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The land club movement was set up in response to the introduction of the Small Holdings Act of 1907. Its aim was to put "the new land law into force" and aid "the renewal of country life". Two people from each village and hamlet in the area were chosen to form a committee to "get the land club started and thus obtain land for the people". The League also aimed to assist people in the cultivation of land through agricultural education and co-operative purchasing and loans, and to help them obtain proper representation for people on their own parish, district and county councils. The League was also concerned with ensuring that country children received an education suitable for country life, providing its members with access to legal advice on questions affecting tenure of homes and land and to generally promoting the country way of life. The Land Club League worked in co-operation with other groups and amalgamated with the Rural Development Society and the Rural Housing and Sanitation Association.

Edward R Pease was appointed President to the Land Club League in 1908. He was born in Bristol in 1857. From 1874 to 1878 he worked in a merchant's office, and in 1880 he became a member of the London Stock Exchange. In 1886 he left the Stock Exchange and went to Newcastle to become a cabinet-maker and trade unionist. Pease co-founded the Fabian Society in 1883, and was Secretary 1890-1913, and Honorary Secretary 1914-1938. He was also Governor of London School of Economics from its foundation in 1895. From 1900 to 1913 he was a member of the Executive of the Labour Party. He died in 1955. His publications include: "The History of the Fabian Society" (1916) and "Webb and the Fabian Society" in "The Webbs and their Work" (1949).

When the 1936 elections produced a Popular Front government which was supported mainly by left-wing parties, a military uprising began in garrison towns throughout Spain. This was led by the rebel Nationalists and supported not only by conservative elements in the clergy, military, and landowners but by the fascist Falange. In contrast, the ruling Republican government was supported by workers, a large number of the educated middle class, militant anarchists and communists. Government forces successfully quelled the uprising in most regions except in parts of NW and SW Spain, where the Nationalists held control and named General Franco (1892-1975) head of state. During the Civil War, both sides repressed opposition, executing and assassinating a combined total of over 50,000 suspected enemies . The Republicans, who were also known as Loyalists, were largely provided with military material by the Soviet Union, and were further supported by the volunteer force of the International Brigade. The Nationalist side gradually gained territory and by April 1938 succeeded in splitting Spain from east to west, causing 250,000 Republican forces to flee into France. In March 1939 the remaining Republican forces surrendered, with Madrid finally falling to the Nationalists on March 28. The war's end brought with it a period of dictatorship that lasted almost until Franco's death in 1975.

Daniel Asher Alexander (1768-1846) was educated at St Paul's School. He was a silver medallist, Royal Academy. He was also surveyor to London Dock Company (1796-1831) and to Trinity House. Alexander designed lighthouses at Harwich and Lundy Island, and prisons at Dartmoor and Maidstone. William Vaughan (1752-1850) was a merchant and author. He was a director of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation, London, 1783-1829. He advocated canal extension, 1791; published pamphlets urging extension of London Docks, 1793-1797. His publications include: "Answer to objections against the London-docks" (1796); "A collection of tracts on wet docks for the Port of London: with hints on trade and commerce and on free-ports" (1797); "A comparative statement of the advantages and disadvantages of the docks in Wapping and the docks in the Isle of Dogs" (1799); "A letter to a friend on commerce and free ports and London-docks" (1796).

In 1846 three companies, London and Birmingham, Grand Junction Railway and Manchester and Birmingham amalgamated to form the London and North Western Railway. The amalgamation created 247 miles of railway that linked London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Preston. The London and North Western Railway continued to expand and by 1868 the company had added links to Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds, Swansea and Cardiff. However, attempts to amalgamate with Midland Railway ended in failure. By 1871 the London and North Western Railway employed 15,000 people.

Michael Sadler, 1780-1835, was born in Snelston, Derbyshire. While he was still young he assisted the Methodist movement. In 1800 he moved to Leeds where he became an importer of Irish linens. He was Tory MP for Newark, 1829 and 1830, and for Aldborough, North Yorkshire 1831-1832. He moved unsuccessfully for the establishment of poor law in Ireland, and moved resolution for improving the living conditions of the agricultural poor in England, 1831. On 16th March 1832 Sadler introduced a Bill in the House of Commons that proposed limiting the hours of all persons under the age of 18 to ten hours a day. Parliament was unwilling to pass Sadler's bill, but in April 1832 it was agreed that there should be another parliamentary enquiry into child labour. Sadler was made chairman and for the next three months the parliamentary committee interviewed 48 people who had worked in textile factories as children. On 9th July Michael Sadler discovered that at least six of these workers had been sacked for giving evidence to the parliamentary committee. Sadler announced that this victimisation meant that he could no longer ask factory workers to be interviewed. He now concentrated on interviewing doctors who had experience treating people who worked in textile factories. In the 1832 General Election, Sadler's opponent was John Marshall (1765-1845), the Leeds flax-spinning magnate. Marshall used his influence to win the election and Sadler lost his seat in the House of Commons. Sadler's report was published in January 1833. The information in the report shocked the British public and Parliament came under increasing pressure to protect the children working in factories. His publications include: "An apology for the Methodists: being a copy of a letter to the Reverend Henry Stokes, vicar of Doveridge, Derbyshire. Containing some animadversions on one of his late discourses, and on a certain combination in that parish" (1797); "Catholic question. Speech of Michael Thomas Sadler, Esq. MP for Newark, in the House of Commons, on Tuesday, the 17th of March, 1829, at the second reading of the Roman Catholic Emancipation Bill" (1829); "The cause of the poor: The speech of M T Sadler, Esq. MP in the House of Commons, on Monday the 29th of August, on bringing forward his resolution for the permanent relief of the Irish poor" (1831); "Condition of the labouring poor: Speech of Michael Thomas Sadler, Esq. in the House of Commons, on Tuesday evening, October 11, 1831, on obtaining leave to bring in a bill for bettering the condition of the labouring poor of England" (1831).

The Central Small Holdings Society was formed at the New Reform Club, 10 Adelphi Terrace, London. The Society was amalgamated with the Land Club League, the Rural Development Society and the Rural Housing and Sanitation Association in 1911.

