Distinctive Northern English Identity
A number of claims have been made for the distinctiveness of Yorkshire, as a geographical, cultural and political entity, and these have been used to demand increased political autonomy. In the early twentieth century, F. W. Moorman, the first professor of English language at Leeds University, claimed Yorkshire was not settled by Angles or Saxons following the end of Roman rule in Britain, but by a different Germanic tribe, the Geats. As a consequence, he claimed, it is possible the first work of English literature, Beowulf, believed to have been composed by Geats, was written in Yorkshire, and this distinctive ethnic and cultural origin is the root of the unique status of Yorkshire today.[1] One of Moorman's students at Leeds University, Herbert Read, was greatly influenced by Moorman's ideas on Yorkshire identity, and claimed that until recent times Yorkshire was effectively an island, cut off from the rest of England by rivers, fens, moors and mountains. This distancing of Yorkshire from England led Read to question whether Yorkshire people were really English at all.[2] Combined with the suggested ethnic difference from the rest of England, Read quoted Frederic Pearson, who wrote:
There is something characteristic about the very physiognomy of the Yorkshireman. He is much more of a Dane or a Viking than a Saxon. He is usually a big upstanding man, who looks as if he could take care of himself and those who depend upon him in an emergency. This is indeed the character that his neighbours give him; the southerner may think him a little hard: but if ever our country is let down by its inhabitants, we may be sure that it will not be the fault of Yorkshire.[2]
During the premiership of William Pitt the Younger the hypothetical idea of Yorkshire becoming independent was raised in the British parliament in relation to the question whether Ireland should become part of the United Kingdom. This resulted in the publication of an anonymous pamphlet in London in 1799 arguing at length that Yorkshire could never be an independent state as it would always be reliant on the rest of the United Kingdom to provide it with essential resources.[3]
Although in the devolution debates in the House of Commons of the late 1960s, which paved the way for the 1979 referendums on the creation of a Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly, parallel devolution for Yorkshire was suggested, this was opposed by the Scottish National Party Member of Parliament for Hamilton, Winifred Ewing. Ewing argued that it was offensive to Scots to argue that an English region had the same status as an 'ancient nation' such as Scotland.[4]
The relationship between Yorkshire and Scottish devolution was again made in 1975 by Richard Wainwright, MP for Colne Valley, who claimed in a speech in the House of Commons:
The nationalist movement in Scotland is associated with flags, strange costumes, weird music and extravagant ceremonial. When... people go to Yorkshire and find that we have no time for dressing up, waving flags and playing strange instruments—in other words, we are not a lot of Presbyterians in Yorkshire—they should not assume that we do not have the same feelings underneath the skin. Independence in Yorkshire expresses itself in a markedly increasing determination to establish self-reliance.[5]
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Following the local government reforms of 1974, Yorkshire lost its overall sheriff and the ridings lost their lieutenants and administrative counties. Although some government officials[6] and King Charles[7] have asserted such reform is not meant to alter the ancient boundaries or cultural loyalties, there are pressure groups such as the Yorkshire Ridings Society who want greater recognition for the historic boundaries.[8]
In 1998 the Campaign for Yorkshire was established to push for the creation of a Yorkshire regional assembly,[9] sometimes dubbed the Yorkshire Parliament.[10] In its defining statement, the Campaign for Yorkshire made reference to the historical notions that Yorkshire had a distinctive identity:
Yorkshire and the Humber has distinctive characteristics which make it an ideal test bed for further reform. It has a strong popular identity. The region follows closely the historic boundaries of the three Ridings, and there is no serious debate about boundaries. It possesses strong existing regional partnerships including universities, voluntary and church associations. All this makes it realistic to regard Yorkshire and the Humber as the standard bearer for representative regional government.[11]
