Special Subject Flashcards
Who is Sir Herbert Blain?
Principal agent of Conservative party appointed in 1923 to modernise party organisation
When was the Zinoviev Letter?
October 24th 1924
What are the dates of the General strike?
4th - 13th May 1926
What is the significance of John Wheatley?
Labour MP - Housing Act 1924
When was the Carlton Club meeting?
19th October 1922
When/ what was Black Friday?
15th April 1921, Coal strike following re-privatisation of industry after war leading to pay cuts and hour increases, railway and transport workers fail to come out in solidarity
Who is Sir Robert Sanders, Lord Bayford?
- Old school country gentleman style of conservative politician
- MP for Bridgwater - loses seat in 1923
- minister for Agriculture in 1922 but pretty rubbish
- helps orchestrate Carlton Club
Who is William Bridgeman?
Country gentleman and MP for Northern division of Shropshire 1906-1929
Part of inner circle of cabinet during coal dispute and general strike
Who are the Chamberlain diary letters written to?
Their sisters Hilda and Ida
How does Chamberlain believe female voters and indeed w-c voters can be won over?
Material appeals of social reform
Who is Leo Amery?
Conservative MP for Birmingham South
- First elected under label of Liberal Unionist
- associated with military preparedness, India and fear of communism
- First Lord of Admiralty 1922 -24, Colonial Secretary 1924 - 29
- opposes League of Nations as he doesn’t believe all nations are equal
Background of DH Lawrence
- From Eastwood near Nottingham, father is a coal miner
- isolated in youth - not coal miner material
- travels to Germany in 1912, marries German woman
- Expelled from Cornwall as suspect in 1917, leaves England to travel in Italy from 1919
What is J.B Priestley’s background?
- Son of Yorkshire schoolmaster - becomes clerk at 16 - goes to Cambridge
- writes column in weekly Labour paper ‘Bradford Pioneer’
- 1930s his period of success
What is the background of Walter Greenwood?
Born in Salfrod, works in pawn brokers, as stable boy, clerk, warehouseman and salesman
Works for Labour part, producing local newspaper
Moves from Salford to London in 1937
What is the background of George Orwell?
- scholarship to Eton
- Burma police force in 1921
- Writes for Adelphi from 1930
- ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’ 1933
- ‘Keep the Aspidistra Flying’ 1936
- ‘The Road to Wigan Pier’ 1937
- Goes to fight in Spain in 1937
What is the provenance of Means Test Man?
Published 1935
Walter Brierley - from mining family in Derbyshire - scholarship to Nottingham uni but fails exams so back to pit - first published work was anonymous contribution to Beales and Lambert’s ‘Memoirs of the unemployed
Some contemporary responses criticise Brierley’s picture of hopelessness and passivity in face of the Means Test
What is the provenance of Beales and Lambert’s ‘Memoirs of the Unemployed’
1934
25 anonymous testimonies about unemployed life
Lambert - works for BBC - editor of The Listener - believes in educational capacity of the BBC
Beales - economist/ social historian at LSE
Who is Jack Commmon?
Born in Leeds - works as Clerk, mechanic, labourer, caretaker, scriptwriter
Moves to London in 1928 to become freelance writer
Impresses editor Adelphi - assistant editor after a year
‘The authentic voice of the ordinary man, the man who might infuse a new decency into the control of affairs, if only he could get there’ - Orwell
Key features of ‘Pease Pudding Men’
Emphasis on skilled/ manual divide in labour
Discussion of social status of labour rather than psychological effects
The sociability and natural community spirit of the w-c
What is the provenance of ‘Time to Spare’?
- Felix Greene - Oxford educated radical journalist - works at BBC
- Originally a set of BBC broadcasts - desire to make wider nation interact with unemployed
- By 1934 the Nat Gov claims the economy was in recovery but this is confined to the south
- Role of BBC ensuring accounts aren’t entirely negative?
- How do w-c spend spare time, does unemployment insurance provide enough to live on?
What is stage theory and where does it come from?
Based on Lazarfeld and Zawardski’s study of unemployment in Belgium town
Identify a series of stages the unemployed man goes through - engagement to inertia
Who is Cuthbert Headlam? How does he fare in elections?
Conservative MP for Barnard Castle in County Durham - Marginal seat
Wins 1924, Loses 1929 (after Liberal intervention), Wins 1931, Loses 1935
Phillip Snowden - What is the is the Labour Party? - discuss provenance
Snowden - comes from Liberal tradition - MP for Blackburn in 1906 - elected to Colne Valley (Yorkshire Pennines) in 1922 - opposes industrial and class conflict - attacked by many on left
This piece is about labour claiming the mantle of the British Radical Liberal tradition from the Liberals
Circulated among part members - so perhaps an instruction manual in some ways