Dr Heidi Topman

My PhD Thesis

'A Study of the Rise and Decline of Selected Labour Halls in the Greater London Area'

In 2001, the Wimbledon Labour Hall research project directly inspired the subject for my PhD thesis.

For five years, I studied the histories of 18 halls (15 in Greater London, one in Cambridge, one in Sheffield and one in Newport, South Wales). The thesis considered the histories of these halls using a number of themes: political organisations (Labour Party, trade unions etc), leisure activities, workers' education and the role of women in the halls. It also looked at why the labour halls were not as popular in the post-war years, as they had been before 1945.

If you are interested in this kind of history, please contact me for more information about my thesis.

Thesis Abstract

The thesis contributes to the existing knowledge and understanding of Greater London local labour movement history, by considering it from the perspective of the meeting spaces, the labour halls, which provided a focal point for a range of activities between 1918 and 1979.

Evidence, drawn from fifteen selected labour halls, illuminates a diverse range of themes, including the role of political and industrial organisations; the provision of leisure and working class education; the representation of women and the nature of gender-specific organisation; the increasing non-political usage of the premises and the diverse range of associations which using the halls.

Furthermore, financial necessity precipitated a certain degree of pragmatism in the management of the halls, as evidenced by the hiring of rooms to organisations such as the Communist Party of Great Britain and the frequent sale of alcohol on the premises. Comparative studies centred upon Cambridge, Sheffield and Newport, South Wales, established that there was no indication of a specific and unique “Greater London Labour Hall” identity. The reasons for the decline of the 15 halls were more complex and extensive than the existing literature on the post-war Labour Party implies. The lack of reform at Constituency Labour Party level, the cost of maintaining the premises, and the rise of alternative meeting venues contributed to the decline of the selected premises as political spaces.

Publications

Books

Eighty Years of Wimbledon Labour Hall 1921-2001 (Wimbledon, London: William Morris Meeting Rooms, 2001)

This short book traces the history of Wimbledon Labour Hall Co-operative Society from its beginnings in 1921. Its focus is (more or less) chronological and it looks at the role of the hall in various local, national and international events, including: the General Strike (1926), the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), the Second World War (1939-45) and the Miners' Strike (1984-5). It also considers the different organisations, which used the halls, including the Labour Party, trade unions, Labour Party Women's Section, Women's Co-operative Guild and various miners' support groups and anti-apartheid organisations. It can be purchased from Amazon or consulted in the British Library Reading Rooms.

Articles

'Staging an Exhibition' in 2006: 100 Years of the Labour Party (London: Labour Party, 2005)

This is essentially a handbook, produced by the national Labour Party, to provide Constituency Labour Parties with practical help in marking the centenary of the formation of the Parliamentary Labour Party.' Staging An Exhibition' is a step by step guide, with hints on everything from how to get started to remembering to thank contributors at the end. The article may be used as guidance notes for staging any kind of history-related exhibition.

'Researching Greater London Labour Halls'  in Kingston University Centre For Local History Studies Newsletter.(Kingston University 2008)

This relates my experiences in local and national archives while I was working on my PhD. It also summarises the main arguments of my thesis. A PDF version of the Newsletter may be found here