John Francis Bray (1809-1897) was born in Washington in the United States, the son of a singer and comedian who was descended from West Riding farmers and cloth manufacturers. In 1822 the Bray family returned to Leeds. When his father died a few days following the family's return to Yorkshire Bray stayed with his aunt who was a milliner. During the 1820s he became apprenticed to a printer and bookbinder in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. He later moved to Selby, North Yorkshire to complete his apprenticeship. In 1832 Bray returned to Leeds and in the following year worked on the "Voice of the West Riding" periodical. He then moved to York and contributed to the "Leeds Times" until 1837 when he moved back to Leeds. He became involved in the town's working class movement and helped to set up the Leeds Working Men's Association. He became its treasurer and delivered a number of lectures on its behalf. Bray returned to the United States in 1842 and became a printer in Detroit. From 1856 to 1865 he ran a daguerreotype gallery in Pontiac, Michigan. In the following decade Bray became involved in the Young American Socialist Movement. He helped draft a number of political tracts, addressed public meetings in parts of the mid-West and was a correspondent on economic and social questions. By this time Bray was living on a farm near Pontiac, Michigan, where he spent the rest of his life producing corn and fruit for market. He joined the Knights of Labour in 1886 and the Pontiac branch of the knights subsequently took the name the "John F Bray Assembly". Bray died on 1st February 1897 at his son's farm in Pontiac.
His publications include: "Labour's wrongs and labour's remedy" (1839); "Government and society considered in relation to first principles" (1842); "The coming age devoted to the fraternisation and advancement of mankind through religious, political and social reforms. No. 1 Spiritualism founded on a fallacy" (1855); "No. 2 The origin of mundane and human energies unfavourable to spiritualism" (1855); "American destiny what shall it be? Republican or Cossack? An argument addressed to the people of the late Union North and South" (1864); "God and man a unity and all mankind a unity; a basis for a new dispensation social and religious" (1879).

Airborne leaflets dropped by the Allied forces during World War II (1939-1945), formed part of a propaganda campaign by the Allied forces to spread pro-Allied information throughout Europe and Asia. The leaflets were collected by the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office.

The People's League of Health was founded in 1917 by Olga Nethersole (1870-1951). Nethersole was a former actress who joined the British Red Cross in 1916 during World War I (1914-1918). She was on the nursing staff of the Hampstead Military Hospital as a VAD 1916-1919. Nethersole represented the People's Health League at conferences held in Brussels (1920), Lausanne (1924), Washington DC (1926) and Rome (1928). She was the League's representative on the Council of the Central Chamber of Agriculture in 1931. Following speculation that tuberculosis could be passed to be people through milk supplies, the League conducted a Survey of Tuberculosis of Bovine Origin in Great Britain from February 1930 to October 1931. The report of the findings of this survey urged that the "...adequate supervision and control over the health of all persons engaged in the production and distribution of milk should be secured".

The Fabian Society: In October 1883 Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) and Hubert Bland (1855-1914) decided to form a socialist debating group with their Quaker friend Edward Pease (1857-1955). They were also joined by Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) and Frank Podmore (1856-1910). In January 1884 they decided to call themselves the Fabian Society. Hubert Bland chaired the first meeting and was elected treasurer. By March 1884 the group had twenty members. However, over the next couple of years the group increased in size and included socialists such as Annie Besant (1847-1933), Sidney Webb (1859-1947), Beatrice Webb (1858-1943), George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Clement Attlee (1883-1967), Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937), Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), H G Wells (1866-1946) and Rupert Brooke (1887-1915). By 1886 the Fabians had sixty-seven members and an income of £35 19s. The official headquarters of the organisation was 14 Dean's Yard, Westminster. The Fabian Society journal, "Today", was edited by Edith Nesbit and Hubert Bland. The Fabians believed that capitalism had created an unjust and inefficient society. They agreed that the ultimate aim of the group should be to reconstruct "society in accordance with the highest moral possibilities". The Fabians adopted the tactic of trying to convince people by "rational factual socialist argument", rather than the "emotional rhetoric and street brawls" of the Social Democratic Federation, Britain's first socialist political party. On 27th Febuary 1900, representatives from the Fabian Society and all the other socialist groups in Britain met at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London. This conference established the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), which in 1906 changed its name to the Labour Party. At its outset the LRC had one member of the Fabian Society among its members.

The Russell family, Dukes of Bedford: The Russell family first appeared prominently in the reign of Henry VIII. John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, c1486-1555, was Lord High Steward and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal under Henry VIII and Edward VI. He was created 1st Earl of Bedford in 1550, and had a part in arranging the marriage of Mary I to Philip II of Spain. He died possessing lands, which have remained in the family until the 20th century; these now include Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire and large parts of Bloomsbury in London. His son, Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, c 1527-1585, was an Privy Councillor under Elizabeth I and President of the Council of Wales. Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford, 1593-1641, was an opponent of Charles I in the House of Lords. William Russell, 5th Earl and 1st Duke of Bedford, 1613-1700, fought first for Parliament and then for the king in the Civil War. In 1694, when his sons attainder was reversed, the 5th earl was made Duke of Bedford. John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, 1710-1771, served in the cabinets of Henry Pelham, 4th Duke of Newcastle, 1696-1754, John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, 1713-1792, and George Grenville, 1712-1770. He was the leader of a faction of Whig politicians, known as the Bedford Group.

In 1911 Henry Hyndman (1842-1921) left the Labour Party to establish the British Socialist Party (BSP). this new party failed to win any of the parliamentary elections it contested. When Hyndman voiced support for Britain's involvement in World War One the party split into two with Hyndman forming a new National Socialist Party, of which he remained leader until his death in 1921.

