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| Jarrow hunger march | |
|---|---|
| Title | Jarrow hunger march |
| Date | October 1936 |
| Place | Jarrow, County Durham to London, England |
| Causes | Unemployment, closure of Palmer's shipyard, Great Depression |
| Methods | March, petitioning, public meetings |
| Result | Raised national awareness; charity aid; limited political concessions |
Jarrow hunger march
The Jarrow hunger march was a 1936 protest march from Jarrow to London organized to demand relief for severe unemployment and industrial decline. The march drew national attention to the plight of shipbuilders, miners, and shipyard workers amid the Great Depression and stimulated debates in Parliament and among political movements including the Labour Party, the Communist Party of Great Britain, and the British Union of Fascists.
In the 1920s and 1930s Jarrow and neighbouring towns such as Sunderland, South Shields, and Hebburn suffered deindustrialisation following the contraction of Palmer's Shipbuilding and Iron Company and the collapse of orders tied to the international downturn. The closure of the Palmer's yard in 1933 coincided with mass redundancies affecting former employees and families from Tyne and Wear, County Durham, and nearby coalfields linked to the Durham Miners' Association and the National Union of Mineworkers. Nationally, austerity measures like the Means Test and the policies of the National Government (UK, 1931–1940) amplified grievances voiced by trade unionists affiliated with the Trades Union Congress and local organisers connected to the Independent Labour Party and the Labour Representation Committee.
Leadership emerged from civic bodies such as the Jarrow Borough Council and labour organisations including the Transport and General Workers' Union, the National Union of Seamen, and the Amalgamated Engineering Union. Prominent local figures included the town mayor and councillors, clergy from St Paul’s Church, Jarrow and social activists linked to charities like the Jarrow Crusade committee and mutual aid groups formed after the yard closures. Organisers coordinated with sympathetic Members of Parliament from Tyneside constituencies and MPs such as those affiliated with the Labour Party who tabled questions in House of Commons sessions and sought to present a petition to King George V through intermediaries.
The marchers set out from Jarrow and traversed northern and midland towns including Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Durham, Bishop Auckland, Darlington, York, Leeds, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Rotherham, Sheffield, Barnsley, Leicester, Rugby, Northampton, Milton Keynes (note: modern geography), Banbury, Oxford, Reading, and Windsor before approaching London. The timetable comprised daily marches of roughly 12–20 miles, with public meetings held at venues like town halls, trade union halls, and church halls associated with organisations such as the Co-operative Party, local branches of the National Council of Labour Colleges, and the YMA (Young Men's Association). Arrivals in larger cities prompted demonstrations near civic centres and rallies on market squares and outside factories tied to firms like Swan Hunter and Cammell Laird.
Public reaction varied across constituencies. In industrial centres with active union branches including Newcastle, Leeds, and Sheffield, crowds of supporters—members of the National Union of Railwaymen, the London Transport Workers' Federation, and the Fire Brigades Union—greeted marchers with food collections and benefit concerts featuring performers linked to the Workers' Theatre Movement and the Unity Theatre. Middle-class enclaves and conservative constituencies aligned with the Conservative Party or groups like the Women's Institute often expressed unease, while local newspapers such as the Northern Echo, the Daily Mail, the Daily Herald, and the Manchester Guardian provided varying editorial stances. International observers from organisations like the International Labour Organization and journalists connected to the Reuters and Associated Press reported on the humanitarian aspects and political symbolism.
Central authorities, including ministers from the Chamberlain administration and officials in the Home Office, monitored the march closely. Police forces drawn from constabularies such as the Metropolitan Police Service, Durham Constabulary, and Northumberland Constabulary shadowed the route; local magistrates and justices of the peace coordinated with chief constables over public order. Tensions arose during demonstrations near Parliament Square and outside Downing Street, where police used crowd-control measures and occasional arrests under statutes like the Public Order Act 1936 framework discussions, while Cabinet ministers debated the merits of a parliamentary reception versus rejecting a deputation. Debates in the House of Commons and interventions by MPs from constituencies on the River Tyne highlighted disagreements between ministers such as members of the National Government and opposition spokespeople.
Although the march did not secure immediate large-scale employment programmes, it succeeded in dramatizing structural unemployment affecting shipbuilding communities tied to firms like John Brown & Company and influenced subsequent policy discussions on regional aid and industrial policy during the late 1930s. The campaign fed into cultural memory through poems, plays, and songs collected by the Mass Observation movement and performed at venues like the Royal Court Theatre and by playwrights associated with the Manchester Group. Historians from institutions including Durham University, Newcastle University, and the Institute of Historical Research have assessed the march's role in shaping narratives about interwar protest, contributing to later initiatives such as postwar regional development schemes pursued by Ministry of Town and Country Planning and debates leading into the Welfare State era. The march remains commemorated by municipal plaques, local museums like the Museum of British Industry and civic ceremonies in South Tyneside and features in scholarly works published by presses such as Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press.
Category:1936 protests Category:British labour history