The Jarrow March 1936
The story of the Jarrow March of
1936, of which Johnny Farndale, was the youngest member
Economic
Slump
Although the
First World War caused a post war economic boom in Britain, it masked a slow
industrial decline from the country's Victorian ambition. As wartime demands
gradually fell away, by 1920 Britain was plunged into an economic slump with
high levels of unemployment and poverty. The situation was made far worse by
the world wide recession of 1929, Unemployment was at 10% throughout the
1920's, and peaked at 22% in 1932.
Britain's
traditional industries were particularly hard hit meaning that the North of
England, Wales and Scotland, which had economies heavily dependent upon
manufacturing, were disproportionately affected by the slump. This meant that
these regions actually suffered far higher levels of unemployment than the
national average. The effects were long-lasting, rather than following a
regular economic cycle of prosperity and recession.
During the
1920's, the National Unemployed Workers' Movement (“NUWM”) organised a
serious of hunger marches to London in the hope that these would force
the Government to radically rethink its economic policies. The term hunger
march was first used to describe a march by London's poor in 1908. The marches
achieved nothing. The official view was that the government was being
high-jacked to serve the aims of their Communist organisers.
The end of
the world-wide recession in 1932 allowed Britain to begin a slow path to
recovery. By 1936, economic growth had reached 4% and mini-booms were being
seen in housing and consumer spending. However, the recovery was badly uneven.
Those areas which had seen their traditional means of employment devastated
during the slump were very slow to see any improvement.
Jarrow
The town of
Jarrow, lying on the southern bank of the River Tyne, had undergone a massive
period of expansion during the Victorian era. Its economy was based on
precisely those industries - iron, steel, shipbuilding - which were so badly
hit by the post war depression.
Charles Mark
Palmer, the so-called King of Jarrow, had created an industrial empire
in the town but gradually each of these businesses failed in turn. Unemployment
stood at 3,300 in 1930 or 75% of the working population and at 6,793 in 1932 or
80% of the population. When Palmer's Shipyard failed in 1934, the town lost its
last purpose for existing. As the town's newly elected MP, the firebrand Red
Ellen Wilkinson, so forcefully pointed out in the Commons in December 1935,
the years go on and nothing is done. This is a desperately urgent matter and
something should be done to get work to these areas which, heaven knows, want
work.
The
hunger-march had become an accepted form of protest and in July 1936 the town's
political leaders set in progress plans to mount a march from Jarrow to deliver
a petition to Parliament calling for the opportunity to work. Over 1,200 men
came forward to take part, but it was decided to limit numbers to the 200
fittest and hardiest to make the logistics manageable. A fund was started to
pay for supplies and equipment and this would continue to collect donations as
the men marched south. Rallies were scheduled for the march's overnight stops
to spread the word of what it was trying to achieve. As one marcher put it, we
were more or less missionaries of the distressed areas, not just Jarrow.
The
Peaceful Protest
On Monday 5
October 1936, the date set for the start of the March, the Marchers received
the blessing of the Bishop of Jarrow at a dedication service in Christ Church.
This gave the venture a boost in credibility, but the service was condemned by
Hensley Henson, the Bishop of Durham, who was opposed to the Trades Union
movement and Socialism. Henson condemned the hunger marches as a whole as
nothing but a vehicle for the Labour Party and his colleague in Jarrow, James
Gordon, was later obliged to state that the service was not intended to condone
the March. To add injury to insult, the Marchers later discovered that their
dole had been stopped as the March had made them unavailable for work.
Immediately
after the service, the Marchers assembled at Jarrow Town Hall and made their
last preparations before setting off. Although 200 men had been accepted for
the venture, only 185 made it to the start-line due to sickness and other
changes in personal circumstance. Around half of those taking part were
veterans of the First World War and the Marchers walked in step and in military
ranks to show their discipline and proclaim their past service. They took a
10-minute break every hour, in the military manner, and a harmonica band
encouraged the singing of popular songs of the day to keep their spirits up.
Before them they carried a blue-and-white banner proclaiming the Jarrow
Crusade though in Jarrow it was never known as anything other than The
March. Again in the military tradition, behind them followed a bus with a
field kitchen, a medical facility, and camping equipment for when beds were not
available.
The Jarrow
March was one of a number of concurrent protests. The sixth National Hunger
March was setting off from 6 regional centres and these were due to unite in
London a week after the arrival of the Jarrow men. Meanwhile, a group of blind
veterans were marching in protest at the treatment of the nation’s 67,000
registered blind persons. The National Marches were seen as hostile and
confrontational, and this undoubtedly aided the high level of publicity given
to the Jarrow March which, by contrast, was recognised for its moderation and
quiet dignity.