The Independent Labour Party: The activities of the Manchester Independent Labour Party (established in 1892) inspired Liberal-Labour MPs to consider setting up a new national working class party. The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was consequently formed in 1893 under the leadership of James Keir Hardie (1856 - 1915). The chief objective of the ILP would be "to secure the collective ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange". The ILP had 35,000 members at the time of the 1895 General Election, and put forward 28 candidates, but only won 44,325 votes. The party had more success in local elections, winning over 600 seats on borough councils. The ILP joined the Social Democratic Federation in 1898 to make West Ham the first local authority to have a Labour majority. On 27th February 1900 representatives of all the socialist groups in Britain (the Independent Labour Party, the Social Democratic Federation and the Fabian Society, joined trade union leaders to form the Labour Representation Committee.

Richard Potter MP (1778-1842) was the brother of Sir Thomas Potter (1773-1845), MP and first Mayor of Manchester (1838). They grew up on their father's farm at Tadcaster, North Yorkshire and collaborated both in business and politics in Manchester. They helped found the Manchester Guardian newspaper in 1821, which became The Guardian in 1959 to reflect its national distribution and news coverage. The Potter brothers also founded the Times(Manchester), later called the Examiner and Times, and established the wholesale house in Manchester trade which became known as "Potter's". This place became a rendezvous for political and philanthropic reformers. In 1830 Richard Potter joined a group campaigning for parliamentary reform. The group proposed that the seats of rotten boroughs convicted of gross electoral corruption should be transferred to industrial towns. In 1831 Absalom Watkin (fl 1807-1861) drew up a petition asking the government to grant Manchester two Members of Parliament. As a result of the 1832 Reform Act Manchester had its first two Members of Parliament. Richard Potter was returned as Liberal MP for Wigan in 1832, 1835 and 1837. He later unsuccessfully contested Gloucester. His political views earned him the nickname "Radical Dick". Richard Potter's son, also called Richard, was President of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada and Chairman of the Great Western Railway (1817-1892),and his granddaughter Beatrice Webb (1858-1943), daughter of his son Richard, was a prominent social reformer and wife of fellow reformer Sidney Webb, Baron Passfield (1859-1947). His publications include: "To the independent inhabitants of the Borough of Wigan" (1831).

Sidney Webb, 1859-1947, the son of an accountant, was born in London on 13 July, 1859. At the age of sixteen Webb became an office clerk but he continued to attend evening classes at the University of London until he acquired the qualifications needed to enter the Civil Service. Webb also contributed to the 'Christian Socialist' and taught at the London Working Men's College. In 1885 he joined the Fabian Society. In 1892 Webb married Beatrice Potter (1958-1943), the social reformer. In the same year he stood as the Fabian Society candidate for Deptford in the London County Council elections. Webb won the seat and he retained it for the next eighteen years. Webb was appointed as Chairman of the Technical Instruction Committee and as a result was known as the Minister of Public Education for London. In 1894 Henry Hutchinson, a wealthy solicitor from Derby, left the Fabian Society £10,000. Sidney and Beatrice Webb suggested that the money should be used to develop a new university in London. The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) was founded in 1895.

When the Conservative Party won the 1900 General Election, the Webbs drafted what later became the 1902 Education Act. In 1915 Sidney Webb was appointed to the Labour Party National Executive. By 1922 he was Chairman of the National Executive and the following year, in the 1923 General Election, was chosen to represent the Labour Party in the Seaham constituency. Webb won the seat, and when Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937) became Britain's first Labour Prime Minister in 1924, he appointed Webb as his President of the Board of Trade. Webb left the House of Commons in 1929 when he was granted the title Baron Passfield. Now in the House of Lords, Webb served as Secretary of State for the Colonies in MacDonald's second Labour Government. His publications include: 'The case for an eight hours bill' (1891); 'The History of Trade Unionism' (1894) Co-written with Beatrice Webb; 'Industrial Democracy' (1897) Co-written with Beatrice Webb; 'Facts for Socialists' (1887); 'Facts for Londoners' (1888); 'The Eight Hour Day' (1891); 'English local government' (1906); 'The decline in the birth-rate' (1907); 'The basis & policy of socialism' (1908); 'The Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission' (1909); 'Conscience and the conscientious objector' (1917); 'A constitution for the socialist commonwealth of Great Britain' (1920); 'The decay of capitalist civilisation' (1923); 'English poor law history' (1927); 'Soviet communism: dictatorship or democracy?' (1936).

In 1917 the Prime Minister David Lloyd George (1863-1945) set up a Ministry of Information. The newspaper magnate Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964) was put in overall charge of the organisation as Minister of Information. Other appointments included the Managing Director of United Newspapers Ltd, Robert Donald (1860-1933), who became Director of Propaganda in Neutral Countries) and Lord Northcliffe, (1865-1922), another newspaper magnate, who became Director of Propaganda in Enemy Countries. The Ministry evolved from Lloyd George's decision in December 1916 to invite Donald to write a report on the effectiveness of the secret War Propaganda Bureau. As result of Donald's recommendations, the government established a Department of Information, which in turn became the Ministry of Information.

Henry Solly, 1813-1903, was born in London, the son of a businessman. His family were radical Protestant Dissenters, and Solly was educated at schools run by Unitarian ministers. He was one of the first students to attend University College, London (1829-1831), where he studied classics and mathematics. In 1840 Solly became minister at the Unitarian Chapel at Yeovil, Somerset. He became involved with the Chartist movement and several of the working class gropus in the town. After he served as a representative at the Birmingham chartist conference of 1842, Solly was forced out of his ministry. He was then minister at Tavistock 1842-1844, Shepton Mallet 1844-1847, Cheltenham 1847-1851, Carter Lane, London 1852-1857. In 1862 Solly founded the Working Men's Club and Institute Union in London. The aim of the organisation was to encourage the formation of clubs by working men "where they can meet for conversation, business, and mental improvement, with the means of recreation and refreshment, free from intoxicating drinks". He became its first paid secretary in 1863. When Solly opposed the clubs' practice of selling alcohol he was forced to resign. He returned in the 1870s but left again following disputes about his salary. By the time of solly's death in 1903 there were 992 clubs with 380,000 members in Britain. In 1869 Solly was instrumental in founding the Charity Organisation Society. Its aim was to better administering charity relief while emphasising the need for self help, and accompanying it with personal care. In 1884 Solly also established the Society for the Promotion of Industrial Villages. The society's purpose was to provide good-quality housing for working people. In 1868 Solly's daughter Emily Rebeecca married the Unitarian minister and temperance camaigner Philip Wicksteed (1844-1927). Solly died at Wicksteed's home in 1903. His publications include: 'Facts and fallacies connected with working men's clubs and institutes' (1865); 'Destitute poor and criminal classes: a few thoughts on how to deal with the unemployed poor of London, and with its roughs and criminal classes?' (1868); 'Re-housing of the industrial classes; or, village communities v town rookeries' (1884); 'The condition of the English working class: the papers of the Reverend Henry Solly' (1990).

