5th October 1936 The Jarrow Marchers begin their 22 day
crusade to London
On the 5th October 1936, a group
of 207 coal and shipyard workers from Jarrow near Newcastle-upon-Tyne began the
300 mile march to London, to lobby parliament against unemployment in the
region. They wanted to raise awareness of the troubles being felt in the north
of England during the years of depression, where 70 per cent of working aged
men were unemployed.
The march or ‘crusade’ as it was
referred to took 22 days to arrive in London. The marchers carried with them a
petition of 12,000 signatures they had gathered en route which they hoped to present to the Prime
Minister, Stanley Baldwin. Baldwin however declined to see any of the marchers
and despite becoming folk heroes, the marchers received little support amongst
decision makers in London and were given £1 each for the train fare back.
Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever www.photolegacy.com
Image courtesy of The National
Museum under The Commons agreement on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmediamuseum/3084877308/
Research courtesy of Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarrow_March
No comments:
Post a Comment