Black Country History Day

  • 17th Oct 2026
  • 10am - 4.40pm
Workers Institute WI Web

Protest and Dissent in Black Country History

2026 marks the 100th anniversary of the British General Strike

This event provides an opportunity to reflect on the role and impact of protest and dissent in the Black Country.

Today’s history day looks firstly at how the Black Country Living Museum has represented the activities of protest groups including trade unions, women chain makers and the suffragettes.

Other presentations look at political and religious protest in early and mid-nineteenth century Dudley, the Miners’ Strike of 1864 and, in the twentieth century, the complex protest background to the 1964 Election in Smethwick.

The final session is a presentation of protest songs in the Black Country in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 

£30 PER PERSON

 

Book Tickets

Event Schedule

10.00am: Tea and Coffee

10.15am: Introduction, Dr Malcolm Dick, Chairman, Black Country Society

10.20am: Protest in the Black Country Living Museum Collections, Dr Simon Briercliffe and Ciara Costello

11.20am: Tea and coffee

11.40am: Protest and power in mid-nineteenth-century Dudley, Dr Judith Davies

12.30pm: Lunch

1.30pm: ‘The Black Country Outrages! – Intimidation and industrial terrorism in the 1864 miners’ strike’, Quintin Watt

2.20pm: 'Agitation, resistance, and voting: protest in early 1960s Smethwick', Dr Marc Collinson

3.10pm: Tea and Coffee

3.30pm: Black Country re-forged and re-sounded: an exploration of songs of protest and praise from the West Midlands, Caroline Price and Stream of Sound

4.30pm: Final Questions and Remarks, Malcolm Dick

Biographies

  • Simon Briercliffe

    Simon is a historian of the Black Country. He completed his doctoral research at the University of Birmingham in 2022 on the experiences of Irish immigrants to Victorian Wolverhampton and is now an honorary research fellow there. He is also a Researcher at the Black Country Living Museum, and part of the editorial board of Midland History. He published his first book based on research for the Black Country Living Museum in 2021: Forging Ahead: Austerity to Prosperity in the Black Country 1945-1968: [email protected]

  • Ciara Costello

    Ciara is the Collections Manager at the Black Country Living Museum, where she oversees collections care, documentation and access to the museum’s collections. She has worked in the museum and heritage sector for over seven years, having previously held roles with the House of Commons Heritage Collections team, Birmingham Museums Trust, and the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick. She holds an MA International Heritage Management from the University of Birmingham and a Diploma in Law & Collections Management, alongside postgraduate and undergraduate degrees in History from Cardiff University: [email protected]

  • Judith Davies

    Judith was born and raised in Brierley Hill. She gained a BSc (Econ) at University College, Swansea, majoring in politics and Russian studies. She was a public librarian in Northamptonshire before returning to the Black Country. At the University of Birmingham, she took the MA in West Midlands History and subsequently achieved a PhD studying politics and religion in Dudley during the middle decades of the nineteenth century, relating local developments to national issues. She is a volunteer with the Dudley Archives and Local History Service: [email protected]

  • Quintin Watt

    Quintin is Development & Programme Secretary of the Black Country Society. A former history teacher, and well-known local speaker, he has MA degrees in West Midlands history and Britain and the First World War – both from the University of Wolverhampton. Quintin has also edited books that relate to the history of the West Midlands: An Illustrated History of the Bromsgrove Guild (1999) and Wolverhampton’s Great War, 1914-21 (2020): [email protected]

  • Marc Collinson

    Marc is a Lecturer in Political History at Bangor University. After coming to Bangor as an undergraduate to study history, he never left and now teaches contemporary history and politics. A political historian of twentieth-century Britain, his research predominantly focuses on elections, place, and governance. His book: Migration on the Ballot? Smethwick and the 1964 General Election, which grew out of his PhD research, was published by Routledge in March 2026. Email: [email protected]

  • Stream of Sound

    Stream of Sound is a thriving and youthful a cappella choir based in Stourbridge, whose varied repertoire includes a wide range of historical and local songs. They are led by Caroline Price, a local music teacher and graduate of the MA in West Midlands History at the University of Birmingham, who has written and directed many productions and concerts based on the music and history of the West Midlands: [email protected]