Quote:
Originally Posted by steeljack
ignoring the sarcasm about "t'cole ole" and the year Bolton won the first FA Cup , the point I was trying to make was .... I find it a bit odd that Blackpool Tower opened to the public in May 1894 , obviously a leisure market had been seen a few years earlier to set up such a project. Yet at the same time the folks who un-shackled the great un-washed from years of exploitation ( think thats one of the Labour Party's claims to the nations history) didn't put any candidates up for election till the following year " In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates but won only 44,325 votes. Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups." (Wikipedia) . So obiviously things/life before the "creation" of the Labour party wasn't as bad as the "freedom fighting spouting socialists" say ,especially for the workers the Lancashire Mill towns .
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Oh I see what you're trying to do now, make a political point! Doh.
If you wanted a political history, rather than a personal one, you just had to say, then we needn't go down the wrong cobbled street.
The rise of the traditional Victorian seaside resorts. This boom started in the 1870's. One of the reasons was the passing of the 1871 Bank Holiday Act, which gave workers a few days paid holidays off each year. This was introduced by Liberal politican, Sir John Lubbock.
The pre-industrial revolution Wakes Week festival was incorportated into the working year by the mill owners, as a time when machines could be cleaned and overhauled. Mill workers had a week, or two weeks unpaid holiday. Each town had differing weeks off, giving rise to a summer 'season' for the Lancashire resorts. By the 1870's there was of course a reliable, regular, and relatively affordable railway service. Though the hotels that were newly opened mainly served the white collar workers.
Conclusion.
If someone needs everything to be viewed through party political eyes, workers lives were affected, and in some case bettered, before the foundation of the Labour party.
Now don't break that poor donkey's back, when you get on him.
You're a big lad now.