Sheffield Clarion Ramblers

[gaye]

no shareholder of that name recorded in Clarion Club House share register.

[Albert T Smith]

no shareholder of that name recorded in Clarion Club House share register.

 

 

Thank you. Are you aware of anyone else who wants to get a Clarion Web Site up and running? Or anyone reading this. Are you interested?

[algy]

Hi Albert. If the site includes the old Clarion Ramblers Handbooks I would be very interested. They've been an invaluable historical source for me for a long time, and would be the same for a lot of the history buffs on the forum.

[Albert T Smith]

Hi Albert. If the site includes the old Clarion Ramblers Handbooks I would be very interested. They've been an invaluable historical source for me for a long time, and would be the same for a lot of the history buffs on the forum.

 

It is a voluntary working group to get the Web Site under-way.

If you realise this and you are interested, I'll add you to the 'Group'.

Anyone reading or following the above and wish to join, Please let me know.

[Albert T Smith]

It is a voluntary working group to get the Web Site under-way.

If you realise this and you are interested, I'll add you to the 'Group'.

Anyone reading or following the above and wish to join, Please

12.11.2006 07.29. PM.

 

I can't say many were interested!! A lot of talk. - not much action.

[Albert T Smith]

I trust this clarifys where the various Clarion groups come from.

 

The Clarion, a socialist weekly, was established by Robert Blatchford, a Manchester journalist, in 1890. The paper first appeared in Manchester on 2nd December, 1891. Blatchford announced that the newspaper would follow a "policy of humanity; a policy not of party, sect or creed; but of justice, of reason and mercy." The first edition sold 40,000 and after a few months settled down to about 30,000 copies a week.

 

In 1893 the Clarion began serializing Blatchford's book Merrie England. When it was eventually published as a book it sold 750,000 copies. In 1895 began to use the work of the illustrator Walter Crane.

 

The Clarion newspaper also became involved in a wide-range of different activities including missionary vans, cycling clubs, choirs, handicraft guilds and holiday camps. The newspaper also sponsored Cinderella Clubs that entertain children from the slums. Robert Blatchford boasted that he would "convert England to Socialism in seven years". However, it soon became clear that Blatchford had overestimated the power of the Clarion and when he was asked about this a few years later, he replied that "the British working classes are not fit for Socialism yet".

 

Blatchford upset a lot of the Clarion readers with his enthusiastic support for the Boer War and opposition to organisations such as the NUWSS and the WSPU that were demanding the vote for women.

 

Sales fell but revived after the 1906 General Election, when 29 Labour Party MPs were elected. Blatchford increased the size of the newspaper and began to employ talented socialist writers such as George Bernard Shaw. By 1907 sales of the Clarion had reached 74,000.

 

After the First World War Blatchford moved to the right and became a passionate advocate of the British Empire. In the 1924 General Election he supported the Conservative Party and declared that Stanley Baldwin was Britain's finest politician. The Clarion ceased publication in 1931.

 

I found this article using Google and asking for 'Clarion'.

(Most people would realise that I didn't write it!!)

[David Sissons]

I've had my operation and. I'll call to see David Sissons next week.

So it will be 'All Go' now and your daughters web site writing experience should stand her in good stead for a masters degree when its finished!!

I firmly believe that we owe to the Ramblers of the early 1900 a web site that will ensure that they are never ever forgotten and thier written or graphic work they left behind dose not become a speculators, 'Quick Buck'.

 

I'm at work on Monday (27th Nov), Tuesday (28th Nov), Friday (1st Dec) and Saturday (2nd Dec). Then all days the week after except Friday and Saturday.

[KivWaHistory]

I'd be really keen to contribute to a website, although I would probably be in a better position to write some background info about the nature of the Sheffield labour movement and the city's political landscape in the era of the ramblers rather than specific work about the ramblers themselves.

 

A few of the oral history testimonies at Surrey Street relate to the ramblers, as do various other bits in archives in Sheffield and further afield.

 

John

 

ps. Albert - I'm off to reply to the other thread now, I can't believe you're 'Smithie's' grandson!

[CarolW]

I'm just wondering if my grandfather (G W Womersley) was in the Clarion ramblers - I know he used to do a lot of walking in the Peak District and I was told he was on the protest walk about Ramblers Right of Way (1932 - at Strines???) Would anyone have membership lists???? Please let me know.... !!!

[Albert T Smith]

I'm just wondering if my grandfather (G W Womersley) was in the Clarion ramblers - I know he used to do a lot of walking in the Peak District and I was told he was on the protest walk about Ramblers Right of Way (1932 - at Strines???) Would anyone have membership lists???? Please let me know.... !!!

 

I suspect that you are correct that G.W.Womersley did a lot of walking in the Peak District. He was in fact, a committee member on the Sheffield and District Ramblers Federation elected in 1929 or 30. It was characters with your Grand Fathers standing and abilities, that eventually allowed us all to enjoy the Peak District today.

Though this is, I believe, because of the forsight of Mrs Gallimore, later known as Mrs Haythornthwaite. Founder of the Sheffield Branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England. That the countyside was retained to enable us all to enjoy as it is today. If your Grandfather was a Member of the Clarion Ramblers I do not know though I trust someone else will help you..