The Campaign for Yorkshire was led by Jane Thomas as Director[12] and Paul Jagger as chairman. Jagger claimed in 1999 that Yorkshire had as much right to a regional parliament or assembly as Scotland and Wales because Yorkshire 'has as clear a sense of identity as Scotland or Wales.'[13] One of those brought into the Campaign for Yorkshire by Jane Thomas was Herbert Read scholar Michael Paraskos, who organised a series of events in 2000 to highlight the distinctiveness of Yorkshire culture. This included a major exhibition of Yorkshire artists.[14] Paraskos also founded a Yorkshire Studies degree course at Hull University.[15] Interviewed by The Guardian newspaper, Paraskos linked the start of this course to the contemporary devolution debates in Yorkshire, Scotland and Wales, claiming:
If Yorkshire is arguing for a parliament, there needs to be a cultural argument as well, otherwise why not have a parliament of the north? There is a rediscovery of political and social culture going on in a very similar way to the early assertions of a Scottish identity.[16]
In March 2013, the Yorkshire Devolution Movement was founded as an active campaign group by Nigel Sollitt, who had administered the social media group by that name since 2011, Gareth Shanks, a member of the social media group, and Stewart Arnold, former Chair of the Campaign for Yorkshire. In September 2013, the executive committee was joined by Richard Honnoraty and Richard Carter (as an advisor), who had also been involved in the Campaign for Yorkshire. The Movement campaigns for a directly elected parliament for the whole of the traditional county of Yorkshire with powers second to no other devolved administration in the UK.[17][18]
In 2014, Richard Carter, Stewart Arnold and Richard Honnoraty, founded Yorkshire First, a political party campaigning for the creation of a Yorkshire parliament by 2050 based on the Scottish Parliament. It was later renamed the Yorkshire Party.[19] A Social democratic party, it has parish, town, district and county councillors, and stood in 28 constituencies in the 2019 general election. Yorkshire Party candidates have also run for the position of directly elected mayors in Doncaster in 2017 (receiving 3,235 votes, 5.04%) and the Sheffield City Region in 2018 (receiving 22,318 votes, 8.6).
References
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedmoorman - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Read, Herbert (31 January 1929). "Review of Frederic Richard Pearson, Yorkshire". The Times Literary Supplement. p. 79.
- ↑ Anonymous pamphlet, Thoughts on national independence, suggested by Mr. Pitt's speeches on the Irish union by a member of the honourable society of Lincoln's Inn, (London: Printed Privately, 1799), pp.25–27
- ↑ Hansard Parliamentary Papers, HC Deb, 14 February 1969, vol. 777, cc1725-76
- ↑ Hansard Parliamentary Papers, HC Deb, 18 December 1975, vol. 902, cc1832-52
- ↑ "White Rose or Red". AroundSaddleworth.co.uk. Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2007. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Elsewhere (reprint of original article)". The Guardian. 23 September 2004. Archived from the original on 16 March 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2010. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "About". Yorkshire Ridings Society. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2009. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Hazell, Robert (2000). The State and the Nations: The First Year of Devolution in the United Kingdom. London: Imprint Academic. p. 118. Search this book on
- ↑ "Where there's muck". The Independent. 18 March 1999. p. 3.
- ↑ Campaign for Yorkshire literature, quoted in Robert Hazell, The State and the Nations: The First Year of Devolution in the United Kingdom (London: Imprint Academic, 2000) p.140
- ↑ "New Director for Campaign Group". Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph. 13 October 1999. p. 5.
- ↑ Wainwright, Martin (18 March 1999). "Revolutionary Yorkshiremen edge towards devolution". The Guardian. p. 11.
- ↑ Martin, Andrew (4 August 2000). "Arts: Where There's Muck, There's Art". The Independent. p. 9.
- ↑ Yound, Robin (8 March 2001). "Ee by gum! Yorkshire gets its own degree". The Times. London.
- ↑ Plomin, Joseph (8 March 2001). "Hull launches degree in Yorkshire studies". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
- ↑ Kirby, Dean (26 August 2015). "Campaigners want to ditch George Osborne's Yorkshire devolution plans and create Northern Powerhouse". The Independent. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "What we Want". Yorkshire Devolution Movement. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Woodward, Grant (6 July 2015). "The grass roots party putting Yorkshire first". Yorkshire Post.
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