London IWW (1913 - 1920)

Submitted by Inigo Montoya on November 1, 2011

Hi,

I'm looking for any information on the IWW in London from 1913 (the year the British IWW it was founded) to 1920 (the year it wound up).

All I know is that it had "a number of branches and a hall in Whitechapel".

I'm interested in finding out about membership numbers, strength, involvement in strikes etc.

Can anyone help or point me in the right direction to someone who might be able to?

Thanks in advance

Inigo Montoya

13 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Inigo Montoya on November 1, 2011

If someone could PM me with an email for Nick Heath that be very useful actually.

Red Marriott

13 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Red Marriott on November 2, 2011

Ken Weller's 'Don't Be A Soldier!' - The radical anti-war movement in north London 1914-1918 has a chapter. Available here for £7.00 + p&p ; http://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780904526561/Soldier-Radical-Anti-War-Movement-North-0904526569/plp
I can put the chapter in the library in next few days, it's short. Would do the whole booklet but iirc it didn't scan well on my machine.

Chilli Sauce

13 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Chilli Sauce on November 2, 2011

Shit, Red, I gave Libcom that exact same book at this year's bookfair to scan into the library! And I was just about to suggest to the OP!

Inigo Montoya

13 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Inigo Montoya on November 2, 2011

It would be fantastic if you could scan the relevant article up, thanks so much.

OliverTwister

13 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by OliverTwister on November 2, 2011

If it's not mentioned in the chapter, it would also be interesting to know whether they referred themselves to the Detroit or Chicago IWW.

Red Marriott

13 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Red Marriott on November 2, 2011

Done; http://libcom.org/history/north-london-iww-1st-world-war-ken-weller

Battlescarred

13 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Battlescarred on November 15, 2011

Will be posting up Harold Edwards's unpublished memoirs soon.
IInigo, I pmed you a while ago, but no reply.

Battlescarred

13 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Battlescarred on November 15, 2011

The hall of Local No.9 of the IWW was located at Great Tongue Yard, 76 Whitechapel Road. The work of the police spy Alex Gordon, aka F. Vivian led to a raid on it , as well as the Communist Club, during the war.

Steven.

13 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Steven. on November 15, 2011

Battlescarred

Will be posting up Harold Edwards's unpublished memoirs soon.
.

great stuff!

syndicalist

13 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by syndicalist on November 16, 2011

deleted by syndicalist

Battlescarred

13 years ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Battlescarred on November 16, 2011

Except
a) It's not a yard
AND
b) More importantly, that's 76 Whitechapel High Street, not 76 Whitechapel Road
( Whitechapel Rd continues the eastward line of the High St, then morphing into Mile End Rd)

Battlescarred

6 years 4 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Battlescarred on July 5, 2018

"Further east, Tongues Alley had been reshaped as two small yards. Around 1740 Little Tongue Yard (entered between the sites of Nos 52–54) enclosed about five houses and Great Tongue Yard (entered between the sites of Nos 76–78) comprised fourteen small houses and stables held by William Fillingham. The larger yard was part of a small estate with a number of small houses on the adjacent frontage that passed from John Guy to Anthony Denew in 1746. Denew’s widow Mary (née Gianinetti) held the property from 1755 to her death in 1800. Part of this holding, just west of the entrance to Great Tongue Yard, was the Three Goats Heads public house (on the site of 74–76 Whitechapel Road), present by 1730. It moved west to the site of No. 62 around 1800 under Joseph Smith and became the Brass Founders’ Arms; that disappeared in the 1840s. William Scourfield (d.1803), a tobacco-pipe maker, had a house and business on the site of No. 64 by 1781, continued by his son Thomas Henry Scourfield (d.1842). Thomas Higgs, an auctioneer and cabinet-maker, was at the site of No. 80 and a landlord in Great Tongue Yard through the early nineteenth century."