Sidney Webb, 1859-1947, the son of an accountant, was born in London on 13 July, 1859. At the age of sixteen Webb became an office clerk but he continued to attend evening classes at the University of London until he acquired the qualifications needed to enter the Civil Service. Webb also contributed to the 'Christian Socialist' and taught at the London Working Men's College. In 1885 he joined the Fabian Society. In 1892 Webb married Beatrice Potter (1958-1943), the social reformer. In the same year he stood as the Fabian Society candidate for Deptford in the London County Council elections. Webb won the seat and he retained it for the next eighteen years. Webb was appointed as Chairman of the Technical Instruction Committee and as a result was known as the Minister of Public Education for London. In 1894 Henry Hutchinson, a wealthy solicitor from Derby, left the Fabian Society £10,000. Sidney and Beatrice Webb suggested that the money should be used to develop a new university in London. The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) was founded in 1895.

When the Conservative Party won the 1900 General Election, the Webbs drafted what later became the 1902 Education Act. In 1915 Sidney Webb was appointed to the Labour Party National Executive. By 1922 he was Chairman of the National Executive and the following year, in the 1923 General Election, was chosen to represent the Labour Party in the Seaham constituency. Webb won the seat, and when Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937) became Britain's first Labour Prime Minister in 1924, he appointed Webb as his President of the Board of Trade. Webb left the House of Commons in 1929 when he was granted the title Baron Passfield. Now in the House of Lords, Webb served as Secretary of State for the Colonies in MacDonald's second Labour Government. His publications include: 'The case for an eight hours bill' (1891); 'The History of Trade Unionism' (1894) Co-written with Beatrice Webb; 'Industrial Democracy' (1897) Co-written with Beatrice Webb; 'Facts for Socialists' (1887); 'Facts for Londoners' (1888); 'The Eight Hour Day' (1891); 'English local government' (1906); 'The decline in the birth-rate' (1907); 'The basis & policy of socialism' (1908); 'The Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission' (1909); 'Conscience and the conscientious objector' (1917); 'A constitution for the socialist commonwealth of Great Britain' (1920); 'The decay of capitalist civilisation' (1923); 'English poor law history' (1927); 'Soviet communism: dictatorship or democracy?' (1936).

Beatrice Webb, 1858-1943, was born Martha Beatrice Potter at Standish House near Gloucester, she was the eighth daughter of the railway and industrial magnate Richard Potter (1817-1892). Beatrice was educated privately and became a business associate of her father after her mother's death in 1882. She became interested in reform and began to do social work in London.

Beatrice investigated working-class conditions as part of the survey 'Life and Labour of the People in London' (1891-1903), directed by her cousin Charles Booth (1840-1916). In 1892 she married Sidney Webb (1859-1947), later Baron Passfield, a member of the socialist Fabian Society. Sidney and Beatrice Webb served on many royal commissions and wrote widely on economic problems. In 1895 they founded the London School of Economics and Political Science. After a tour of the United States and the Dominions in 1898, they embarked on their massive ten-volume work, 'English Local Government' (1906-1929). Beatrice Webb also served on the Poor Law Commission (1906-1909) and was joint author of its minority report. During World War I Beatrice Webb was a member of the War Cabinet committee on women in industry (1918-1919) and served on the Lord Chancellor's advisory committee for women justices (1919-1920), being a justice of the peace herself from 1919 to 1927.

Sidney Webb became an MP in 1922 and held ministerial office in both the early Labour governments. In 1932, after he had left office, the Webbs visited the Soviet Union. They recorded their views in 'Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation' (1935). The Webbs retired to their home in Hampshire in 1928. Beatrice Webb produced two volumes of autobiography: 'My Apprenticeship' (1926) and 'Our Partnership' (1948), which was published after her death. Her publications include: 'The co-operative movement in Great Britain' (1891); 'The history of trade unionism' (1894) (co-author with Sidney Webb); 'The case for the Factory Acts' (1901); 'English Local Government' (1906) (co-author with Sidney Webb); 'The charter of the poor' (1909); 'The break-up of the Poor Law: being part one of the Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission' (1909); 'The coming of a unified county medical service and how it will affect the voluntary hospital' (1910); 'Complete national provision for sickness: how to amend the insurance acts' (1912); 'The abolition of the Poor Law' (1918); 'Wages of men and women-should they be equal?' (1919); 'A constitution for the socialist commonwealth of Great Britain' (1920); 'Decay of capitalist civilisation' (1923) Co-author with Sidney Webb; 'My apprenticeship' (1926); 'Soviet Communism: a new civilisation' (1935); 'Our partnership' (1948).

The London and North Eastern Railway, which incorporates the former Great Central, Great Eastern, Great Northern, Hull and Barnsley, North Eastern, North British and Great North of Scotland Railway Companies, is the second largest railway company in Great Britain. With a total single track mileage, including sidings, of 16,824, the system covers the whole of Eastern England and East and West Scotland It serves the country between the Moray Firth and the Thames.

