From a dazzling, eclectic North Queensland collection , the story of activist Allen Clarke who fought for textile workers , captured their colourful way of life and speech in an extensive series of postcards and in his distinctive publications , one of which sold like proverbial hot cakes ,Teddy Ashton's Annual .
At the age of 13 , Allen Clarke , born in Bolton , one of the early textile centres in Lancashire , worked in a mill and drank in the scene. Through part time study, he became a pupil-teacher and after some years landed a " mundane " job with the Bolton Evening News.
The engineers' strike in 1887 inspired him to become politically involved and he joined the Social Democrat Foundation (SDF), the same year as Tom Mann started a branch. Mann, unionist and labour activist , deeply involved in Australia and New Zealand , became a Communist .
In 1890 Clarke started his own newspaper, Labour Light ,on which he employed James Haslam , another important working class reporter and writer , in his first journalistic position . The two of them tried unsuccessfully to form a trade union for Lancashire cotton workers .
In 1890 Clarke started his own newspaper, Labour Light ,on which he employed James Haslam , another important working class reporter and writer , in his first journalistic position . The two of them tried unsuccessfully to form a trade union for Lancashire cotton workers .
Clarke kicked off another paper, The Bolton Trotter , a weekly which ran until l893 together with the Trotter Christmas Annual . In 1896 he launched Teddy Ashton's Journal, with a Christmas annual , as a continuation of the Trotter.
In the l900 UK general election, standing as the Labor Representation Committee candidate for Rochdale , supported by the SDF and the Independent Labour Party , he received 901 votes, came third . In Bolton he became editor of the Northern Weekly , moved to Blackpool , wrote for other newspapers and penned novels. His younger brother , Tom, became editor of the Daily News and News Chronicle .
INSIDE TEDDY ASHTON'S LANCASHIRE ANNUAL
Ex libris the Bolton Evening News , l955, the rollicking content in the above December 1925 issue, viewed by Little Darwin , has 128pp, with adverts , poetry, short stories , artwork, most seemingly written by Clarke under many noms de plume. It clearly shows why he and the publication , which ran for 14 years , were so popular, with avid readers in Australia and New Zealand .
There is an hilarious story , in Lancashire dialect , about what transpired when one of the regulars mentioned in the stories was asked to look after a shop run by a bachelor newsagent who has to go away for a short time . There was some kind of a scene when a lady came in and asked for a Baby , presumably the name of a magazine . Not knowing this, the stand in for the newsagent told her to try the Co-Op.
There is more great humour in an account of the Tum Fowt Debatin' Club -patriotic, pint-pot philosophers and hen -pecked heroes - who gather in an old inn, when the question was asked , what is wrong with the country by the same man who stood in for the newsagent. The meeting takes place in the Dog and Kennel, near the cemetery , the only place in the world at present where business is steady and there are no complaints . Based on a fishy story, residents of Darwen were nicknamed "Darren Salmon", a family presented as such in a Teddy Ashton postcard .
A l919 biographical sketch praising Allen Clarke, novelist, poet, sociologist , dialect writer , in glowing terms. His Teddy Ashton's Weekly had sales of 35,000 . All his writings , whether humorous sketches, or arresting essay were characterised by a strong sympathy with the downtrodden , a hatred of humbug , a love of fair play , and an unfailing faith in the ultimate triumph of the principles of world-wide fellowship.
Another postcard was based on the fanciful story that the natives of Oldham and Rochdale became known as "moonrakers " after some "masculine" residents coming away from the Boar's Head after heavy drinking tried to fish the reflection of the moon out of a pond under the impression it was a great cheese that had fallen into the water .
