Harry Cowley (born 1890, died 1971) was a working class organizer, social activist and anti-fascist in Brighton, England.
Born in 1890 in Brighton, and working as a chimney sweep, he became involved in grass-roots social activism from the 1920s until his death in the 1970s. [1]
Cowley was a key figure in confronting fascism in 1930s Brighton. He was put in hospital for eight months when he was alone and ran into a group of fascists on Middle Street, who broke his leg. He took his revenge by organising an attack on a meeting of the Fascist League on the Level, a park in Brighton. [2]
Cowley became leader of the 'Barrow Boys' in the 1920s. They sold cheap fruit and vegetables out of wheelbarrows on Oxford Street. When the Council attempted to clear the barrows in response to the complaints of local shops, Cowley made a fiery speech to a crowd and when the police attempted to clear it, the protest became known as 'The Battle of Oxford Street.' [3] The barrow boys were subsequently allowed to sell fruit and vegetables on the Level and then, in 1926, the Open Market was built. [4]
The Cowley Club in Brighton was named after him as a sign of its aim of furthering this tradition of grass-roots organising and class solidarity. Bus operator Brighton & Hove has named a bus after Cowley. [5]
Brighton is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the city of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located 47 miles (76 km) south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. The ancient settlement of "Brighthelmstone" was documented in the Domesday Book (1086). The town's importance grew in the Middle Ages as the Old Town developed, but it languished in the early modern period, affected by foreign attacks, storms, a suffering economy and a declining population. Brighton began to attract more visitors following improved road transport to London and becoming a boarding point for boats travelling to France. The town also developed in popularity as a health resort for sea bathing as a purported cure for illnesses.
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Brighton and Hove is a unitary authority with city status in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administered by Brighton and Hove City Council, which is currently under Labour majority control.
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John Steven Bassam, Baron Bassam of Brighton, is a British Labour and Co-operative politician and a member of the House of Lords.
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Inverness Street Market is an outdoor street market in Camden, North London. Licences to trade are issued by Camden London Borough Council.
Brighton and Hove Pride is an annual LGBT pride event held in the city of Brighton and Hove, England, organised by Brighton Pride, a community interest company (CIC) which promotes equality and diversity, and advances education to eliminate discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) community.
Hangleton is a suburb of Brighton and Hove, in the ceremonial county of East Sussex, England. The area was developed in the 1930s after it was incorporated into the Borough of Hove, but has ancient origins: its parish church was founded in the 11th century and retains 12th-century fabric; the medieval manor house is Hove's oldest secular building. The village became depopulated in the medieval era and the church fell into ruins, and the population in the isolated hilltop parish only reached 100 in the early 20th century; but rapid 20th-century development resulted in more than 6,000 people living in Hangleton in 1951 and over 9,000 in 1961. By 2013, the population exceeded 14,000.
The history of Brighton is that of an ancient fishing village which emerged as a health resort in the 18th century and grew into one of the largest towns in England by the 20th century.
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The Cowley Club is a libertarian self-managed social centre in Brighton, England. It opened in 2003, providing resources and meeting spaces for groups and individuals active in areas such as workplace and unemployed struggles, international solidarity, animal liberation, ecological defence, feminist and queer activism and opposing the arms trade. Its political identity is close to anarchism or libertarian socialism. It also houses a vegan community café, a bookshop, and free English lessons for migrants.
Dorothy Stringer School is a secondary school located in Brighton, East Sussex, England. It has over 1,600 pupils and 115 members of staff. There are 64 forms, each with an average of 26 students.
Cardinal Newman Catholic School is an 11–18 voluntary aided comprehensive school located in Hove, East Sussex, England. It is a Catholic mixed comprehensive; established to serve the many parishes that lie on the coastal band between Newhaven and Seaford in the east and Shoreham in the west.
Longhill High School is a co-educational secondary school for 11 to 16 year-olds, which is located in Rottingdean, Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. The school grounds are served by Brighton & Hove bus routes 2, 22, 72, 72A and 76, 76A.
9 Pool Valley is a late 18th-century house and shop in the centre of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built as a bakery and shop for a local family, with two floors of living accommodation above, it later passed to another Brighton family who kept up the baking tradition until the mid-20th century. Since then it has had various commercial uses. Described as "one of the most famous surviving early buildings" in Brighton and "a charming relic",[1] the exterior is clad in distinctive black glazed mathematical tiles. English Heritage has listed it at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.
Palmeira Square is a mid-19th-century residential development in Hove, part of the English city and seaside resort of Brighton and Hove. At the southern end it adjoins Adelaide Crescent, another architectural set-piece which leads down to the seafront; large terraced houses occupy its west and east sides, separated by a public garden; and at the north end is one of Hove's main road junctions. This is also called Palmeira Square, and its north side is lined with late 19th-century terraced mansions. Commercial buildings and a church also stand on the main road, which is served by Brighton & Hove bus routes 1, 1A, N1, 2, 5, 5A, 5B, N5, 6, 25, 46, 49, 60, 71, 71A and 96.
Gilbert Murray Simpsonfriba (1869–1954) was a British architect from Brighton who did most of his work in the seaside resort. In 1890 Simpson joined his father Thomas, architect to the Brighton and Preston School Board and the Hove School Board, and helped to design some of the "distinguished group of board schools" for those institutions during the late 19th century. He took over the firm of Thomas Simpson & Son when his father died in 1908, and went on to design several other institutional buildings in Brighton. His elder brother Sir John William Simpson was also an architect.
The Level is an urban park in central Brighton, on the south coast of England. The park is a triangle of 8.05 acres (3.26 ha) bounded by Union Road to the north, Richmond Terrace (A270) to the east, and Ditchling Road (A23) to the west. In the past, the land has been used as a cricket ground for the Prince of Wales and as a setting for large-scale dinner parties to commemorate events such as the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte and the coronation of Queen Victoria.