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The Great Britain Guide

Museums · North West England

People's History Museum

Manchester's national museum of democracy — political banners, suffragette and Chartist heritage.

Giant iPhone X advert, Quay Street, Manchester - geograph.org.uk - 5621968

Matt Harrop — CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit
1.5 h–3 h
Best time of year
Year-round

About

The People's History Museum in Manchester is the national museum of democracy in Britain — the story of trade unions, suffrage, the Chartists, the Co-operative movement and the Labour Party. Holds the world's largest collection of historic British political and trade-union banners. Free entry.

Photo gallery

From the Wikipedia article

The People's History Museum (the National Museum of Labour History until 2001) in Manchester, England, is the United Kingdom's national centre for the collection, conservation, interpretation and study of material relating to the history of working people in the UK. It is located in a Grade II listed, former hydraulic pumping station on the corner of Bridge Street and Water Street designed by Manchester Corporation city architect, Henry Price. The museum tells the history of workers' rights and democracy in Great Britain and about people's lives at home, work and leisure over the last 200 years. The collection contains printed material, physical objects and photographs of people at work, rest and play. Some of the topics covered include popular radicalism, the Peterloo Massacre, 19th century trade unionism, the women's suffrage movement, dockers, the cooperative movement, the 1945 general election, and football. It also includes material relating to friendly societies, the welfare movement and advances in the lives of working people.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

in Salford]] The Trade Union, Labour and Co-operative History Society operated a collection at Limehouse Town Hall between 1975 and 1986. The museum moved to Manchester and re-opened in 1990 at the Grade II* listed former Mechanics' Institute at 103 Princess Street. In 1994, the museum opened the Pump House People's History Museum containing a public gallery at the present site on Bridge Street. The two sites were renamed the People's History Museum (PHM) in 2001. The redevelopment included the refurbishment of the existing Pump House and the construction of a four-storey extension alongside it. A glass walkway was constructed to link the two buildings. The museum reopened on 13 February…

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
53.4789, -2.2547
Address
Left Bank, Manchester, M3 3ER, United Kingdom
Official site
phm.org.uk

Sources

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Frequently asked questions

Where is People's History Museum?
People's History Museum is in North West England, in the United Kingdom — coordinates 53.4789°, -2.2547°.
When was People's History Museum built?
People's History Museum dates to the Modern era. The exact year of origin is not recorded in our open-data sources.