straw in official cruelty"; to Wilkinson, the phrase "kindled the town", and inspired it to action.
]
March
Preparation
After the loss of the steelworks, David Riley, the chairman of Jarrow Borough Council, told a rally of the town's unemployed in July 1936: "If I had my way I would organise the unemployed of the whole country ... and march them on London so they would all arrive at the same time. The government would then be forced to listen, or turn the military on us".[Pickard, pp. 21–22] The idea of a march was taken up with enthusiasm by the mayor Billy Thompson, by Wilkinson, and by political, commercial and religious groups. It was decided that the march would be a local affair, representing the town, with no political connotations. It would be limited to 200 fit men who would arrive in London at the start of the new parliamentary session on 3 November 1936, when a petition from the town would be presented to the House of Commons.[Wilkinson, pp. 198–202]
Riley was appointed chief marshal, with four subcommittees to deal with organisational detail. All the local political parties—Labour, Conservative and Liberal—gave their support, as did the town's churches and the business community.[ Relays of medical students from the Inter-Hospital Socialist Society agreed to accompany the march as medical attendants.][Blythe, p. 194] A fund was begun, with an initial target of £800, to meet the costs of the march;[ ultimately, nearly double that amount was raised, locally and on the route. Public meetings were planned for the overnight stops, to publicise the plight of Jarrow and of other areas like it. One marcher explained: "We were more or less missionaries of the distressed areas, ot justJarrow".
On Monday 5 October the marchers, selected from over 1,200 volunteers, attended an ecumenical dedication service in Christ Church, Jarrow, where the blessing was given by James Gordon, the ]Bishop of Jarrow
The Bishop of Jarrow is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Durham, in the Province of York, England. The title takes its name after the former Anglo Saxon monastery in the town of Jarrow in Tyne and ...
. This apparent endorsement by a senior cleric gained considerable press attention, but earned a sharp response from Hensley Henson
Herbert Hensley Henson (8 November 1863 – 27 September 1947) was an Anglican priest, bishop, scholar and controversialist. He was Bishop of Hereford from 1918 to 1920 and Bishop of Durham from 1920 to 1939.
The son of a zealous member ...
, the Bishop of Durham
The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...
. Henson, a severe critic of socialism and trade unionism, described the march as "revolutionary mob pressure",[ and regretted his colleague's association with "these fatuous demonstrations, which are mainly designed in the interest, not of the Unemployed, but of the Labour party".
As Jarrow's representatives prepared to leave, six regional contingents of the sixth National Hunger March were taking the road to London, where they were due to arrive a week after the Jarrow marchers. A group of blind veterans, organised by the ]National League of the Blind and Disabled
The National League of the Blind and Disabled (NLBD), currently a section within the Community trade union, was a trade union in its own right in the United Kingdom throughout the twentieth century (1899–2000), and is said to be the oldest surv ...
, was also on the march, demanding better allowances for the country's 67,000 blind persons.
On the road
Week one: Jarrow to Ripon
After the service of dedication, the marchers left Jarrow Town Hall
Jarrow Town Hall is a municipal building in Grange Road, Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Jarrow Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.
History
Following significant population growth, larg ...
, cheered on by most of the town and bearing banners announcing themselves as the "Jarrow Crusade". By the following weekend they had travelled to the cathedral city of Ripon
Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...
, where they were welcomed by the Bishop of Ripon
The Bishop of Ripon is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Ripon in North Yorkshire, England. The bishop is one of the area bishops of the Diocese of Leeds in the Province of York. The area bishop of Ripon has oversight of ...
and a delegation representing local churches. Receptions at the intervening stops had been mixed: lukewarm at Chester-le-Street
Chester-le-Street (), also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England, around north of Durham and also close to Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located on the River Wear, which runs out to sea at Sun ...
