So it is with the Chorlton Socialist Society which was active in the decades either side of the turn of the 20th century.
There isn’t much and what there is hints at much more.
In 1895 they had complained bitterly to the Manchester Guardian that they had been prevented from holding a meeting in the Public Hall which was a “hall built for the public, consecrated to the common good, free from the trammels of faction, open for the use of all” and following this had met the same response from
“every other room belonging to a public body.”*
The letter was signed by Charles Fletcher of 9 Chestnut Avenue who was the secretary, and in the course of the next five years there were three more secretaries who were recorded in the Labour Annual and its successor The Reformer’s Year Book**
In 1898 Mr Fred Hughes of 16 Manchester Road was secretary of a group which had 40 members and three years later he was followed by Mr J Crispin who lived at 32 Whalley Road and in 1901 by George Lee of 17 Albermarle Road.
So far little is known of these men, although a Charles Fletcher who later lived in Rusholme served during the Great War, and Mr Lee can be tracked across Chorlton from 1901 to 1911.
Charles Fletcher gave his occupation in 1915 on his Attestation papers as a lorry driver, while George Lee was a designer for a calico printing firm.
“The influx of a new population of lower middle class city workers who have to find room to live in the new houses erected on open spaces where a few years ago there were green pastures and golden corn fields.
These people have brought with them a new political outlook consistent with the great advance of Labour in recent years.”***
And with places like the Public hall barred to them they were forced to meet “on certain nights around lamp posts”**** to spread their political message. ****
That said by 1906 they at least were afforded the same rights as other political groups and had been given permission to hold two meetings on the village green.
Like all such groups their membership remained small but there was a steady core which took a dip in 1910 which at present is unclear. In the previous few years it had affiliated to the Manchester & Salford Labour Representation Committee and its membership was on a parr with some of the bigger areas of the city.
In 1906 when the Labour Representation Committee changed its name to the Labour Party the Chorlton Socialist Society had debated its response to that name change.
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The Pendlebury and Swinton branch along with Chorlton suggested a change to the Socialist Party while other branches came up with variations.*****
As it was the ILP retained its name and in turn affiliated to the Labour Party.
All of which may mean that after 1906 Chorlton had its own branch of the Labour Party which attracted members from the Socialist Society and that will introduce us to William Mellor who was also an active trade unionist and socilaist living in Chorlton.******
And that I guess means a return to the archives of the Peoples History Museum where no doubt I will be able to uncover a shed full more on both the society and at the start of the Labour Party here and perhaps a little more on Mr Fletcher, Mr Lee and those other secretaries.*******
We shall see.
Picture; Solidarity, Walter Crane, 1887
Additional research from Barry Clark and Morris, D 'Labour or Socialism'. Phd, University of Manchester 1982
* C. Fletcher, Chorlton-cum- Hardy Socialist Society, Manchester Guardian, October 23 1895
**Labour Annual, 1895-1900, The Reformer’s Year Book, 1900-1909
***Davies, Rhys. J., Socialism in Suburbia, 1930
****ibid Davies, page 9
*****New name for the ILP, The Manchester Guardian March 8 1906
******William Mellor, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/William%20Mellor
*******Archives & Study Centre, at the People’s History Museum, Manchester, http://www.phm.org.uk
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