Both historically and contemporarily, Manchester has been considered by many as synonymous with resistance and rebellion, the rebellious younger sibling of London. This is a long legacy, and most pertinent to it is Manchester’s lively spirit of working-class political activism.
As you sit at a desk trying to recall a mountain of information learnt in three hours each week for the last few months, it’s tempting to dream about pastures sunny. In this issue, we’ve provided you with the perfect fodder for those forgetful exam moments, though we’d recommend saving it for after you’ve walked Continue Reading
Charlotte Johnson looks at the recent discoveries made about it’s furniture, curios and paintings at Chetham’s Library.
Joshua Flew explores how the British national game became international through industry, and finds out how the world beat us at our own game.
In the 1960s the jet set took rock and roll global. The ultimate fashion icons, the media mob were fascinated by the ease with which they hopped from one paradise to the next. Alice Rigby looks at this travel elite, exploring their cultish celebrity status.
Charlotte Johnson looks at the year 1984 in photos. Apple Inc recreates Orwell’s 1984 in an ad, which was the closest the world got to his dystopia.
1980s Britain was stamped by Thatcherite politics, unemployment, and a rising pop culture. Alongside this, amidst the climactic conclusion of the Cold War, fears of nuclear attack swept through the British public. In 1981, President Reagan named Greenham Common, Berkshire, as a base for US cruise missiles to be positioned in by 1983, galvanising fear of nuclear attack. By 1991, these missiles had been removed from Greenham.
Known as the first permanent English colony in the Americas, Jamestown had a tumultuous history. From desertion to famine-fuelled cannibalism, the early years of the colony were not what the Virginia Company had predicted, let alone prepared for.
In the West, and indeed most other places, we often perceive rebellion as an act which aims to overthrow or change the ruling system. However, this conception may be altogether unhelpful, or at least misleading, when analysing Chinese history. For most of Chinese history, the act of rebellion was internalised in the overarching dynastic system.
Nearly two thousand years ago, Queen Boudicca of the Iceni tribe led an uprising against the oppressive Roman Empire, fighting for the freedom of her people, the British Celts. Although ultimately unsuccessful, her name is still remembered by many Britons for her might and bravery in facing one of the strongest Empires the world had ever seen. What happened back in 60AD?
The history of the burgeoning counterculture in Britain often centres around London, with underground magazines and newspapers such as Oz, Frendz and the International Times being identified as the alternative press of the day. Although London was a countercultural epicentre, the existence of Grass Eye and Mole Express in Manchester illustrate the countercultural movement in Continue Reading
During the development of this summer issue of The Manchester Historian, a tragic and horrific attack occurred upon our city of Manchester. Our team at the Manchester Historian wanted to pay tribute to the victims and all those affected by the awful incident. On 22 May, a suicide bombing occurred at Manchester Arena during an Ariana Grande concert, killing twenty innocent people. Our fine city has been shocked by the attack, but the manner in which the city has responded is something that every Manchester resident, whether they were born and bred here or moved here, should be proud of.
Manchester is a city of immense culture and activity. It is also city of vast diversity – you just need to think about the Curry Mile or the Gay Village for a few examples. We are the city of Emmeline Pankhurst, Alan Turing, and Danny Boyle. Manchester is a city from which Joy Division, Oasis, The Stone Roses and The Smiths hail. However, most importantly, Manchester is a city that has shown how much its population looks after each other and pulls together in very difficult times. As perfectly underlined by Tony Walsh during Manchester’s vigil following the attack, this really is the place. Manchester’s spirit, fight and sense of community is a light that will never go out.
In this summer issue, we have focused the theme on ‘Moving into a New World.’ We both are in our final years of our degrees at the University of Manchester, and although we are excited about the future, we could not be more glad that we chose this brilliant city and this university to study at. The articles in this issue range from Idi Amin’s reign of terror to the end of the slave trade in the US. We also have submissions on the end of the Cold War, the life of Queen Victoria, and the fall of the Roman Empire.
Source of the picture is Adrian McGarry
The section on ‘History in the Headlines’ covers pieces on the UK General Election, the recent French election where Emmanuel Macron beat Marine Le Pen, a celebration of Prince Philip’s work and achievements, and 105 years since the Titanic sank.
Under ‘History You Should Know,’ we have a selection of articles on famous people, varying from Sherlock Holmes to Elvis Presley to Simón Bolívar. Finally, we have articles on the division of North and South Korea, the Hungarian revolution, and Armistice Day.
We cannot thank our contributors enough for the thoughtfully written submissions we have received over the three issues we published. We would also like to thank the rest of the Manchester Historian team and the amazing History department here at UoM for all their dedication and support. Finally, we want to thank you, our readers, for picking up a copy of the magazine and reading the articles.
