The Emergence of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford

J. Reynolds; K. Lay Bourn

doi:10.1017/S0020859000005009

The Emergence of the Independent Labour Party in Bradford

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2008

J. Reynolds and

K. Lay Bourn

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Opening the 21st anniversary of the ILP in Bradford in April 1914, J. H. Palin, one of Bradford's most prominent trade unionists, remarked: “Of ordinary historical association, Bradford has none. In Domesday Book, it is described as a waste, and the subsequent periods of capitalist exploitation have done little to improve it. […] The History of Bradford will be very largely the history of the ILP.”1 Palin's remark – unjust as it is, perhaps, to a distinguished list of Victorian philanthropists – stands as testimony to the authority and influence which the labour movement in Bradford had acquired by that date. It also provides a clue to the origins of that authority and influence, for it demonstrates the importance which he and other Bradford trade unionists attached to their association with the independent labour movement. Whatever the reactions of trade unionists in the rest of the country, in Bradford, trade unionists were vital to its success. Indeed, strong trade-union support proved to be an essential corollary of effective independent working-class political action.

Type: Research Article
Information: International Review of Social History , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , December 1975 , pp. 313 - 346

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020859000005009 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1975

References

^{page 313 note 1} Yorkshire Observer Budget, 13 April 1914.

^{page 314 note 1} Bradford Trades and Labour Council, Yearbook 1912, pp. 21–22.Google Scholar

^{page 314 note 2} The Letters of William Morris to his family and friends, ed. by Henderson, Ph. (London, 1950),Google Scholar letter dated 25 February 1884.

^{page 314 note 3} Bradford Trades Council, minutes, 16 September 1885. In the possession of the Bradford Trades Council, Textile Hall, Westgate, Bradford.

^{page 314 note 4} Bradford Observer, 25 September 1885.

^{page 315 note 1} Bradford Typographical Society, minutes, March 1885. In the possession of the Bradford Graphical Society, Textile Hall, Westgate, Bradford. Also in the possession of Mr J. Reynolds.

^{page 315 note 2} Bradford Observer, 25 September 1885.

^{page 315 note 3} Bradford Observer, 22 December 1873; Reynolds, J., A Short History of the Bradford Graphical Society (Bradford, 1971).Google Scholar

^{page 315 note 4} Pelling, H., The Origins of the Labour Party, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1965), pp. 114–15.Google Scholar

^{page 316 note 1} Royal Commission of Labour, Vol. I [Parliamentary Papers, 1892, XXXV], q. 5537.

^{page 316 note 2} Bradford Observer, 7 February 1880.

^{page 317 note 1} Royal Commission on Labour, ibid., qq. 4782–5238, 5374–5842, particularly qq. 5618–20.

^{page 317 note 2} Cudworth, W., Condition of the Industrial Classes (Bradford, 1887).Google Scholar

^{page 319 note 1} Bradford Labour Echo, 30 November 1895. E. R. Hartley wrote as “Echoist”.

^{page 320 note 1} Brockway, F., Sixty Years of Socialism (London, 1946), p. 69.Google Scholar

^{page 320 note 2} Bradford Observer, 8 February 1887.

^{page 322 note 1} Bradford Typographical Society, minutes, passim 1891–94. See also J. Reynolds, op. cit., pp. 20–26.

^{page 322 note 2} Letter of Bradford Letter Press Printers to Employers, 23 November 1867, in the possession of Mr J. Reynolds.

^{page 323 note 1} Bradford Observer, 16 July 1887.

^{page 323 note 2} TUC Report 1885, pp. 17–19.

^{page 324 note 1} Bradford Typographical Society, minutes, September 1888.

^{page 324 note 2} Ibid., November 1888.

^{page 325 note 1} Ibid., December 1888.

^{page 325 note 2} Shaftoe, secretary of the Trades Council, refused to surrender his minute book.

^{page 325 note 3} Bradford Observer, 26 August 1889.

^{page 326 note 1} Ibid., 10 January 1890.

^{page 326 note 2} Bartley maintained that Shaftoe's opponents had not been informed of the date of the meeting in time for them to attend, the post arriving on the following day. It appears that the election meeting had been brought forward without their knowledge.

^{page 327 note 1} Essays in Labour History, ed. by A. Briggs and J. Saville (London, 1960).