, warm and friendly from the people in Ferryhill
Ferryhill is a town in County Durham, England, with an estimated population in 2018 of 9,362. The town grew in the 1900s around the coal mining industry. The last mine officially closed in 1968. It is located between the towns of Bishop Auckland ...
and also from the Conservative-controlled council in Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town.
In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...
.
Wilkinson had left the march at Chester-le-Street to attend the Labour Party's annual conference, taking place in Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. The conference was not supportive of the march—one delegate criticised Wilkinson for "sending hungry and ill-clad men on a march to London". The Labour conference's negative stance brought angry responses from the marchers; Riley considered that they had been "stabbed in the back". The marchers were further dismayed to learn that the Ministry of Labour
The Ministry of Labour ('' UK''), or Labor ('' US''), also known as the Department of Labour, or Labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, a ...
's Unemployment Assistance Board
The Unemployment Assistance Board was a body created in Britain by the Unemployment Act 1934 due to the high levels of inter-war poverty in Britain. The Board kept a system of means-tested benefit
A means test is a determination of whether an in ...
had ruled that their benefits
Benefit or benefits may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Benefit'' (album), by Jethro Tull, 1970
* "Benefits" (''How I Met Your Mother''), a 2009 TV episode
* '' The Benefit'', a 2012 Egyptian action film
Businesses and organisatio ...
would be reduced, since they were unavailable for work should jobs arise.[Blythe, p. 199]
Week two: Ripon to Chesterfield
After a weekend's rest, the marchers proceeded to Harrogate
Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...
. In this solidly Conservative, prosperous town the marchers were greeted warmly by the civic authorities and were fed by the Rotary Club
Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...
. They were given sleeping quarters by the Territorial Army,[Perry, p. 55] a change from the school and church halls, and occasional workhouse accommodation, that was provided at most overnight stops. It was becoming evident that local Conservatives were often as likely to provide practical assistance as Labour, whose local parties were constrained by the attitude of the party's national leadership.[Wilkinson, pp. 205–07] The marchers' claim that theirs was a unique situation, arising from specific actions (the closing of the shipyard and the blocking of the proposed steelworks) that could be remedied by immediate government action, may also have alienated local working-class communities.[ Cross-party support was important in maintaining the march's non-partisan ethos, a factor that led Riley to refuse a donation of £20 from a communist group, stating: "We are determined at all costs to preserve the non-political character of this Crusade".
At Harrogate Wilkinson rejoined the march, as it proceeded through southern ]Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
towards Chesterfield
Chesterfield may refer to:
Places Canada
* Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan
* Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom
* Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England
** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
in Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
. The march was attracting wide publicity; in London the government worried that King Edward might exceed his constitutional limits and receive the marchers. The cabinet issued a statement that emphasised the constitutional means for expressing grievances, and condemned marches for causing "unnecessary hardship for those taking part in them"—"crocodile tears
Crocodile tears, or superficial sympathy, is a false, insincere display of emotion such as a hypocrite crying fake tears of grief. The phrase derives from an ancient belief that crocodiles shed tears while consuming their prey, and as such is pr ...
", according to Wilkinson. In reaching Chesterfield
Chesterfield may refer to:
Places Canada
* Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan
* Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom
* Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England
** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
on 17 October, the marchers had travelled during the week, and were at the approximate half-way point in their journey.[ That day, the Bishop of Durham was gratified and the marchers correspondingly disappointed, when in a letter to '']The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' the Bishop of Jarrow denied that his blessing on the march had indicated his support for the venture. The blessing was, he said an act of Christian duty; in general he believed that such marches should be discouraged. Wilkinson was forgiving of the bishop's volte-face, knowing, she later said, "the difficulties he had to face".
Week three: Chesterfield to Northampton
The third week of the march covered the greatest distance of the four weeks—.[ At ]Mansfield
Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...
, the Labour-controlled council defied the national leadership to give the marchers a warm welcome. This was matched by the reception from Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
's Conservative mayor and councillors, and supplemented by gifts of clothing and underwear from the city's manufacturers. At Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
, the Co-operative Society
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratical ...
