CovSoc founder member, Paul Maddocks, writes …..
While working as a designer/illustrator at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, I had the pleasure of producing the very first poster for the ‘Tom Mann’ Lecture, which is held each year. The first one was held at the Herbert Lecture Theatre in the late 1970’s and I have had the honour of designing posters on and off ever since.
Tom Mann was a very well-known English Labour leader and Trade Unionist who was born at 175 / 177 Grange Road, Longford, Coventry on 15th April 1856. Next year will be the 120th anniversary of his birthday. Let’s hope Coventry can commemorate this!
Tom was largely self-educated. He became a successful organiser and a popular public speaker in the British labour movement. He gained fame as the leader of the 1889 London dock strike, and he became President of the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Workers’ Union of Great Britain and Ireland in the same year. This was a post he held until 1893, during which time he was also a member of the Royal Commission on Labour.
Mann’s political interests also grew during this time, and he became Secretary of the Independent Labour Party in 1894. An advocate of direct trade union action, Mann was imprisoned several times, both in Britain and abroad. Mann’s career was truly international, and in 1896 he founded and became the first President of the International Transport Workers’ Federation. He continued to be active in the labour movement throughout his life. He died in 1941.
The 2025 Tom Mann Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Michael Mansfield KC. The title of the talk is Suppressed Democracy. Michael says, “Protest is now only possible if it’s not too often, not too loud, not too visible and not an inconvenience – namely, it goes unnoticed!”.
Michael Mansfield KC is an English barrister and head of the Nexus Chambers. He was recently described as “The king of human rights work” by The Legal 500 and as a leading Silk in civil liberties and human rights.
He has participated in prominent and controversial court cases and inquests including the Birmingham Six, Bloody Sunday massacre, the Hillsborough disaster, the deaths of Jean Charles de Menezes and Princess Diana and the McLibel case.
The lecture will take place on Friday, 5th December 2025 at 7:30 p.m. at the Methodist Central Hall. [Doors open at 7p.m.] Book tickets here.