Trade unions create Labour party

(February 27th 1900)

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On February 27th in Londons Memorial Hall, 169 delegates from various trade unions and socialist societies met to create a united group aimed at getting a ‘distinct Labour group’ in Brittish Parliament.

The committee was organised by f Ramsay MacDonald, one of three people considered the founding fathers of Labour and also a future prime minister.

After long debate between rival factions were a number of proposals were defeated, delegates finally settled on a proposal put forward by James Keir Hardie; a Scottish miner and seasoned member in the Independent Labour Party. It was based on the idea that the aim must be a party in parliament with the flexibility for development. This marked the beginnings of what would develop into the Labour  party was born.

‘It has come. Poor little child of danger, nursling of the storm. May it be blessed.’

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High hopes greet the new century

(January 1st 1900)

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Great Britain, ‘The Empire on which the sun never sets’ with its ‘one heart, one head, one language policy’, it’s at its imperial greatest with only the boer war a cause for any distraction. A striking contrast when thinking back only a century earlier.

America had been lost, the empire was engaged in war with several European powers and Napoleons France to contend with; Aside from sounding like something from a star wars film things weren’t looking very promising. One could be forgiven for expressing suprise at such a flourish that had seen a century of great expansion and success being achieved and with this in mind many could see another century of prosperity ahead.

It’s hard to imagine what life was like back in these times. I imagine very difficult in most cases yet the financial markets were doing very well both at home and on Wall street were bankers talked of a ‘prosperity panic’

An honors list that still exists today included Sir John Lubbock who gave us the Bank Holiday among other things and the rest were crown servants responsible for running territories abroad.

There was also mounting concern over Germanys rise as a military and industrial power leading to the idea of putting an end to the isolation policy carried out at the time by Britain which saw it steer clear of issues regarding Europe.

Who could have foreseen what the next one hundred years was to bring but in case you don’t know stay tuned and all shall be revealed…

Introduction

Hi there, thanks for dropping by

The chronicle is a rather boring experiment that will look into me trying to express and expand upon my interest in history.

I will summarize an event from each month of every year from 1900 to 1988 as I have a huge old book my father gave to me, it holds all the headline news from that period of time and is a  really good reference point for le subject matter. I’ll probably go beyond 1988 but that’ll be years away.

It is very much a work in progress and entries will be forthcoming so i’m not really sure how this will work out. I’m really just going to open the book at the start and then choose an article for each month of the year. So twelve articles for each year. It’s going to be a long one!

please enjoy (sorry if this is shit lol) and feel free to leave any comments or feedback. Wish me luck!

So here goes and what better way to start than at the beginning of the century.