George Howell, the Webbs and the political culture of early labour history

The writing of labour history was an important part of the the cultural context in which the labour politics of the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were worked out. George Howell (1833-1910), trades union leader, secretary of the Reform League and 'Lib-Lab' MP was a prolific author of labour history. In historiography as in politics, Howell was a controversial figure, largely marginalised through the agency of Sidney and Beatrice Webb. This essay analyses the original essence and claims to authority of Howell as a historian, locating them in his personal, political and intellectual development. His view of labour history was one that emphasised the origins of trades unionism in the 'pre-industrial' world of the guilds; it was therefore one that emphasised continuities, rather than ruptures and social conflict, in popular politics.