's bootmakers worked through the night without pay, repairing the marchers' boots.[ According to some accounts, the marchers presented the vicar of the Church of St Mark, Leicester, with a wooden cross, although Matt Perry, in his history of the Jarrow March, indicates that this cross was donated in 1934 by the national hunger march.
From Leicester the march moved to ]Market Harborough
Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, in the far southeast of the county, forming part of the border with Northamptonshire.
Market Harborough's population was 25,143 in 2020. It is the admi ...
. This was one of the least welcoming of all the overnight stops. No member of the local council greeted or visited the marchers, and they were forced to spend the night on the stone floor of an unfinished building (the local press later denied that this was so). On Saturday 24 October the marchers reached Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
, arriving at the same time as the blind group. Wilkinson left to supervise arrangements in London, and would thereafter only participate intermittently until the final day, a week hence.
Week four: Northampton to London
The leg on Monday 26 October, from Northampton to Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
, was the longest daily march—. Of the original contingent, 185 were still on the road, together with 10 replacements. To maintain the timetable for arrival at Marble Arch
The Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London, England. The structure was designed by John Nash (architect), John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the cour d'honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near th ...
, the marchers took an extra rest day on Tuesday before marching, in teeming rain, the to Luton
Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...
.
On 29 October, as the marchers walked from Luton to St Albans
St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...
, the plight of Jarrow was the subject of exchanges in the House of Commons between Wilkinson and Baldwin. The prime minister drew attention to the recent decrease in Jarrow's unemployed, and said: "There is every reason to hope that the revival of industry now in progress in the Tyneside area will result in further opportunities for employment for those still unemployed at Jarrow." Wilkinson replied that the apparent decrease in Jarrow's unemployment figures arose from the amalgamation of the figures of Jarrow with those of neighbouring South Shields
South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...
, and did not represent an increase in employment. She asked Baldwin whether he would break with tradition and meet a deputation of the marchers; the prime minister declined.
On the penultimate stage, from St Albans to Edgware
Edgware () is a suburban town in northern Greater London, mostly in the London Borough of Barnet but with small parts falling in the London Borough of Harrow and in the London Borough of Brent. Edgware is centred north-northwest of Charing Cros ...
, as the march neared its end, marchers began to contemplate the return home, and the prospect of "looking out of the window ... knowing that there's nothing, nothing at all to do". On the final day, for the short stretch, large crowds watched the column proceed through the London suburbs towards Marble Arch, marching to the accompaniment of their own mouth-organ band despite relentless rain. On arrival, as their leaders talked to the press, the marchers retired to their overnight accommodation in London's East End
The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...
.
London
On Sunday 1 November the marchers proceeded to Hyde Park for a hastily organised public meeting. The Communist Party was holding a general rally in the park against unemployment; Wilkinson records that they "generously gave way for an hour and asked their great audience to swell our Crusade meeting". The police made a low estimate of 3,000 for the crowd, but the journalist Ritchie Calder
Peter Ritchie Calder, Baron Ritchie-Calder, (1906 – 1982) was a Scottish socialist writer, journalist and academic.
Early life
Peter Ritchie Calder was born on 1 July 1906 in Forfar, Angus, Scotland.
Career
Calder first worked as a journ ...
, who was present, put the figure at 50,000.
After a day's rest, the marchers' main event on Tuesday was a public meeting in the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street. Among the guest speakers was the Rev. Canon Dick Sheppard, founder of the Peace Pledge Union
The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) is a non-governmental organisation that promotes pacifism, based in the United Kingdom. Its members are signatories to the following pledge: "War is a crime against humanity. I renounce war, and am therefore determine ...
