University Library
Special Collections

Gorrie Collection

Political memorabilia of Archibald Gorrie (died 1941) relating to the Labour movement in Leicestershire in the period ca.1889 -1909. Gorrie was a supporter of the socialist pioneer Thomas Barclay after hearing him lecture, and subsequently became the branch secretary and benefactor of the Socialist League (Branch 13, Leicester). (Lancaster, B. 1987 Radicalism, Cooperation and Socialism: Leicester working-class politics 1860-1906. Leicester Universty Press. pp. 88-89)

The collection consists of 2 boxes off loose papers containing many press cuttings, posters, handbills, circulars, invitations, etc. (some loosely inserted) concerning local groups such as the Leicester Radical Club, Leicester Branch of the Socialist League (of which Gorrie was a founder-member), Leicester Christian Socialist Society and the Leicester Socialist & Anarchist Society. In addition there are 9 mounted posters advertising political meetings and demonstrations.

Among the speakers at meetings were Prince Kropotkin, Bernard Shaw, Sidney Webb, John Burns, Annie Besant, representatives of striking miners and dockers, and leading Leicester socialists. Also included are manuscript notes by Gorrie of the first two meetings of the Leicester Branch of the Socialist League, 11 & 18 October 1889. Further information about the contents of the Gorrie Collection can be found in the library's Handlist of the Manuscript Collection.

A selection of meeting handbills and posters is reproduced below.

Further information about the bomb conspiracy in 1892 involving the Walsall Anarchists can be found in chapter 6 of John Quail's online reproduction of his book "The Slow Burning Fuse The lost history of the British Anarchists ".
Bill Lancaster provides further information about Barclay, the Leicester-born son of Irish parents who eked out a living as a rag and bone collector and was converted to secularism in the 1870s, in his book on radicalism and socialism. (Lancaster, B. 1987 Radicalism, Cooperation and Socialism: Leicester working-class politics 1860-1906. Leicester Universty Press. p. 59)
		Anarchy Archives includes biographies of famous anarchists, such as Kropotkin, with online versions of some of their work.
More information about Annie Besant, the English social reformer can be found in the Victorian Web. There are many sites that provide detailed information about and documents by William Morris, including the Morris Society website, Wlliam Morris Internet Archive, and the Victorian Web,