Record

Performance TitleLabour and a Real League of People - Daily Herald Meeting
Performance Date30 November 1918
Performance DaySaturday
Performance Time18:00
Main PerformersMr George Lansbury (Presiding),
Mr J W Muir,
Mr W N Ewer,
Mr Philip Snowden,
Mr J Ramsay MacDonald,
Mr F Meynell,
Major Gillespie DSO,
Miss Evelyn Sharp - speakers,

Carmen Hill,
Albert Garcia - vocals,
Lena Kontrorovitch - violin,
Hilda Saxe - piano
Charles Warner
Secondary PerformersEllen Tuckfield
ChoirsPianoeer Choir
Set ListOrgan Recital (Charles Warner, Choir),

Half Hour Concert:
'Ye Bonnie Braes and Doons', Scottish (Carmen Hill),
'Jock o'Hazeldean', Scottish (Carmen Hill),
Piano soli: a) 'Gavotte', Gluck-Brahms (Hilda Saxe),
'Russian Dance', Moussorgsky (Hilda Saxe),
Violin soli: 'Nocturne in D', Chopin (Lena Kontorovich),
'Caprice', Paganini (Lena Kontorovich),
'The Sands of Dee', Clay (Albert Garcia),
'The Crocodile', trad. Folk Song (Albert Garcia)

Meeting:
Chairmans Speech (George Lansbury),
Vote of Thanks,
First Resolution (Mr W N Ewer),
Collection for the Daily Herald Advertising Fund,
Second Resolution (Mr Philip Snowden),
Speech (Mr J Ramsay MacDonald),
Speech (Mr F Meynell),
Motion and Seconding (Major Gillespie DSO, Miss Evelyn Sharp),
'The Red Flag'
Performance NotesThis meeting (originally scheduled for the 23 November 1918) was cancelled by the management of the Royal Albert Hall on advice from Scotland Yard because of the 'demonstrations of a revolutionary character' that had taken place recently by members of Mr George Lansbury's (Editor of the Daily Herald) supporters in the Hall at previous meetings on 3 and 14 November 1918. At these meetings, for the Union of Railwaymen and the Labour Party, the 'Red Flag' had been sung, red flags waved and anti-Royalist sentiment made known. In fact a red flag had even been placed on top of the crown which decorates the Royal Box.

Because of this decision, members of the Kensington branch of the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) cut off the electric light supply to the Hall, saying that if the Hall tried to reinstate the electricty supply, the ETU would blackout the whole of Kensington. An afternoon concert held by the Royal Choral Society on 23 November had to be lit by the original Victorian gas lighting lending an eerie atmosphere to the Hall.

The Hall's management were forced to back down, after the Government (Ministry of Labour) intervened and on 23 November at 18:30 the electricty to the Hall was turned back on. Mr George Lansbury and members of the ETU stood outside the Hall at 19:00 declaring a victory for Labour. This date, the 30 November, was allotted for the postponed meeting.


"Albert Hall Reprisal - Following the cutting-off of the electric supply to the Albert Hall by the Electrical Trades Union as a reprisal, the ban on the Labour meeting, which should have been held there last Saturday, has been removed on the recommendation of the Government, and the meeting will take place on Saturday next."
(Daily Mirror, November 1918)

"After the meeting a crowd of 200 people marched along Piccadilly and a man was arrested for being in possession of a Red Flag and shouting 'Down with Lloyd George'."
(The Times, 3 December 1918)
Related Archival MaterialProgramme (RAHE/1/1918/56),
Event Correspondence (RAHE/4/8/2)
Catalogue
Reference NumberTitleDate
RAHE/1/1918/56Labour And a Real League of Peoples Programme of The Herald Meeting30 November 1918
RAHE/4/8/2Event Correspondence with organisers of the Labour Party meeting on 23rd November.23 October - 10 December 1918
Work
Ref NoTitleNo of Performances
Cganois_Zit_HLabour and a Real League of People - Daily Herald Meeting2
Performers
CodeName of Performer(s)
DS/UK/1583Hill; Carmen (fl 1883-1924); Scottish singer
DS/UK/3301Saxe; Hilda (1886-1962); English pianist
DS/UK/4199Garcia; Albert (1875-1946); Spanish-born baritone
DS/UK/1970Warner; Charles (fl 1910-1920s); English organist
DS/UK/163Lansbury; George (1859-1940); British Labour politician
DS/UK/290Daily Herald; 15 April 1912-1964; British newspaper
DS/UK/1337MacDonald; James Ramsay (1866-1937); British Labour Party politician
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