Market Harborough gets a bad press because the Jarrow Marchers did not meet with a particularly warm reception here. But things were different in 1905, when over 400 men Leicester men set off to walk to London to draw attention to the plight of the unemployed.
The Leicester Gazette recalls:
Local supporters in Market Harborough organised and paid for the first night’s supper and accommodation in the town. Each man was given a supper consisting of one pound of bread and two ounces of cheese, with tea or coffee.
They were then encouraged to rest their heads for the night on straw beds in the covered sheds of the town’s cattle market, but, amidst reports of boisterous behaviour, the Leicester Daily Post commented that "sleep and rest did not reign supreme".
Unemployment was a particular issue in the Leicester boot and shoe industry in 1905 because of competition from cheaper American imports and a drop in demand for army boots following the end of the Boer War.
The marchers received support and press publicity in the other towns they stopped at or passed through, but it proved harder to interest London in their cause.
Nevertheless, the Unemployed Workmen Act of 1905 was passed. It established local distress committees that could make grants to businesses or local authorities to allow them to take on more workers.
You raise a number of Interesting issues, Jonathan. The 1905 Act was passed by the Balfour Tory Government, and not, as is often mistakenly suggested, by the Campbell Bannerman Liberal Government.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Jarrow March, I recall Granddad (a former Durham miner) enthusing about 'Little Red Ellen' Wilkinson, MP for Jarrow, who had inspired and led the march to London in 1936 with a harmonica band.
The multimillionaire President of the Board of Trade then was one Walter Runciman (Liberal MP for St Ives in the 1935 Coalition Government), Runciman had investments in shipbuilding and a mansion in nearby Northumberland. He met with Ellen and some of the marchers and told them “Jarrow must work out its own salvation”.
I looked up when that act was passed, so I did know it came from Balfour's government. Tories are generally more reasonable when they're afraid of losing power, but it's a surprising measure to come from Tories of that era.
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