Metadata: Kerrigan, Rose (Oral history)
Collection
- Country:
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Holding institution:
- Imperial War Museum
- Holding institution (official language):
- Imperial War Museum
- Postal address:
- Lambeth RoadLondonGreater LondonUnited KingdomSE1 6HZ
- Email:
- Email: contact@iwm.org.uk
- Reference number:
- 9903
- Title:
- Kerrigan, Rose (Oral history)
- Title (official language):
- Kerrigan, Rose (Oral history)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Smith, Lyn E
- Kerrigan, Rose
- Date(s):
- 1914/1960-03-29
- Language:
- English
- Extent:
- 9 reels
- Scope and content:
- REEL 1 Background in Glasgow, Scotland: Russian Jewish family background; childhood; father's political beliefs; loss of religious convictions; effect of war on political beliefs; description of attending anti-war meetings and development of anti-war stance; story of losing job for supporting conscientious objector; attitude to treatment of conscientious objectors; activities with socialist Sunday School; attitude of working class Glaswegians to war; influence of James Maxton, Tommy Bell, Philip and Ethel Snowden, Helen Crawford; anti-war beliefs of men exempted from military service working in munitions; attitude of father to popular enthusiasm for war in 1914; food rationing and shopping; comparison of food situation in First and Second World Wars; story of obtaining potatoes and fish; food queues; shortage of sugar.REEL 2 Continues: comparison of rationing system in First and Second World Wars; story of employment with Jewish baker; reason for eating black bread; sending of food parcels and knitted socks to troops; awareness of conditions of soldiers; story of father obtaining offcuts of material from job as tailor; reason for father's bankruptcy; story being ejected from meeting for heckling Havelock Wilson and beating up of father; description of involvement in Glasgow Rent Strike, 1915; role of munitions workers in resolution of strike; memories of Helen Crawford; further comments on Rent Strike and attitude of mother; assessment of strike; opinion of Independent Labour Party newspaper 'The Forward'; opinion of poem 'A Bundle of Dirty Rags'; reaction to Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, 1917; description of soldiers leaving Glasgow for front and memory of song 'There's a long, long trail awinding'; attitude to wartime propaganda and use of white feathers.REEL 3 Continues: further comments on white feathers; health problems of munitions workers; problem of flu epidemic, 1918; question of antagonism between anti-war groups; story of imprisonment and death of John McLean; description of James Maxton's meetings; memories of Willie Gallacher; support for anti-war views from Pankhurst family and Ramsay McDonald; anti-war stance of socialist parties; distinction between pacifist and anti-war viewpoints; attitude to concept of 'just war'; position of conscientious objectors; further comments on Pankhurst family; opinion of anarchist Gus Aldred and anarchist activity in Glasgow; opinion of role of Scottish Labour Party and Independent Labour Party; further comments on Bolshevik Revolution, 1917; attitude to Brest-Litovsk Treaty; story of collecting food for Russians and wearing Cossack hat; anti-Russian propaganda; story of husband nearly being sent to Russia with Allied forces; reason for husband serving in army despite anti-war views; attitude to possible revolution in GB; further comments on John McLean; problem of spies at political meetings.REEL 4 Continues: reaction to news of Armistice, 11/1918; story of father altering demob suits; mother's involvement with revolutionary movements in Russia; story of role in founding Communist Party, 1921; reason for becoming communist; question of distinction between Labour Party and socialist policies; links with Soviet Union; revolutionary activity in Glasgow; participation in hunger and unemployment marches in Scotland during 1930s; opinion of Ellen Wilkinson; problem of husband's unemployment; story of witnessing arrest of Mannie Shinwell and Willie Gallacher; comparison of demonstrations and policing tactics in 1930s with present day; story of husband's involvement with General Strike, 1926.REEL 5 Continues: support for General Strike in Scotland; reaction to end of General Strike; opinion of Economic League and Minority Movement; description of involvement with Glasgow to Edinburgh march, 1934; reaction to outbreak of Spanish Civil War, 1936; story of husband's involvement in Spanish Civil War; attitude to political situation in Spain; description of role in various pro-Republican activities.REEL 6 Continues: opinion of Nan Green and Bill Alexander; question of Soviet Union's support for Republicans in Spain; attitude to role of British and other European governments during Spanish Civil War; role of Communist Party in GB and links with various anti-war movements; attitude to Soviet Union's call for United Front; reaction to Nazi-Soviet Pact, 1939; question of Jewish background affecting political beliefs; opinion of Harry Pollitt; attitude to Communist Party official line; story of Jewish