Friday 1 September 2017

Joseph Rayner Stephens plaque and memorial, Stalybridge

Taken from the Unite Rebel Road project at:- http://www.unitetheunion.org/growing-our-union/education/rebelroad/


Joseph Rayner Stephens plaque and memorial, Stalybridge 

The Tameside Metropolitan Borough plaque to Stephens is sited on Stalybridge Town Hall frontage, Waterloo Road, Stalybridge.

Stephens was a radical reformer who lived between 1805 and 1879 and was involved in the Chartist movement and campaigned against the Poor Law and for factory reform. 

For more information go to:- 




Download for free: Life of Joseph Rayner Stephens, preacher and political orator, which was written by George Jacob Holyoake.  https://archive.org/details/lifeofjosephrayn00holyrich




The memorial to Stephens is located in Stamford Park, Stalybridge. 

It was unveiled in 1888 and was commissioned by local factory workers to commemorate the work Stephens had done in promoting fair wages and better working conditions.








More details at:- http://www.pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/4480/


Many thanks to Tony Shaw, a Unite Community member from Mytholmroyd, for the photos that appear on this page 

The latest Fred Spiksley leaflet shows how good the book is rated







The plaque commemorating the Battle of Bexley Square, Salford in October 1931

Taken from the Unite Rebel Road project.

http://www.unitetheunion.org/growing-our-union/education/rebelroad/plaques/#Stalybridge%20and%20the%201842%20General%20Strike%20plaque

The Battle of Bexley Square, Salford in October 1931

This plaque is on a wall in Bexley Square in front of old Salford Town Hall. 

The 1920s and 30s was an era of mass unemployment. On 1 October 1931, 10,000 unemployed men and women marched to Salford Town Hall at Bexley Square. As campaigners tried to hand in a petition protesting against means-tested benefits and unemployment they were met with awful violence from the very men charged with protecting their liberty.

Read more:- 



Take a look at the cinematic coverage at:-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA2ITFJsbfI 

One of those arrested on the day was Eddie Frow, who later established with his wife Ruth, the Working Class Movement Library http://www.unitetheunion.org/growing-our-union/education/rebelroad/museums/#Working%20Class%20Movement%20Library


Please credit this photograph to Tony Shaw, a Unite Community member from Mytholmroyd.