Ellen Wilkinson MP and the 1936 Jarrow Crusade | Unemployment, Protest and Parliament
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- Опубліковано 24 бер 2022
- In this video Sarah Whitehouse reads Ellen Wilkinson's speeches to the House of Commons, asking that the House hear directly from the Jarrow marchers.
My grandfather was one of the marchers. Dad told me stories of the hardships he witnessed as a child and it was heartbreaking. My dad and brother worked on the river until swans was closed. I remember as a kid my dad worked away a lot in Germany.
He got washed in the back yard of his mams house on the day of his wedding to my mam . When he died he lived in the poshest part of South Shields.
He always considered himself a jarra lad .
A very powerful speech. Ellen was a lady who changed my whole way of thinking (from right to left) since my student days, as far as politics are concerned. It must have taken all of Ellen's might and main to be adopted as Parliamentary candidate for Jarrow. As the late Jimmy Reid said concerning shipbuilding: "It's a hard industry, with hard men". But there she was, all 4 feet 10 inches of her. We need more like Ellen in today's House of Commons.
Red Ellen was quite the wordsmith and passionate about her cause. This was a brilliant portrayal of her speech and if I close my eyes I go back in time to before I was born to my dads childhood. My grandfather was one of the jarrow marchers . My dad would tell me about the hardships he witnessed as a child and it was heartbreaking.
He’d say “all they wanted was to work “. My dad and brother both worked on the river until it all closed, swan hunters and the rest. I remember my dad working away a lot in Germany and other places when I was a kid . On the day of his wedding to my mam he got washed in cold water in the back yard of my nannas house. When he died he lived in the poshest street in South Shields. My mam still lives there. He’d known people who starved and he knew children with rickets and wore his older brothers second hand clothes. He was always proud of being a jarra lad.