This site contains short essays about Leicester's radical history. They are in no particular order, but are pieces of research that would not see the light of day unless they were here. Some have been previously publish, but most have not.
In 1900, Leicester was a very different city. It was a manufacturing town whose industries were dominated by the hosiery and boot and shoe trade. A huge swathe of slum housing covered an area now occupied by the ring road from St Marks Church round to the Holiday Inn. It was in these poor districts, of two roomed houses and courtyards, that the ravages of poverty, T.B., smallpox and infant mortality were felt.
Leicester’s had a radical tradition stretching back to the Jacobins of the 1790s. The town had been at the centre of agitation for the extension of the franchise through the reform movement and the People’s Charter. From 1835, there had been an almost dynastic Liberal rule of the Town Council. There was a strong and diverse tradition of radical thought, whether it came from Owen’s ideas on co-operation and socialism, the Chartist agitation against poverty, or from Liberal reformers or trade union pioneers.
Leicester was divided between the Church of England and the mainly working class non-conformists. It also had Secularists who challenged the imposition of religion on society.
During the mid nineteenth century many of these strands were subsumed into radical Liberalism which was to become the seed bed for the ideas of independent Labour representation and Socialism.
Leicester was the national centre for producers’ co-operatives. The ability of these co-operatively run factories to sell to a thriving and developing network of co-op shops guaranteed the survival of most of them throughout to the mid 20th century and later.
These co-ops may not have been hugely significant in terms of Leicester’s gross domestic product, but they were ideologically important in that they provided a alternative vision of society where working conditions were good, wages fair, profits shared and management was accountable.
The existence of a working alternative economic system, based on co-operative endeavour was important in establishing the credibility of different social and political models. A few might have seen co-operation as an alternative to trades unionism and socialism. However, the evidence shows that local trade unions and trade unionists were instrumental in founding most co-operatives. There were conflicting attitudes towards socialism and the role of the state, but these reflected the diversity of views then current within the Labour Movement.
From Chartist times, the virtue of thrift and abstinence from drink, was a strong influence on Labour movement activists. Although, many early socialists realised that drink was not the cause of poverty, but only a symptom of a deeper malaise, teetotalism (like anti- vaccination) remained significant for many in the local Labour movement.
Leicester’s growth in the late C19th owed itself to the expansion and mechanisation of the boot shoe trade, supplementing an already established hosiery industry. The change to factory production and mechanisation during this period caused major changes to patterns of employment and resulted in the loss of craft occupation and the increased employment of women and boys. The conflicts caused by the forced pace of technological change helped create a generation local socialists and trade unionists.
Although the conditions of life in Leicester has changed, the desire for a more just society with opportunities for all remains a constant between then and now. The battle for women’s suffrage has been won, the workhouses are long gone, and the slums have been cleared, but the desire to overcome poverty and inequality in today’s society should still be a guiding light for the Labour movement today.
Ned Newitt
About Ned Newitt
Ned Newitt was born in Southend-on-sea in 1946. He studied at Cardiff College of Art and came to Leicester in 1971. For many years, he was an art teacher at Wreake Valley College.
From 1984-2003, he was a Leicester City Councillor, holding various positions, including chair of the Housing Committee. He was made an honorary Alderman in 2007.
In 1983, he initiated the Leicester Oral History Archive and has subsequently researched the development of council housing in Leicester. He has published The Anthology of Leicester Chartist Song, Poetry and Verse (2006) and A People's History of Leicester (2008), The Slums of Leicester (2009), Leicester's Victorian Infidels (2019). The Secular Hall - A History (2022)
He has also created the online Who's Who of Radical Leicester.