The Jarrow March (or Jarrow Crusade) was a protest march, which took place in 1936. The protestors were marching against poverty and unemployment, which had ravaged North Eastern England. The 200 marchers travelled from the town of Jarrow to the Palace of Westminster in London. This was a distance of almost 300 miles. They lobbied Parliament. Their MP, Ellen Wilkinson walked with them. She was known as 'Red Ellen'.
2 comments:
Very interesting history that I have learned from.
We had a similar march in 1932 from Portland, Oregon to Washington, D.C. by 20,000 WWI veterans, wives and children. They were marching for their wartime bonuses and set up a shanty town in Washington near the capital called Hooverville. They stayed for two months and then it got nasty. President Hoover ordered Chief of Staff MaCarthur to evacuate the people and things got out of hand. The Army fired on the soldiers and their families. The Bonus Army Riot was over and Hoover lost the election.
I had never heard of the veterans march to Washington. The Jarrow March achieved nothing. The marchers were given £1 each to get the train back from London
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