In 1926 the government set up a Royal Commission to look into the problems of the Mining Industry. The Commission published its report in March 1926. It recognised that the industry needed to be reorganised but rejected the suggestion of nationalisation. The report also recommended that the Government subsidy should be withdrawn and the miners' wages should be reduced. The month in which the report was issued also saw the mine-owners publishing new terms of employment. These new procedures included an extension of the seven-hour working day, district wage-agreements, and a reduction in the wages of all miners. The mine-owners announced that if the miners did not accept their new terms of employment they would be locked out of the pits from the first of May. A Conference of the Trade Union Congress met on 1st May 1926, and afterwards announced that a General Strike "in defence of miners' wages and hours" was to begin two days later. The TUC decided to bring out workers in what they regarded as the key industries - railwaymen, transport workers, dockers, printers, builders, iron and steel workers - a total of 3 million men (a fifth of the adult male population). Only later would other trade unionists, like the engineers and shipyard workers, be called out on strike. During the next two days efforts were made to reach an agreement with the Conservative Government and the mine-owners. For several months the miners held out, but by October 1926 hardship forced men to return to the mines. In 1927 the British Government passed the Trade Disputes and Trade Union Act. This act made all sympathetic strikes illegal, ensured the trade union members had to voluntarily 'contract in' to pay the political levy, forbade Civil Service unions to affiliate to the TUC, and made mass picketing illegal.

The Co-operative Women's Guild was formed in 1883 following the first inclusion of a women's page in 'Co-operative News'. Its aim was to spread the knowledge of the benefits of co-operation and improve the conditions of women with the slogan "co-operation in poor neighbourhoods". In 1885 the organisation changed its name to the Women's Co-operative Guild. In 1889 Miss Margaret Llewelyn Davies (1861-1943) became General Secretary on a voluntary basis and Miss Lilian Harris was appointed Cashier to the Guild. Under the direction of these two women the organisation expanded rapidly from 51 branches and a membership of 1700 in 1889 to a peak of 1500 branches and a membership of 72,000 in 1933. By this time the organisation had again been changed to the Co-operative Women's Guild. Margaret Llewelyn Davies was the daughter of Reverend John Llewelyn Davies, a Christian Socialist and supporter of women's rights. She ran the Guild's affairs from her father's vicarage at Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria. Under her leadership the Guild became a campaigning body. After carrying out an investigation into the working conditions of the 2000 women employed in co-operative stores, the Guild advocated the introduction of a minimum wage. By 1912 the Co-operative Wholesale Society and 200 other retail stores had complied with the Guild's policy on wages.

Llewelyn Davies was a member of the National Union of Suffrage Societies, and she took part in several peaceful demonstrations, including a sandwich-board picket of the House of Commons in 1912. She also gave evidence to the Royal Commission on divorce reform and the Guild created great controversy by urging that divorce by mutual consent after two years separation should be legalised. Other campaigns instigated by Llewelyn Davies included an attempt to reduce the high infant-mortality rates by the introduction of improved ante-natal, natal, and post-natal care. Her publications include: 'Maternity' (1915); 'Life as We Have Known It' (1931).

The Labour Representation Committee was formed in February 1900 after a resolution drafted by James Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937) was carried at the 1899 Trade Union Congress (TUC). The resolution called for a special congress of the TUC parliamentary committee to campaign for more Labour members of Parliament.

Richard Fort and Company were calico printers were calico printers of Oakenshaw, Lancashire, with warehouses in Manchester and London.

Beatrice Webb, 1858-1943, was born Martha Beatrice Potter at Standish House near Gloucester, she was the eighth daughter of the railway and industrial magnate Richard Potter (1817-1892). Beatrice was educated privately and became a business associate of her father after her mother's death in 1882. She became interested in reform and began to do social work in London. Beatrice investigated working-class conditions as part of the survey 'Life and Labour of the People in London' (1891-1903), directed by her cousin Charles Booth (1840-1916).

In 1892 she married Sidney Webb (1859-1947), later Baron Passfield, a member of the socialist Fabian Society. Sidney and Beatrice Webb served on many royal commissions and wrote widely on economic problems. In 1895 they founded the London School of Economics and Political Science. After a tour of the United States and the Dominions in 1898, they embarked on their massive ten-volume work, 'English Local Government' (1906-1929). Beatrice Webb also served on the Poor Law Commission (1906-1909) and was joint author of its minority report. During World War I Beatrice Webb was a member of the War Cabinet committee on women in industry (1918-1919) and served on the Lord Chancellor's advisory committee for women justices (1919-1920), being a justice of the peace herself from 1919 to 1927.

Sidney Webb became an MP in 1922 and held ministerial office in both the early Labour governments. In 1932, after he had left office, the Webbs visited the Soviet Union. They recorded their views in 'Soviet Communism: A New Civilisation' (1935). The Webbs retired to their home in Hampshire in 1928. Beatrice Webb produced two volumes of autobiography: 'My Apprenticeship' (1926) and 'Our Partnership' (1948), which was published after her death. Her publications include: 'The co-operative movement in Great Britain' (1891); 'The history of trade unionism' (1894) (co-author with Sidney Webb); 'The case for the Factory Acts' (1901); 'English Local Government' (1906) (co-author with Sidney Webb); 'The charter of the poor' (1909); 'The break-up of the Poor Law: being part one of the Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission' (1909); 'The coming of a unified county medical service and how it will affect the voluntary hospital' (1910); 'Complete national provision for sickness: how to amend the insurance acts' (1912); 'The abolition of the Poor Law' (1918); 'Wages of men and women-should they be equal?' (1919); 'A constitution for the socialist commonwealth of Great Britain' (1920); 'Decay of capitalist civilisation' (1923) Co-author with Sidney Webb; 'My apprenticeship' (1926); 'Soviet Communism: a new civilisation' (1935); 'Our partnership' (1948).

The Kreisau Circle was a German group of professionals, army officers and academics who were opposed to Nazism. It was founded in 1933. Its leader was Count Helmuth von Moltke (1907-1945), and its members frequently held their meetings on his estate. The Kreisau Circle saw defeat in the war as inevitable and post war planning and reorganisation as essential. It laid plans for a new social order built on Christian principles. Members organised a failed coup against Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944. Eight members of the Circle were subsequently caught and executed, including Von Moltke who was arrested by the Gestapo in January 1944 and hanged in Plotzensee prison in Berlin in 1945. The programmes described here were preserved by two widows of the group, Marion Yorck von Wartenberg and Freya von Moltke, as typescripts entitled "Der Nachlass von Kreisau" (described in the "Nemesis of Power" by Wheeler Bennett, p. 547).

