Monday, December 26, 2011

January 13th - 119 Anniversary of the Independent Labour Party




January 13th-14th marks the 119th Anniversary of the founding of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) at a conference held n Bradford in 1893.

Over one hundred delegates were present including

Ben Tillett, F.W. Jowett (Bradford), Robert Blatchford (Manchester) , Tom Maguire (Leeds), Allen Gee (Huddersfield), Pete Curran (London), Katherine St John Conway (London), and George Bernard Shaw, Kier Hardie (Scotland) Robert Smillie (Scotland), James Sexton, Ben Turner.

Delegates were overwhelmingly from the North Yorkshire and Lancashire

91 delegates represented provincial ILP branches formed in the anticipation of the national party


48 delegates from Yorkshire

32 delegates from Lancashire & Cheshire


11 from Scotland, mostly from the Scottish Labour Party

6 from the Midlands

Of the 115 ILP delegates only 3 delegates from the South

Plymouth, Chatham, Medway Trades Council


No delegates from Wales


Kier Hardie elected Chairman