Ellen
Wilkinson temporarily left the march at its first stopping point, in
Chester-le-Street, to attend the Labour Party's annual conference in Edinburgh.
Although it was proclaimed to be non-political, the Jarrow March was a product
of the town’s Labour Council and she may have hoped to gain some support from
her colleagues. In this she was to be disappointed, however. The Parliamentary
Labour Party (“PLP”) was a minority part of the National Government and
anxious to distance itself from any accusations of Communism. So, neither the
PLP nor the Trade Union Congress (“TUC”) offered endorsement. David
Riley, the Chairman of Jarrow Borough Council and a leading light in the
organisation of the March, later complained that they felt that they had been stabbed
in the back.
As they
moved south, the reception extended to the Marchers varied from indifferent to
warm. Local accommodation was secured in a series of schools, church halls or
other buildings, and often gifts were made of food and clean clothing. Often
the weather was bad, cold with driving rain.
Very quickly
the March began attracting wide publicity and the Government in London, afraid
that it was gaining Royal attention, acted to limit sympathy for it, claiming
that such Marches only resulted in unnecessary hardship for those taking
part in them. Wilkinson continued to push for an official reception for the
Marchers, but received no encouragement from Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
during heated exchanges in the Commons. In truth Baldwin was in an impossible
position, for opening Parliament’s doors to the Jarrow Marchers would have set
a dangerous precedent.
The March
reached Edgware in northern London on Friday 30 October 1936, leaving a
relatively short eight mile walk to Marble Arch the following day. It had been
denied permission to deliver its petition to Parliament and so Ellen Wilkinson
had to make the last stage of the journey alone.
Ellen
Wilkinson’s address in Trafalgar Square
The original
petition, calling for Government aid for Jarrow, had 11,000 signatures and was
carried in an oak box. An additional petition had been made available to those
who had wanted to sign on the way.
A new
session in the House of Commons was convened on 3 November 1936. The March had
been timetabled to take advantage of this and next day the Petition was
presented. A very brief discussion followed after which the House returned to
its normal business.
The March
garnered a lot of publicity, a lot of soft words, but achieved little real
change. This was not lost on the marchers themselves and the return journey
home by train was a sombre affair.
Not until
the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 did Jarrow start to recover from
its long period of depression. When Red Ellen published her history of
Jarrow that same year she titled it, The Town that was Murdered.
Johnny
Farndale
Johnny
Farndale was the youngest member of the 185 men who set off on the Jarrow
marches in October 1936.
Boer War veteran George Smith, aged
61, and 18 year old John Farndale, the oldest and youngest member of the Jarrow
band of workers
George Smith, the oldest marcher,
examines the boots of the youngest marcher, John Farndale
On 5 November 1936 hundreds of
people watched the departure of the special train containing the Jarrow
Marchers from Kings Cross station today. Mr P Malcolm Stewart, formerly
Commissioner for Distressed Areas, said goodbye to them, and also on the
platform was Miss Ellen Wilkinson MP, who had been with the men during their
crusade, and who presented the petition in the House of Commons. The men
expressed disappointment at the reception of their petition, but were gratified
at the general attitude of people in London towards them. Alderman J W
Thompson, Mayor of Jarrow, who returned with the men, said to a Press
Association reporter: “It was as I expected. I cannot say that I am
disappointed at the way the petition was received, but I feel now that the people
in the South have a more intimate knowledge of our plight in Jarrow, and from
that I expect some result.” One of the marches, John Farndale, of Clyde Rd,
Jared, has taken a job as a baker's assistant in London, and another, Thomas
Dobson, of Stanley Street, Jarrow, is staying at Hendon Cottage Hospital for a
few days for treatment before returning.
or
Go
Straight to Johnny Farndale
There
is a BBC podcast, the
Jarrow Crusade.
Long Road from Jarrow: a journey through Britain then and
now, 2017, Stuart Maconie
Then and Now Jarrow,
Paul Perry, 1999 is a pictorial history of Jarrow.
The
novels The Jarrow Lass by Janet Macleod
Trotter, 2001, Return to Jarrow, Janet Macleod
Trotter, 2004, and A Child of Jarrow, Janet MacLeod
Trotter, 2011, tell of Catherine Cookson’s grandmother in Jarrow at that time.
See
also The Town that was Murdered, the Life Story of Jarrow,
Ellen Wilkinson, 1939, especially pages 191 to 213.
J’Accuse, the Autobiography of a headteacher in Jarrow
1934 to 1963, Claude Robinson, 1986, especially
p60 to p66.
Who were the
Jarrow Marchers? You Tube Documentary