The Jarrow Marches

The people of the North East of England, mainly miners and ship-workers, were suffering even more than the rest of the country with unemployment. On October 5th, 1936, 200 men known as the Jarrow Marchers set off from Jarrow to London to lobby Parliament. This was the Jarrow Crusade (a term used on banners carried by the marchers) or Jarrow March.

The march was a desperate attempt to find jobs to support Jarrow men and their families. It was also a bid for respect and recognition, not only for the people of Jarrow, but for others in a similar situation all over the country.

The marchers had no resources other than their own determination, and some good boots supplied by the public. During the march, wherever the marchers stopped for the night, the local people found them shelter and provided them with food.

The route they took, with overnight stops, covered a total of 280.5 mi (451 km)

When the marchers arrived in London, almost one month later, a petition of 12,000 signatures was handed into Parliament by Ellen Wilkinson, the Labour MP for Jarrow. The Prime Minister of the day, Stanley Baldwin, refused to see any of the marchers' representatives.

The march achieved little at the time. It was the outbreak of World War II three years later that finally brought sufficient work to Jarrow to relieve the poverty.

The Jarrow March can be viewed as one of the defining moments in British history, alongside the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and the Tolpuddle Martyrs of 1834, in the emancipation (to set free) of ordinary citizens.

The last surviving member of the march, Cornelius 'Con' Whalen died on the 17th September 2003 aged 93.

In 1974, musician Alan Price, former keyboard player with The Animals, had a solo UK hit with a single of his composition, Jarrow Song, about the march.

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