The Jarrow March (or Jarrow Crusade)

I)Ellen Cicely Wilkinson

After being active in the women's sufferage movement she was elected as Labour member of Middlesbrough East in 1924. Identified with the far left, in fact Wilkinson was involved with various forms of labour movement activism. She was a tough character and resilient to jibes as both an orator and hardened union negotiator. She lost her seat in 1931. In 1935 she was elected MP for Jarrow, a seat she held until her death in 1947. In 1936 she was one of the leaders of the Jarrow March.As they reach the end of the 1990s, most South Tynesiders would baulk at walking all the way to London. But that is exactly what 200 Jarrow men did on the morning of Monday, October 5, 1936. As the Gazette wrote at the time: "The tramp, tramp of Jarrow men, swinging onwards, marching half the length of England, carrying the woes and troubles of not only their own town, but of all distressed areas, to the capital, is beating out history as it awakens the echoes of the villages and towns on its route. It was an act of courage and comradeship, to carry a petition for action to the government of the day, forced upon them by the desperation of years of unemployment in the north east. A map of the planned route was published which showed the marchers would travel by way of Darlington, Leeds, Barnsley, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Northampton and Luton, on their way to the capital (I haven't find it).So on the morning of their departure, almost every home in Jarrow was empty, as the townsfolk went to the Town Hall to see the 200 men set off on a 300 mile trek. Leading a prior municipal ceremony was the Mayor, Alderman J W Thompson, and the Town Clerk, Mr C S Perkins, in their robes of office. Also present was the town's MP, Miss Ellen Wilkinson  and Coun. A E Gompertz, secretary of the South Shields Labour Party. Miss Wilkinson had earlier travelled from London, and had previously written a letter to the Times, which included the words: "The town's march - supported by all the political parties on the town council - is to 'present' to Parliament a petition dealing with the permanent causes of Jarrow's plight."Ellen Wilkinson, who led the marchers whenever she could, made an impassioned plea to the Labour Party Conference in Edinburgh, and with tears streaming down her face, said: "Tell the Government, our people shall not starve!" On Saturday, October 31, the marchers finally reached London in heavy rain,headed by Ellen Wilkinson leading the mascot dog, the town's Mayor and 11 councillors.

II)Why?

The global Great Depression brought particular distress to North East England, where many citizens were miners and ship workers. The collapse of domestic and international trade in shipbuilding, coal mining, and steel industries led to even more severe unemployment and poverty than seen in other parts of the country. At the time unemployment benefit lasted only for twenty-six weeks, and the Unemployment Assistance Board, created in 1934, provided inadequate relief for long-term unemployed people, who were put under the Poor Law, which forced them to do service for less money than normal. Jarrow is a small town on the mouth of the River Tyne, near the city of Newcastle, which had a large ship building industry. A boomtown, Jarrow prospered at the start of the 20th century, when more than a quarter of the world's shipping tonnage was built in North East England. For example, the Palmer's Yard shipbuilding industry had been established in Jarrow in the mid-19th century. After the Great Depression, the town was never the same. The National Shipbuilding Industry Securities was set up to counter the increasingly dirty situation. It recommended "closure," which meant closing down a number of producers. Jarrow was one of the older producers closed to protect the more modern shipbuilding producers. cranes at Palmer's Yard were dismantled, and the town faced a bleak future. The National Unemployed Workers' Movement had organised several similar marches before the Jarrow March, but they received little political support due to the NUWM's links with the Communist Party. When the Jarrow Borough Council organised the protest in July 1936, they named it a "crusade" rather than a march, partly to make it clear their protest was not affiliated with the NUWM in the hope of gaining more support. No Communists were allowed to participate.

III)The march

The march was to find jobs to support Jarrow men and their families. It was also a bid for respect and recognition, not only for the people of Jarrow, but for others in a similar situation all over the country. The marchers had no resources other than their own determination, and some good boots supplied by the public. During the march, wherever the marchers stopped for the night, the local people found them shelter and provided them with food. The marchers were selected carefully, with only fit men being allowed to participate. The marchers were supported by a bus which carried cooking equipment and ground sheets for when the march had to stop outside. Many of the men marched in army style, walking for 50 minutes before a ten-minute break, and held blue and white banners. A harmonica band and frequent singing helped to keep morale of the marchers high. Sometimes, the local Member of Parliament, Ellen Wilkinson, marched with the group to give higher profile to the crusade. The original petition, which demanded government aid for the town of Jarrow, signed by 11,000 people from Jarrow, was carried in an oak box, whilst supporters of the March could add to an additional petition. The marchers spent the nights in local accommodation, whilst sometimes receiving extra aid from locals. For example, in Barnsley, the marchers were allowed to use specially-heated municipal baths. The marchers arrived in London on 31 October, almost a month after leaving. The total number of signatures on the petition was 12,000, and was handed into Parliament by Wilkinson. The Prime Minister of the day, Stanley Baldwin, refused to see any of the marchers' representatives, claiming he was too busy. The marchers generally received sympathy, though no proposal was made to help Jarrow, despite the petition being accepted in the House of Commons. It was not until two years after the Jarrow March, in 1938, that a ship breaking yard and engineering works were established in Jarrow. The following year, a steelworks was established. However the depression continued in Jarrow until after the beginning of World War II in September 1939, when industrial production increased due to the nation's need for re-armament.

IV)Details of the crusade

Jarrow is a town in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the River Tyne and has a population of around 27,000.
The route the marchers took was in 22 legs with overnight stops, covering a total of 280.5 miles (451 km) as follows:
Jarrow to Chester-le-Street – (12 miles)
Chester-le-Street to Ferryhill – (12 miles)
Ferryhill to Darlington – (12 miles)
Darlington to Northallerton – (16 miles)
Northallerton to Ripon – (17 miles)
Ripon to Harrogate – (11½ miles)
Harrogate to Leeds – (15½ miles)
Leeds to Wakefield – (9 miles)
Wakefield to Barnsley – (9¾ miles)
Barnsley to Sheffield – (13½ miles)
Sheffield to Chesterfield – (11¾ miles)
Chesterfield to Mansfield – (12 miles)
Mansfield to Nottingham – (14½ miles)
Nottingham to Loughborough – (15 miles)
Loughborough to Leicester – (11¼ miles)
Leicester to Market Harborough – (14½ miles)
Market Harborough to Northampton – (14½ miles)
Northampton to Bedford – (21 miles)
Bedford to Luton – (19 miles)
Luton to St Albans – (10¼ miles)
St Albans to Edmonton – (11 miles)
Edmonton to Marble Arch, London (8½ miles)




V)Conclusion

Nowadays, we are in a similar crisis and the demonstrations follow each other, but there's not this type of march wich, in my point of view, underlines more effeciently the determination of the demonstrators and the importance of the crisis. However, it must be remembered that the only thing that they obtained was 1 pound per personn to buy the train ticket for the return, but there's no doubt that the impact of this march was much important.

So to conclude, if anyone have a pairs of shoes to wear out, I'm ready to go with him.

                                                                                                                                                                  G.L.C 1S10