Ellen Wilkinson and the Jarrow Crusade;
Ellen Wilkinson, the daughter of a factory worker, was born in Manchester on 8th October 1891.
Her father was a Tory but Ellen developed an interest in socialism and at 16 she joined the Labour party. Ellen became a leading trades unionist at a time when this was very rare for a woman,and in 1923 was elected to serve on Manchester city council where she became known as Red Ellen.In the 1935 general election Wilkinson was elected as MP for Jarrow.
The town had one of the worst unemployment records in Britain. In 1935 nearly 80% of the population was out of work. Of the 8,000 skilled workers in Jarrow, only 100 were working. In 1936 Wilkinson organised the march of 200 unemployed workers the 300 miles from Jarrow to London where she presented a petition to parliament calling for government action. Wilkinson later wrote an account of the Jarrow Crusade and its outcome called The Town That Was Murdered (1939).
The marchers wanted Parliament to understand that they were decent people but were living in a region where there were massive problems and where there was 70 per cent unemployment - one of the marchers described his home town in those days as 'a filthy, dirty, falling down area.'
The men were demanding that a steel works be built to bring back jobs to their town, as a major shipyard in Jarrow had been closed down in the previous year. The yard had been Jarrow's major source of employment, and the closure increased the problems of poverty,poor housing and mortality rates that already existed. Ellen Wilkinson,who was called "wee Ellen" by the men, later wrote that Jarrow at that time was utterly stagnant as there was no work. At the time of the march, Britain was ruled by a National government whose policies were mainly Tory. Disgracefully the London government showed little sympathy to these heroic marchers.Employment only returned to the town and to the North East during rearmament for the second world war.
http://www.labour.org.uk/home
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Earl Grey;
At only twenty-two Charles Grey became the Member of Parliament for Northumberland.He was a Whig (now the Liberal Democrats) in the House of Commons.
Grey felt that there was a need to improve the parliamentary system in Britain. In April 1792, Grey joined with a group of pro-reform Whigs to form the friends of the people,the main objective was to obtain a fairer representation of the people in Parliament. On 13th September, 1806, Charles Grey became leader of the Whigs in government. Grey now became Foreign Secretary and leader of the house of commons and was responsible for the act abolishing the African slave trade.He inherited his father's title when he died on 16th November 1807 and moved to the house of lords Earl Grey continued to play an active role in politics. He took part in the campaign for Catholic rights.
In 1830 Grey became prime minister he formed a cabinet committee to produce a plan for parliamentary reform. On 7th June the Bill received the Royal Assent and was met with popular acclaim throughout Britain.Other measures Earl Grey introduced included an act for the abolition of slavery in the colonies and the 1833 factory act.After the passing of the 1834 poor law Earl Grey resigned from office. Charles Grey died on 17th July, 1845. Earl Grey also has one of the worlds more famous blends of tea named after him and has a monument in his honour in the middle of Newcastle.
http://www.libdems.org.uk/
Emily Davidson;
(born 1872), was a leading member of the Suffragettes movement and was from Longhorsley, near Morpeth where she is buried.She is best remembered for stepping out in front of King George V’s horse during the 1913 Derby horserace to draw attention to the cause she believed in so strongly.
When she arrived at the Epsom track she positioned herself inside the rails . Fifteen horses ran for a first prize of £6450, Craganour was the favourite . Shogun was second favourite, rank outsider at 50-1 was Anmer one of King George V's horses, rode by Herbert Jones. As the race began Emily Davidson waited until the kings horse was in sight and as it approached the corner Emily stepped out in front of Anmer and grabbed the rains of the Kings horse. Emily held on for a few seconds, but the horse moving at over 30mph and weighing over three-quarters of a ton knocked her over.
The horse stumbled throwing Jones violently to the ground, he and Emily both bleeding badly. Spectators rushed onto the track as the race continued. Both were taken to hospital, injuries sustained to Jones proved to be not serious. Tragically for Emily Davidson she never regained consciousness and died four days later. On her Northumberland grave stone the inscription reads "Deeds, not words".
Five years after Emily’s death women won the right to vote.
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| The 35 metre tall Greys monument built in honour of Earl Grey in the centre of Newcastle. |
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