. He told the marchers: "You have so aroused the conscience of the country that things are bound to happen". Sir John Jarvis, without prior warning, then revealed plans for a steel tubes mill on the Palmers site. The impression that Jarrow's problems could be solved thus, without government action, disconcerted the listening marchers. Wilkinson commented that such plans were in the future, and were no substitute for the town's requirement for immediate government intervention.[Wilkinson, pp. 210–11]
On Wednesday 4 November Wilkinson presented the Jarrow petition to the House of Commons. With over 11,000 signatures, it asked that "His Majesty's Government and this honourable House should realise the urgent need that work should be provided for the town without further delay." In the brief discussion that followed, Runciman said that "the unemployment position at Jarrow, while still far from satisfactory, has improved during recent months", to which James Chuter Ede
James Chuter Ede, Baron Chuter-Ede of Epsom, (11 September 1882 – 11 November 1965), was a British teacher, trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He served as Home Secretary under Prime Minister Clement Attlee from 1945 to 1951, becomi ...
, the Labour backbencher representing South Shields
South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...
, the neighbouring constituency to Wilkinson's, replied that "the Government's complacency is regarded throughout the country as an affront to the national conscience".
Blythe summarises the marchers' anger and disillusionment: "And that was that. The result of three months' excited preparation and one month's march has led to a few minutes of flaccid argument during which the Government speakers had hardly mustered enough energy to roll to their feet".[ A "stay-in" strike was briefly proposed, before Wilkinson arranged a meeting with a cross-party group of MPs. The marchers' case was heard sympathetically; the meeting was warned that, given international uncertainties, they might come to regret the dismantling of an important shipbuilding facility for reasons of private profit.][Perry, pp. 166–70] Such statements, according to Wilkinson, made members "distinctly uncomfortable".[ The next day the marchers returned by train to Jarrow, where they received an ecstatic welcome from the town.][Perry, pp. 174–75]
Appraisal and legacy
Before the start of the Second World War, and the establishment of war-based industries, Jarvis's initiatives brought modest relief to Jarrow. By 1939, about 100 men were employed in a small furniture factory and up to a further 500 in various metal-based industries set up on the Palmer's site. Jarvis had acquired the obsolete liners and , to be broken up at the yard. However, after their triumphant homecoming many of the marchers felt that their endeavour had failed. Con Whalen, who at his death in 2003 was the last survivor of those who marched the full distance, said that the march was "a waste of time", but added that he had enjoyed every step.[ His fellow marcher Guy Waller, on the 40th anniversary of the march in 1976, said that " e march produced no immediate startling upsurge in employment in the town. It took the war to do that". These views are shared by most commentators and historians. The '']Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...
'' columnist Kevin Maguire calls the march "a heroic failure", while Matt Dobson, in '' The Socialist'', writes that "out of all the hunger marches its aims were the most diluted and it made the most modest gains". The historians Malcolm Pearce and Geoffrey Stewart provide a positive perspective, arguing that the Jarrow March "helped to shape ost-Second World Warperceptions of the 1930s", and thus paved the way to social reform.
Perry observes that "the passage of time has transformed the Jarrow Crusade ... into a potent talisman with which many apparently seek association". Thus the Labour Party, which in 1936 shunned the march, later adopted it as "a badge of credibility". In 1950 the party featured the Jarrow banners on its election posters; the march then disappeared from view in an era of high employment, only to be invoked again when unemployment again became a political issue in the 1980s. In the late 20th century and beyond, Labour leaders—Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...
, Neil Kinnock
Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader of ...
, Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
—have all associated themselves with the march. In October 1986, on the 50th anniversary, a group from Jarrow and other towns along the way retraced the route to London. At that time of industrial recession, Jarrow once again had the highest level of unemployment in the country.[Perry, p. 193] The 75th anniversary in 2011 was marked by a "March for Jobs", that drew the ire of a Conservative MP, Robert Goodwill
Sir Robert Goodwill (born 31 December 1956) is a British Conservative Party politician and farmer serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Scarborough and Whitby since 2005. He was previously a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorks ...
