Each month in 2019, using Hornsey Journal extracts, we have looked at the issues facing Hornsey and the country in 1919 and at their impact locally and nationally. The Hornsey Journal extract, 26 December 1919, makes it clear that solutions to these issues were as distant as when the year started and that pessimism about British and global instability had settled over the people of Hornsey like a black cloud. What were these uncertainties? [Read more…] about 1919 – 1920: The Uncertainties
Reflections on 1919
“I am going to get it” – A Politician’s Promise in November 1919 which came to nothing – plus ca change !
Does reading the Hornsey Journal extract from November 1919 give you a feeling of déjà vu? Not only was the fervent promise to get a tube to Muswell Hill within three years not kept, an underground line to this north London suburb never materialised. [Read more…] about “I am going to get it” – A Politician’s Promise in November 1919 which came to nothing – plus ca change !
The National Railway Strike, October 1919
In October 1919 a repeating feature in the Hornsey Journal was the story of the national railway strike, which lasted nine days from midnight on the night of the 26-27th September until the 5th October. [Read more…] about The National Railway Strike, October 1919
Hornsey’s Proposed War Memorial: The Continuing Story
The ongoing fractious debate and depth of feeling felt over the type of borough war memorial best for Hornsey was highlighted in the first of the series Hornsey in 1919. What happened in the intervening months between January and August 1919? Was Hornsey any nearer deciding on the nature of its borough war memorial? [Read more…] about Hornsey’s Proposed War Memorial: The Continuing Story
Hornsey’s Response to the Treaty of Versailles and to Peace Day
An Armistice had ended the Great War on 11 November 1918. The peace treaty between the Allies and Germany was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly 5 years after Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination triggered the conflict. The other Central Powers signed separate treaties. What was Hornsey’s response to these events and why were the children involved?
[Read more…] about Hornsey’s Response to the Treaty of Versailles and to Peace Day
The Edmonton Union Workhouse – Still housing the poor in 1919
For many of us it is a shock to read the Tender (Hornsey Journal 30 May 1919) for the supply of provisions to a workhouse. Surely the workhouse, such a spectre hanging over the lives of the Victorian poor, had gone by 1919? If it hadn’t, why was the workhouse in Edmonton not in Hornsey? When did this degrading system end? [Read more…] about The Edmonton Union Workhouse – Still housing the poor in 1919
Women and the Vote in 1919
The Representation of the People Act 1918 extended the franchise in parliamentary elections (right to vote) to men aged 21 and over, whether or not they owned property, and to women aged 30 and over who resided in the constituency or occupied land or premises with a rateable value above £5 (or whose husbands did).
Hornsey Political Activist takes on the Establishment
William Foster Watson (see Hornsey Journal 14 March 1919 and 24 March 1919) used the stage of the Royal Albert Hall and the dock of Bow Street Police Court as platforms from which to proclaim his radical political beliefs. Today most of us know little or nothing about the events and organisations mentioned. [Read more…] about Hornsey Political Activist takes on the Establishment