.GIF){kind=small}
Share
The History of the Labour Party. See below...
Welcome to InfoBritain, for historical visiting information in the UK. InfoBritain tells you what happened and where it happened. We have articles and visits relating to all historical periods from prehistoric Britain to recent times, and to the lives of major British authors, artists, musicians, scientists, politicians, military and royal figures. You can use our site search, or our various menus to find suggested visits relating to times or people. Alternatively go to the regions menu, find a place to visit in a particular area, and then link back to the history relating to it. We also have a full accommodation booking service for all parts of the mainland UK. We specialise in historic accommodation, but we also have comprehensive lists of hotels of all types and price ranges. See the regional menus on the right. Enjoy!
An alphabetical index is available below.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y
A Personal Note (Archive)
June 28, 2017
In many ways the Labour Party has historically been based on an outlook which sees life as building to a great goal. And a party which naturally thought in terms of triumphant endings would also naturally think in terms of clear beginnings. While the more clearly pragmatic Conservative Party has no creation myth, the Labour party, fittingly, has tried to present its beginnings in very specific terms. In the 1870s miners' unions began meeting at an annual congress. The Lanarkshire miners were organised by Alexander Macdonald, who even with the demands of a mining job still managed to gain a degree at Glasgow University. He, along with secretary of the Northumberland miners John Burt, entered Parliament in 1874. Up until 1920 Alexander Macdonald was named by Labour Party historians as "Britain's first Labour member" (see The Book Of The Labour Party, ed H. Tracey Vol 32 P16). The problem for later historians was the willingness of Macdonald and Burt to enter into alliances with the Liberals to support their position... Read more
Best wishes
Martin
The InfoBritain view of history (with thanks to The Simpsons)
Historical news for July
Starting on 14th July and continuing to September, the Proms is London's annual classical music festival. Promenade concerts, informal musical events where people were free to walk about as an orchestra played, had taken place in London's parks since the mid eighteenth century.Then in 1838 Louis Antoine Jullien and Arthur Sullivan had the idea of bringing the promenade concert indoors. This led on to the inaugeration of the Proms in August 1895. Their organiser Henry Wood described the concerts as an effort to raise the standard of musical taste by stealth:
"I am going to run nightly concerts and train the public by easy stages. Popular at first, gradually raising the standard until I have created a public for classical and modern music."
For information on this year's Proms go to: http://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/proms-2017/
Anniversaries for July
1st July 1903 : The first stage of the first Tour de France is run between Paris and Lyon. The stage is won by Maurice Garin of France, the eventual race winner.
3rd July 1940: The Royal Navy attacks the French fleet at Mers El-Kebir, Algeria, fearing that with the defeat of France, the ships would fall into German hands.
6th July 1957: A Liverpool skiffle band called the Quarrymen play at a garden fete at St Peter's Church Woolton. Their lead singer John Lennon got talking to Paul McCartney. This conversation set in train a sequence of events that would lead to the formation of the Beatles.
9th July 1916: Birth of Edward Heath, in Broadstairs, Kent. Son of a carpenter and a maid, Heath would go on to become prime minister 1970 - 1974.
17th July 1992: A crucial day in the failure of an attempt to co-ordinate the former individual currencies of Europe. Currency speculators were abandoning Europe's weaker currencies and were piling money into those judged to be stronger, especially the Deutchmark. On 17th July Germany put up interest rates making Germany an even better place for investors. This was an important step in the eventual financial disaster of September 1992 which saw Britain drop out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism.
20th July 1969: The Apollo 11 mission lands on the moon, and Neil Armstrong takes mankind's first steps on a world beyond Earth.
25th July 1965: Bob Dylan plugs in an electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival, signalling a major change in his own music, and popular music in general.
30th July 1930: Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 in Montevideo to win football's first World Cup.
A preview of my novel - about a girl who discovers that surprisingly she can't find her way to the sort of secret world found in story books. So she searches for an alternative.
Please be aware
We make every effort to ensure the accuracy of our information, but it is always advisable to check details of any visit beforehand using contact details provided. If you spot a mistake please let us know by contacting us.
Almost all photography on InfoBritain is by InfoBritain or by named contributors. All educational use is permitted, but copyright is reserved for commercial uses. Occasionally we have used copyright free stock images which are available for any use. A note will identify these images.
Thank you to photo contributors Danielle Davis, Jean Edwards, Vicky Eagle of Portsmouth Dockyard, Kevin Edwards, Derick Fusco, Julian Jones, Richard Jones, Jackie Lewis, Debbie Lowless, Judy Mills of the Corinium Museum, Jane Barron of the World Rugby Museum, and Susan Stuart of Old Spitalfields Market.