, who noted the high level of withdrawals in its early stages and dismissed it as "an insult to the memory of the Jarrow marchers ... They are not fit to walk in heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...
footsteps".
Shortly after the return home in November 1936 Riley, together with three other Jarrow councillors who had led the march—James Hanlon, Paddy Scullion and Joseph Symonds—left Labour to form a breakaway group committed to a more direct fight for employment. All four later rejoined the party; Scullion and Symonds both served as the town's mayor, and Symonds was Labour MP for Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It is th ...
from 1959 to 1970. In 1939 Wilkinson published her history of Jarrow, ''The Town that Was Murdered''. A reviewer for ''The Economic Journal'' found the book "not quite as polemical as one might have expected", but felt that in her denunciation of the BISF Wilkinson had not taken full account of the state of the iron and steel industry in the 1930s. Wilkinson continued her parliamentary career, and from 1940 to 1945 held junior ministerial office in Churchill's wartime coalition government. In the 1945 Labour government she was appointed Minister of Education, with a seat in the cabinet, a post in which she served until her death, aged 55, in February 1947.[
]
In 1974 the rock singer Alan Price
Alan Price (born 19 April 1942) is an English musician. He was the original keyboardist for the British band the Animals before he left to form his own band the Alan Price Set. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a m ...
released the "Jarrow Song", which helped to raise awareness of the events of 1936 among a new generation. Among dramatisations based on the Jarrow March is a play, ''Whistling at the Milestones'' (1977) by Alex Glasgow
Alex Glasgow (14 October 1935 – 14 May 2001) was an English singer-songwriter from Low Fell, Gateshead, England. He wrote the songs and music for the musical plays ''Close the Coal House Door'' and '' On Your Way, Riley!'' by Alan Plater, and ...
,[ and an opera, ''Burning Road'' (1996), by ]Will Todd
Will Todd (b 14 January 1970) is an English musician and composer. He is a pianist, who performs regularly with others in his own works.
Biography and work
Todd was born in County Durham, attended Durham School and joined the choir of St Oswald ...
and Ben Dunwell. In what Perry describes as one of the ironies surrounding the march, the opera was performed in Durham Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...
in May 1997, in retrospective defiance of the bishop who had condemned the march.[Perry, pp. 115–16] On 29 October 2017, the Tyne Bridge
The Tyne Bridge is a through arch bridge over the River Tyne in North East England, linking Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead. The bridge was designed by the engineering firm Mott, Hay and Anderson, who later designed the Forth Road Bridge, ...
was closed off and was the venue the Freedom on The Tyne Finale. The Freedom on The Tyne Finale was the finale of the 2017 Freedom City festival. The event, promoted by Newcastle University
Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...
re-enacted many world civil rights stories throughout history. The final event, revolved around the March, the re-enactment was described as a memorable closing to the finale. The town of Jarrow contains several commemorations, including a steel relief sculpture by Vince Rea at the new railway station, a tile mural designed by local schoolchildren, and a bronze sculpture—"The Spirit of the Crusade" by Graham Ibbeson
Graham Ibbeson (born 1951) is a British artist and sculptor, known for the realistic figurative sculptures he has created for public commissions in the United Kingdom.
Biography
Ibbeson was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and from 1972 to 1 ...
—in the town centre. Buildings and street names bear the names of Wilkinson and Riley. Perry writes that "In Jarrow, landscape and memory have fused together, just as the red hot rivets once fastened great sheets of steel in Palmer's Yard."[
]
Notes and references
Notes
Citations
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External links
The Jarrow Crusade – UK Parliament Living Heritage
BBC World Service – Witness: The Jarrow Crusade
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Great Depression in the United Kingdom
1936 in England
Protests in England
Jarrow
Poverty in England
1936 in politics
North East England
Unemployment in the United Kingdom
Protest marches
Politics of North East England
October 1936 events
Labour disputes in England
British trade unions history
1936 protests