Herbert Bryan was Honorary Secretary of the Watford Branch of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) 1905-1909, of the City of London Branch 1909-1912, of the North London Federation 1910-1912 and of the No 6 London and Southern Counties Divisional Council 1912. From 1908 to 1920, Bryan was a clerk at ILP headquarters. He died in 1950 and at the time of his death lived at 46 Bedford Row, WC1.

The Committee on children and young persons was a Home Office Departmental Committee, chaired by Osbert Peake, 1st Viscount Ingleby (1897-1966). The committee's report was published as Cmnd 1191.

Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970, was the third son of Lord John Russell (1792-1878), who twice served as Prime Minister (1846-1852 and 1865-1866). His parents died when he was very young and he was brought up by his grandmother. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge and obtained a first-class honours degree in mathematics and philosophy. He became a Fellow of the college in 1895. A visit to Berlin after university led to his first book "German Social Democracy" (1896). In 1907 a group of male supporters of votes for women formed the Men's League for Women's Suffrage. Bertrand Russell joined and stood unsuccessfully as a Suffragist candidate at a parliamentary by-election at Wimbledon. Russell was also a member of the Fabian Society. After the outbreak of the First World War Russell helped form the No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF), an organisation that planned to campaign against the introduction of conscription. Russell's activities in the the NCF resulted in him being sacked from his post as a lecturer at Cambridge University. Russell was also the editor of the NCF journal "Tribunal". Russell wrote an article in January 1918 criticising the American Army for strike-breaking. Russell was arrested and charged with making statements "likely to prejudice His Majesty's relations with the United States of America". He was found guilty and sentenced to six months in Brixton Prison. In 1931 Bertrand succeeded his elder brother as 3rd Earl of Russell. He used the forum of the House of Lords to promote his views on pacifism. Russell ceased to be a pacifist in the late 1930s with the rise of Hitler in Germany. Russell was rewarded with the restoration of his fellowship at Cambridge University. In 1950 Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Russell became increasing concerned about the major powers producing nuclear weapons and in 1958 helped form The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. His publications include: "The Principles of Mathematics" (1903); "Principia Mathematica" (1910); "Theory and Practice of Bolshevism" (1919); "An Enquiry into Meaning and Truth" (1940); "History of Western Philosophy" (1945); "Human Knowledge: Its scope and limits" (1948); "Why I am not a Christian" (1957).

Alys Pearsall Smith, 1867-1951, was an American Quaker who worked for the temperance cause. She was the first of Bertrand Russell's four wives. Pearsall Smith married Russell in 1894, despite opposition from both their families. They separated in 1911 and divorced in 1921. She then lived in Chelsea, London, with her brother the writer Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946).

Rastrick is in West Yorkshire.

Richard Tawney, 1880-1962, was educated at Rugby and Balliol College, Oxford. He was a fellow at Balliol, 1918-1921, and an honorary fellow, 1938. Tawney was a member of the executive committee of the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) 1905, and held WEA tutorial classes in Rochdale and Manchester, 1908-1914. From 1906-1908 he taught political economy at Glasgow University. Tawney joined the Fabian Society in 1906. He was a member of the Society's executive 1921-1933. In 1909 he joined the Independent Labour Party. He was wounded during World War One. After the war he stood unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate in 1918, 1922 and 1919. Tawney was a member of the consultative committee of the Board of Education 1912-1931. In 1919 he became a member of the Coal Industry Commission. Tawney was a lecturer in economic history at London School of Economics 1917 and 1920-1949, becoming a professor in 1931. From 1927-1934 he co-edited the 'Economic History Review'. His publications include: 'The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century' (1912); 'The Acquisitive Society' (1921); 'Religion and the Rise of Capitalism' (1926); 'Equality' (1931); 'Business and politics under James I: Lionel Cranfield as merchant and minister' (1958).

These papers were produced by joint seminars of the London School of Economics and the London Graduate School of Business Studies, on industrial organisation and management. These seminars were held by Professor Sir Ronald Edwards (1910-1976) on Tuesday evenings from 1946, and became known as the "Ronald Edwards Seminars". They were aimed at businessmen, civil servants and academics, and were based on papers prepared by industrialists and civil servants. The majority of the papers related to business administration.

William Alexander Robson 1895-1980, was educated at Peterborough Lodge School, but left at 15 to work as a clerk. During World War One (1914-1918) he served in the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force, 1915-19. Robson entered the London School of Economics in 1919; B.Sc. (Econ.), first-class honours, 1922; Ph.D., 1924; LLM, 1928. He was called to the bar (Lincoln's Inn)in 1922. From 1926-1933 he was a lecturer in industrial and administrative law at the LSE. he was a reader in administrative law, 1933-1947, and became the first professor of public administration, London University, 1947-1962. He was also a founder and joint editor of 'Political Quarterly', 1930-1975, with Leonard Woolf as co-editor, 1931-1959. Robson was an active member of the Fabian Society, and played a leading role in the creation of the Greater London Council, 1963. During World War Two (1939-1945) Robson worked in the Mines Department and other government ministries. From 1950-1953 he was president of the International Political Science Association. His publications include: Aircraft in War and Peace (1916); The Town Councillor (in collaboration with Clement Attlee, 1925); Justice and Administrative Law(1928); Civilization and the Growth of Law (1935); The Government and Misgovernment of London (1939); Great Cities of the World (1954); Local Government in Crisis (1966); Nationalized Industry and Public Ownership (1960); Welfare State and Welfare Society (1976).

The Independent Labour Party: The activities of the Manchester Independent Labour Party (established in 1892) inspired Liberal-Labour MPs to consider setting up a new national working class party. The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was consequently formed in 1893 under the leadership of James Keir Hardie (1856-1915). The chief objective of the ILP would be "to secure the collective ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange". The ILP had 35,000 members at the time of the 1895 General Election, and put forward 28 candidates, but only won 44,325 votes. The party had more success in local elections, winning over 600 seats on borough councils. The ILP joined the Social Democratic Federation in 1898 to make West Ham the first local authority to have a Labour majority. On 27th February 1900 representatives of all the socialist groups in Britain (the Independent Labour Party, the Social Democratic Federation and the Fabian Society, joined trade union leaders to form the Labour Representation Committee.

