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The Tudors
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We said last time that the depression continued for some years and by 1933 2,5 million people were out of work, that's 25% of the workforce. The worst hit industries were mining, shipbuilding and those where people worked in iron and steel mills. This meant that the North of England was devastated.

In 1935 the shipyard in Jarrow in Northumberland closed down. The mines and steel works had already closed and now nearly every man in Jarrow was unemployed. Unemployment benefit lasted for 26 weeks and although some further help was available it was small.

So the local council in Jarrow decided they would have a crusade which would take a petition to Parliament to make them aware of the terrible hardship people were living under. The council raised £1,000 to pay for the march, the marchers needed to be fed, and 200 fit men were chosen to walk the 300 miles to Westminster.

They set out on October 5 1936 and the march took them 25 days. They were cheered by many people along the way, given feasts at some stop-overs and offered all sorts of accommodation. The petition, signed by 11,000 Jarrow people, was carried in an oak box with gold lettering and a further petition was collected on the march.

Once in London their petition was presented to Parliament by their local MP, Ellen Wilkinson, but didn't really have an immediate impact. In 1938 a ship-breaking yard and engineering works were established in Jarrow and the Consett Iron Company started a steelworks in 1939. However, in areas such as Jarrow the depression continued until World War Two, when industry prospered as a result of the country's need for rearmament.

At the same time in the south of the country, people became richer. They still had jobs, prices had fallen and so they could afford more. Eventually, partly helped by preparations for war creating more jobs and the government actually printing more money, things improved. Three million new homes were built, giving not only employment for the builders but better housing for those that could afford it. People bought cars and other luxuries as prices had come down, yet more employment. People took holidays at the seaside, more employment in the tourist industry. How all this might have ended had WWII not happened it is difficult to say but since then we have had depressions almost on a regular basis so it might be true to say that governments don't really know how to stop them.

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