The Missing Story of Mary Burns and Fred: Silences in the Story of History

Coming shortly…. This is a placeholder for an article which is to be published soon as an appendix to a peer reviewed paper submitted to the PRISM Journal and presented at the 2020 Working Class Academics conference. The paper submitted to PRISM is called ‘The Tragedy of the Commons People: A Marmot Overview’ and lays out a perspective on how ‘workingclassness’ can be interpreted as being on a spectrum of having to perform to gain access to sufficiency, the mechanics of a hierarchy of permissions and allowances, the psychology of exclusion, and the effects on life expectancy and health as drawn from Michael Marmot‘s work. Read more…

The Burston Strike School 1914 – 1939

The story of Burston….The Burston School strike began before the outbreak of World War 1 when Annie (Kitty) and Tom Higdon were sacked after a dispute with the local school management committee. It did not end until the first skirmishes of World War 2 per taking place. As a response to being dismissed Annie Higdon was to set up a marquee on the local village green where local children – many who came from poor agricultural working backgrounds – would be taught. Read more…

Recollections of John Pounds: New Years Eve by Reverend Henry Hawkes

Monday evening; – the last evening in the year: – meeting John Pounds in St. Mary’s Street, as he was crossing over into Crown Street; – “Yer sarvant, Sir! – Sharp frost!” “Yes, Mr. Pounds; but you don’t seem to feel it much; with your bare arms, and open chest, and no hat on!” “I likes it! It makes me feel fresh and brisk like! I’se been to the King’s Bastion, to see the sun set: – the last sun, you know, Sir, in the old year. He goes down very grand; all crimson and gold: – bright – to the last!” Read more…