The Committee consisted of the economist John F V Vicars (b 1899), the MP John Hammond (1900-1997) and Sir Roger Swynnerton (b 1911).

Townships formed the smallest unit of government. In many parts of England parishes formed a single township, but in districts where parishes were large e.g. the Pennines, they were subdivided into townships. In the 16th century townships or civil parishes were given responsibility for the poor and the highways. They were also units of taxation. Townships survived until the creation of Urban and Rural District Councils in the late 19th century.

The Independent Labour Party: The activities of the Manchester Independent Labour Party (established in 1892) inspired Liberal-Labour MPs to consider setting up a new national working class party. The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was consequently formed in 1893 under the leadership of James Keir Hardie (1856 - 1915). The chief objective of the ILP would be "to secure the collective ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange". The ILP had 35,000 members at the time of the 1895 General Election, and put forward 28 candidates, but only won 44,325 votes. The party had more success in local elections, winning over 600 seats on borough councils. The ILP joined the Social Democratic Federation in 1898 to make West Ham the first local authority to have a Labour majority. On 27th February 1900 representatives of all the socialist groups in Britain (the Independent Labour Party, the Social Democratic Federation and the Fabian Society, joined trade union leaders to form the Labour Representation Committee.

The collection is based on that assembled by David Collis and recorded in the printed bibliography British Birth Control Ephemera 1870 to 1947: A catalogue. by Peter Fryer (Barracuda Press, Leicester, 1947). Some of the material listed in the bibliography is missing but there is also additional material not recorded in the bibliography.

Sir David Harrel (1841-1939) entered the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1859. He became a resident magistrate in 1879. From 1883-1893 Harrel was chief commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. He was under-secretary for Ireland, 1893-1902. He later served on trade-disputes boards in England. Harrel was knighted in 1893. His publications include: "Recollections and reflections" (1926).

The Bethnal Green Labour Party was formed in 1908 and aimed to "forward the just claims of the working class and to promote independent Labour representation on all governing bodies". The branch was closely involved with the Trades Union movement and was affiliated to the National Union of Corporation Workers, London Carmen's Trade Union, National Union of Shop Assistants, Glass Bevelers Branch of the Furnishing Trades Association, National League of the Blind and the Independent Labour Party. Like minded individuals could also join.

The Alice Patterson Foundation Program (formerly known as the Alice Patterson Fund) makes awards to USA journalists to study in a foreign country. It was established in 1965 in memory of Alicia Patterson (1906-1963), who was editor and publisher of "Newsday" for nearly 23 years before her death in 1963. One-year grants are awarded to working journalists to pursue independent projects of significant interest and to write articles based on their investigations for the "The APF Reporter", a quarterly magazine published by the Foundation. Winners are chosen by an annual competition. Applicants must have at least five years of professional journalistic experience. The website for the Foundation can be found at: http://www.aliciapatterson.org.

The State Children Aid Association was formed in 1896 with the aim "to obtain individual treatment for children under the guardianship of the state", following a report on poor law schools.

No information available.

The Conservative Party: Conservative instead of the traditional term, Tory, was first used in Britain by George Canning (1770-1827) in 1824. The term became more popular after it was used by Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850) in his Tamworth Manifesto in 1834. In the Tamworth Manifesto Peel attempted to combine the idea of moderate reform with a strong belief in traditional institutions. After Peel became Prime Minister in 1834, his followers tended to describe themselves as Conservatives rather than Tories.

In the 1895 General Election the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates but won only 44,325 votes. James Keir Hardie (1856-1915), the leader of the party believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. On 27th February 1900, representatives of all the socialist groups in Britain (the Independent Labour Party, the Social Democratic Federation and the Fabian Society, met with trade union leaders at the Memorial Hall in Farringdon Street, London. After a debate the 129 delegates decided to pass Hardie's motion to establish "a distinct Labour group in Parliament, who shall have their own whips, and agree upon their policy, which must embrace a readiness to cooperate with any party which for the time being may be engaged in promoting legislation in the direct interests of labour." To make this possible the Conference established a Labour Representation Committee (LRC). This committee included two members from the Independent Labour Party, two from the Social Democratic Federation, one member of the Fabian Society, and seven trade unionists. Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937) was chosen as the secretary of the LRC. As he was financed by his wealthy wife, Margaret MacDonald (died 1911) he did not have to be paid a salary. The LRC put up fifteen candidates in the 1900 General Election and between them they won 62,698 votes. Two of the candidates, Keir Hardie and Richard Bell (1866-1937) won seats in the House of Commons. The party did even better in the 1906 election with twenty nine successful candidates. Later that year the LRC decided to change its name to the Labour Party.

Richard Cobden was born in Heyshott, near Midhurst, Sussex, the son of a farmer. Cobden's father was poor and was obliged to send his eleven children to various relatives. He was sent to an uncle in Yorkshire where he was mistreated. Cobden received little formal schooling and in 1819 became a clerk in the textile industry. In 1820 he became a commercial traveller. After developing a knowledge of the cotton trade he became a partner in a London calico factory. The business was a success and in 1831 he also became a partner in a Lancashire calico factory. By 1832 Cobden was living in an affluent part of Manchester. He wrote about the subject of economics in the "Manchester Examiner" and published pamphlets on free-trade (1838-1846). Between 1833 and 1837 Cobden visited France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, America, Egypt, Greece and Russia. He was a leader of the Anti-Corn Law League 1838-1846. The Corn Laws had been passed during the Napoleonic Wars (1804 and 1818) to impose duties on imported corn, and led to high bread prices. The Anti-Corn Law League succeeded in having the corn laws repealed in 1846. Cobden was MP for Stockport 1841-1847, and for the West Riding of Yorkshire 1847-1857. Cobden campaigned against the Crimean War (1854-1856), despite the public's support for the war, and Cobden subsequently lost his seat on Parliament in the General Election of 1857. In the General Election of 1859 he was elected MP for Rochdale. He was offered the post of President of the Board of Trade (1859) and a baronetcy (1860), but refused both. Cobden died of an acute attack of bronchitis on 2nd April 1865. His publications include: "Agricultural distress: speech of R. Cobden...in the House of Commons, on Thursday, the 13th of March, 1845, on moving for a select committee to inquire into the extent and causes of the alleged existing agricultural distress, and into the effects of legislative protection upon the interest of landowners, farmers, and farm-labourers" (1845); "Alarming distress: speech of Richd. Cobden, Esq. in the House of Commons on Friday evening, July 8, 1842" (1842); "The corn laws: speech of R. Cobden, Esq., MP, in the House of Commons, on Thursday evening, February 24, 1842" (1842); "England, Ireland, & America" (1835); "How wars are got up in India: the origin of the Burmese war" (1853).

