Jarrow Crusade Flashcards
What caused the Jarrow Crusade?
Jarrow was badly hit by the depression in the 30’s and by 1935, 73% of the working population of Jarrow were out of work, so the people of Jarrow decided to fight back and organise a march to London where the would present a petition demanding the right to work.
What shipyard did Jarrow depend on?
Palmers Shipyard
Why did the majority of the town end up working at one firm- Palmers Shipyard?
The local mine shut down in 1930 and then the steel works in 1931
Why did the ship yard close down?
The shipyard was too small to build the type of ships needed for world war two, so it was closed down.
Who closed the shipyard down?
The National shipbuilders security closed the yard in 1934 - no ships were to be built there for 40 years
What effect did the closing of the shipyard have on Jarrow?
terrible effect- unemployment reached 80%
When did the Jarrow Crusade happen?
20th of October 1936- a group of 200 men from Jarrow marched 300 miles to London
What type of citizens were they and what did they demand?
The citizens were decent and responsible but were living in a depressed area, they demanded that a steel works be built to provide Jobs in their town.
What MP supported the fight?
Ellen Wilkinson was one of the four women MP’s in the Labour government at the time. She constantly sought to draw the fight of Jarrow to the attention of party leaders and she marched half of the way with the men.
Who else supported the match?
Local political parties and councillors of Jarrow raised £1000 for the march. A second hand bus was brought with cooking equipment and ground sheets.
how many people signed the petition?
11,000 people from Jarrow signed, the petition was in an oak box with gold letters.
How successful was the march?
They successfully readed london and gained a lot of public sympathy but despite this it made very little impact.
How much of an impact did it have?
little, many political parties and the prime minister ignored them, when they returned to Jarrow their unemployment benefit had been stopped because they had not been available for work while on march.
What good came out of the crusade?
A steel work was set up by Sir John Jarvis but only employed 200 men. It did raise public awareness and between 1945-1951 changes took place to reduce poverty.
