Show on mapRedcar Working Mens Unionist Club was opened by the Marquess of Zetland on the 11th August 1926. The “KT” indicates he was a member of “The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle”
Also present that day were local MP at the time Sir Park Goff and Mr W. C. Fawcett
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 30 June 1920
NPG x74944
© National Portrait Gallery, London
When was the last time you heard about a Lord opening a Working Men’s Club? Indeed when was the last time you heard about a new Working Men’s Club opening up at all.
Too true! WHY are there so many Unionist clubs in Cleveland? Aren’t they the same as Conservatives?
I don’t know if the following answers your question, you should of course realise that the political map at the beginning of the last century (when many of the clubs you mention were formed) was far different from today:
The following refers to a Unionist Club in London:
“The (Unionist) club was formed shortly after the mass defection of scores of Liberal MPs and Peers over the First Home Rule Bill, to create the new Liberal Unionist party. The new party went into an immediate alliance with the Conservatives, but remained a separate body until 1912. Because of this, many Liberal Unionist politicians found they were not wholly welcome in established Conservative clubs like the Carlton, but were equally shunned in traditionally Liberal clubs like the Reform….”