In October 1883 Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) and Hubert Bland (1855-1914) decided to form a socialist debating group with their Quaker friend Edward Pease (1857-1955). They were also joined by Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) and Frank Podmore (1856-1910). In January 1884 they decided to call themselves the Fabian Society. Hubert Bland chaired the first meeting and was elected treasurer. By March 1884 the group had twenty members. However, over the next couple of years the group increased in size and included socialists such as Annie Besant (1847-1933), Sidney Webb (1859-1947), Beatrice Webb (1858-1943), George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Clement Attlee (1883-1967), Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937), Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), H G Wells (1866-1946) and Rupert Brooke (1887-1915). By 1886 the Fabians had sixty-seven members and an income of £35 19s. The official headquarters of the organisation was 14 Dean's Yard, Westminster. The Fabian Society journal, "Today", was edited by Edith Nesbit and Hubert Bland. The Fabians believed that capitalism had created an unjust and inefficient society. They agreed that the ultimate aim of the group should be to reconstruct "society in accordance with the highest moral possibilities". The Fabians adopted the tactic of trying to convince people by "rational factual socialist argument", rather than the "emotional rhetoric and street brawls" of the Social Democratic Federation, Britain's first socialist political party. On 27th Febuary 1900, representatives from the Fabian Society and all the other socialist groups in Britain met at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London. This conference established the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), which in 1906 changed its name to the Labour Party. At its outset the LRC had one member of the Fabian Society among its members.

The Fellowship of Reconciliation was founded in Cambridge 1914 by a group of pacifist Christians. During the summer of 1914 an ecumenical conference of Christians who wanted to avert the approaching war was held in Switzerland. However, war broke out before the end of the conference and, at Cologne station, Henry Hodgkin, an English Quaker, and Friedrich Siegmund-Schulze, a German Lutheran, pledged themselves to a continued search for peace with the words, "We are at one in Christ and can never be at war". Inspired by that pledge, about 130 Christians of all denominations gathered in Cambridge at the end of 1914 and set up the FoR, recording their general agreement in a statement which became 'The Basis' of the FoR, namely:

1) That love as revealed and interpreted in the life and death of Jesus Christ involves more than we have yet seen, that is the only power by which evil can be overcome and the only sufficient basis of human society.

2) That, in order to establish a world-order based on Love, it is incumbent upon those who believe in this principle to accept it fully, both for themselves and in relation to others and to take the risks involved in doing so in a world which does not yet accept it.

3) That therefore, as Christians, we are forbidden to wage war, and that our loyalty to our country, to humanity, to the Church Universal, and to Jesus Christ our Lord and Master, calls us instead to a life-service for the enthronement of Love in personal, commercial and national life.

4) That the Power, Wisdom and Love of God stretch far beyond the limits of our present experience, and that He is ever waiting to break forth into human life in new and larger ways.

5) That since God manifests Himself in the world through men and women, we offer ourselves to His redemptive purpose to be used by Him in whatever way He may reveal to us.

The FoR supported conscientious objectors during World War I and was a supporter of passive resistance during World War II. In 1919, representatives from a dozen countries met in Holland and established the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, which now has many branches in all five continents.

No further information available.

Charity Organisation Society (COS): During the 1860s there was a concern that self-help and charity could conflict. It was believed that the poor could best be helped through the use of charity funding, to help themselves. In June 1868 at a meeting if the Society of Arts, the Unitarian minister Henry Solly (1813-1903) gave a public lecture entitled "How to deal with the Unemployed Poor of London and with its 'Rough' and Criminal Class". This led to the formation of the Charity Organisation Society in 1869, with Solly as its first Secretary. The aim of COS was a better standard of administering charity relief, emphasising the need for self help, and accompanying it with personal care. COS became involved in administering charity relief in London, and in the 20th century was associated with the introduction and development of social casework in Britain. The social reformer Beatrice Webb (1858-1943) became a member in 1883, and the housing reformer Octavia Hill (1838-1912) was a key figure in the development of the COS until her death.

The Committee on the economic effects of the legislation regulating women's labour was set up in 1900 and presented its final report in 1903. Its function was to investigate the operative effects of nineteenth century protective legislation on factory and workshop employment and on some aspects of outwork, and does not touch on any aspect of agricultural work or domestic service.

Ernst Meyer (1887-1930), Chairman of the KPD, was born in Prostken, Germany, the son of a train driver. He studied philosophy, history, theology, psychology and economics at Koeningsberg and Berlin universities. From 1912 he worked for the Imperial government in the Kaiserlichen Statistischen in Berlin. In 1908 he became a member of the German Social Democrat Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands). He was also a founder member of the Spartacus League. The League was founded in 1914 by members of the Social Democrat Party who were opposed to the party's decision to support Germany's involvment in World War I. In 1918 he helped found the German Communist Party (Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands). He was voted on to the Executive Committee of the KPD and was director of KPD publications. From 1921 to 1923 he was Chairman of the Politbureau of the KPD. In 1922 he married Rose Levine (1890-1971), widow of Eugene Levine (1883-1919), who was leader of the German Communist Party until his execution in 1919. Meyer died of tuberculosis in 1930.