For the last time from both of us, we hope you enjoy reading this issue of the Manchester Historian, and have thoroughly enjoyed the vast range of articles we have published this academic year. We wish you all the very best for the future. Happy reading!
In 1968 there were 55,000 men employed at Ford Motor Company’s Dagenham Factory and only 187 women. These female machinists were informed that their job had been degraded to ‘unskilled’ work resulting in reduced pay. Consequently, the women went out on strike demanding, quite rightly, their grading be changed, and that they be given the appropriate pay.
Such conditions worried the early Victorian state immensely. Emerging social research confirmed that the environment as well as the physical and moral habits of a locality’s inhabitants stimulated disease and ensured its spread. The belief proliferated that sexual debauchery was at once a product of material squalor and a causal factor in the decline of Continue Reading
“Labour isn’t working” read the Conservative Party slogan for the 1979 general election in which they were ultimately and predictably victorious. This sentiment also underpins The Year of the Beaver, though examined from a very different political perspective.
It’s 6:30 am, and you’ve just arrived at the Bryant & May match factory in the East End of London for a long fourteen-hour shift of dangerous, monotonous work, ending the day with measly wages of just 1 shilling and 9 pence per 100 boxes of matches you wrap. Not only this but ridiculous fines could be imposed on you, such as 6 pence for dropping a tray of matches or 5 pence for being late. You could even be fined for having dirty feet, which was quite possible considering many workers were too poor to afford shoes.
This article will feature in Issue 37: Oppression and Resistance Classical Greece has long been perceived by modern Western countries as the birthplace of democracy, and has been used to shape and justify Eurocentric concepts of identity and political thought. When asked to imagine the Ancient Greek world, images of beautifully carved white marble statues, Continue Reading
No British politician of the last century has provoked such a visceral response within the music community as Thatcher. Countless artists took aim at her directly, but Thatcher was more than just a figure to be name dropped. She was a common enemy, a target for the malaise of the time, and a bogeyman figure, whose presence in music was felt if not seen. Artists used music to respond to societal rupture and economic deprivation at the hands of her government.
On hearing the phrase ‘bus boycott’, for most people, a certain plethora of images would spring to mind. The determined Rosa Parks sitting next to a white passenger on the bus, white policemen conducting her subsequent arrest, Martin Luther King in his prime protesting on the streets of Montgomery, Alabama. All images which constitute the most significant, and successful example of resistance to oppression in modern Western history. Replace those names and faces with the likes of Paul Stephenson, Guy Bailey and Roy Hackett. It’s probable that the average person has never heard of these people; nor could they put a name to a face. And this is exactly the problem – The Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963 has slipped out of mainstream modern history. It may be omnipresent in the minds of those who witnessed it upfront in Bristol, but is mostly absent from the minds of young historians and from school curriculums today, despite its position as one of the most symbolic moments in Black British history.
As if composed of a lost set of newsreels, it evokes an observational truth similar in style to guerilla filmmaking – Pontecorvo calls this “the dictatorship of the truth”. He achieves this truth through meticulous reconstruction, using real life locations, such as rebuilding bombsites, and non-professional actors, including petty thieves and a former National Liberation Front (FLN) leader.
Many European football fans view South America as the ultimate embodiment of football as much more than just a game, with incredible fan culture and intimate relationships between football and politics. In Passion of the People (1994), Tony Mason seeks to study the origins of the beautiful game in the continent and examine the accuracy of this romanticised depiction.
Cartography in the iconography of British imperialism portrayed the visual culture of the British Empire. The Empire came to cover huge swathes of territory and from the nineteenth century onwards, Commonwealth countries were coloured pink on maps. Pink was a printer’s compromise for letters overprinted to be clearly read, as the colour that was traditionally Continue Reading
The Ordnance Survey is a well-known British institution providing comprehensive geographical data for a multitude of purposes. Utilised during Duke of Edinburgh expeditions and a vital organ of the National Curriculum, Ordnance Survey maps will be familiar to most students through the education system. Weekend exploration in the Lake District, Peak District and other areas Continue Reading
Popular images of the first transatlantic migrants depict fierce conquistadors in the South and pious pilgrims in the North, motivated by greed in the former case and obscure Puritanism in the latter. However, what really caused people to make such a radical journey in the centuries following the encounter with the Americas? What factors could Continue Reading
Cartography in the iconography of British imperialism portrayed the visual culture of the British Empire. The Empire came to cover huge swathes of territory and from the nineteenth century onwards, Commonwealth countries were coloured pink on maps. Pink was a printer’s compromise for letters overprinted to be clearly read, as the colour that was traditionally Continue Reading