refugees joining Communist Party; reaction to German invasion of Soviet Union, 6/1941 and pro-war stance of British Communist Party; role of husband in distributing pro-war propaganda; question of antisemitic views among working classes; role of Communist Party in promoting Second Front.REEL 7 Continues: description of involvement in Second Front campaign; employment with Prudential Insurance Co in London and problem of antisemitic employer; story of organising workers into union; involvement with Aid to Russia fund; further comments on Second Front campaign and role of British Communist Party; visits to the Soviet Embassy and pro-Soviet stance; further comments on Aid to Russia fund; question of support for anti-war movement during Second World War; reaction to closure of Daily Worker newspaper at start of war; attitude to wartime strikes; opinion of position of Soviet Union during Second World War; reaction to disbanding of Comintern, 1943; attitude to onset of Cold War and hostility to Soviet Union; opinion of propaganda and brainwashing; question of medical condition of men enlisting in 1939.REEL 8Continues: tells joke about communism and capitalism; description of activities with CND and Greenham Common women; opinion of arms race between US and Soviet Union; attitude to concept of 'just wars' in Nicaragua and Chile; opinion of effectiveness of United Nations; attitude to religion; examples of discrimination due to political beliefs; story of evacuation from Glasgow to Aberdeen, 9/1939; opinion of accommodation and living conditions; role in helping to organise evacuees; reason for concealing communist beliefs; comparison of lifestyles in Glasgow and Aberdeen; story of visiting Communist Party HQ in Aberdeen; story of evacuation of own children and finding suitable accommodation; further memories of Helen Crawford.REEL 9Continues: story of daughters contracting ringworm and description of symptoms and treatment; attitude to separation from family during war; effects of war and evacuation on daughters' health and education; comparison of situation with First World War.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- IWM was founded on 5 March 1917 when the War Cabinet approved a proposal by Sir Alfred Mond MP for the creation of a national war museum to record the events still taking place during the Great War. The intention was to collect and display material as a record of everyone’s experiences during that war - civilian and military - and to commemorate the sacrifices of all sections of society.The interest taken by the Dominion governments led to the renaming of the National War Museum to Imperial War Museum later in 1917. It was formally established by Act of Parliament in 1920 and a governing Board of Trustees appointed. The National War Museum was renamed Imperial War Museum in November 1917. The museum was opened in the Crystal Palace by King George V on 9 June 1920. From 1924 to 1935 it was housed in two galleries adjoining the former Imperial Institute, South Kensington. On 7 July 1936, the Duke of York, shortly to become King George VI, reopened the museum in its present home on Lambeth Road, South London, formerly the central portion of Bethlem Royal Hospital, or ‘Bedlam’.With the onset of war in 1939 IWM’s remit was extended to include the Second World War. While a programme of collecting got underway, vulnerable collections were evacuated to stores outside London, and the museum was closed to the public from September 1940 to November 1946. Most of the exhibits survived the war, but a Short Seaplane which had flown at the Battle of Jutland was shattered when a German bomb fell on the Naval Gallery on 31 January 1941. This was just one of more than 40 incendiary hits on the building throughout the war.The Korean War led to a further redefinition of the IWM’s terms of reference to include all conflicts in which British or Commonwealth forces had been involved since 1914. IWM has therefore continued to collect every type of evidence documenting its very broad remit. Its collections are vast and rich, and in addition to its role as a museum, IWM is also a major national art gallery, a national archive of written and audio visual recourse, and a centre for research. During the 1970s and 1980s IWM underwent a period of unprecedented expansion, with the establishment of three new branches – IWM Duxford in 1976, HMS Belfast in 1978 and Churchill War Rooms in 1984. The fifth member of the IWM family, IWM North, opened in Trafford, Greater Manchester, on 5 July 2002.Further information on the history of the organisation can be found on the Museum Archive pages see https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/museum-administrative-records
- Access points: persons/families:
- Kerrigan, Rose
- Subject terms:
- Antisemitism
- Communism
- Military
- Oral history
- World War I
- World War II
- Access, restrictions:
- Visit IWM website for Research Room access provisions see https://www.iwm.org.uk/research/research-facilities
- Finding aids:
- Online catalogue.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80009686
- Yerusha Network member:
- AIM25