^{page 327 note 2} Bradford Observer, 28 April 1891.

^{page 327 note 3} Yorkshire Factory Times, 1 May 1891.

^{page 328 note 1} Bradford Observer, 17 December 1891.

^{page 328 note 2} Ibid., 2 January 1891.

^{page 328 note 3} Ibid., 17 April 1891.

^{page 329 note 1} Yorkshire Factory Times, 16 September 1904. Biography of Donald.

^{page 329 note 2} Bradford Observer, 27 April 1891.

^{page 329 note 3} Ibid., 20 April 1891.

^{page 329 note 4} Bradford Observer Budget, 25 April 1891.

^{page 330 note 1} Yorkshire Factory Times, 29 May 1891.

^{page 330 note 2} Bradford Observer, 28 June 1892.

^{page 331 note 1} Ibid., 1 May 1891.

^{page 331 note 2} Bradford Trades and Labour Council, Yearbook 1899, pp. 52–60.Google Scholar

^{page 332 note 1} Bradford Observer, 21 April 1892.

^{page 332 note 2} Ibid., 4 August 1891.

^{page 333 note 1} George Cowgill eventually replaced Shaftoe as secretary of the Trades Council, but ill-health forced him to retire from the position in 1895.

^{page 333 note 2} J. H. Palin was a prominent member of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants and was on the National Executive at the time of the Taff Vale case.

^{page 333 note 3} Bradford Observer, 24 June 1892.

^{page 334 note 1} Bradford Typographical Society, minutes, 25 June 1892.

^{page 334 note 2} Bradford Observer, 15 June 1892.

^{page 335 note 1} He was not, however, the first working man to be returned to the Town Council. Samuel Shaftoe, representing the Trades Council, had been returned for West Bowling in 1891, and Woods, a Conservative working man who later joined the ILP, was returned for Manningham Ward in November 1891.

^{page 335 note 2} Bradford Observer, 11 July 1892.

^{page 335 note 3} Bradford Observer Budget, 2 November 1893.

^{page 336 note 1} Ibid., 6 January 1893.

^{page 336 note 2} Ibid., 5 January 1893.

^{page 337 note 1} Pelling, H., Popular Politics and Society in Late Victorian Britain (London, 1968).Google Scholar

^{page 337 note 2} Bradford Labour Echo, 1 June 1895.

^{page 338 note 1} Ibid., 22 June 1895.

^{page 338 note 2} Ibid., 1 June 1895.

^{page 338 note 3} Ibid., 22 June 1895.

^{page 339 note 1} Referred to in an interview with Robinson, C. L. in the Bradford Labour Echo, 22 06 1895.Google Scholar Also discussed in the Trades Council minutes, May and June 1895.

^{page 339 note 2} Bradford Labour Echo, 22 June 1895.

^{page 340 note 1} See p. 314, note 1.

^{page 340 note 2} Bradford Labour Echo, 1 June and 22 June 1895.

^{page 340 note 3} Barker, B., “Anatomy of Reform: The Social and Political Ideas of the Labour Leadership in Yorkshire”, in: International Review of Social History, XVIII (1973).Google Scholar

^{page 341 note 1} Ashraf, Mary, Bradford Trades Council 1872–1972 (Bradford, 1972), p. 42.Google Scholar

^{page 341 note 2} Bradford Labour Echo, 5 March 1898.

^{page 341 note 3} Bradford Pioneer, 15 November 1918.

^{page 341 note 4} B. Barker, loc. cit.

^{page 342 note 1} Yorkshire Observer, 14 January 1947. Article by W. Leach on the Bradford ILP.

^{page 342 note 2} In that period prominent ILP'ers such as Jowett, G. Minty, C. L. Robinson and J. Hayhurst had been returned to the Bradford City Council. Drew, W. H. had also been returned for the Bradford School Board towards the end of 1891.Google Scholar

^{page 344 note 1} Shaftoe contested and was returned for West Bowling, and W. Sugden made a number of unsuccessful attempts to capture South Ward for the Lib-Labs.

^{page 344 note 2} Bradford Trades and Labour Council, Yearbook 1912, pp. 21–22.Google Scholar

^{page 346 note 1} See above, p. 337

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