‘Freedom
is not a battle you fight for only once and win. It goes on
forever......forever!’ Benny Rothman, Leader of the 1932 Kinder
Trespass.
Without
access, climbing and hill walking cannot take place, and the access we
do enjoy today was hard fought for in a campaign that lasted over a
hundred and fifty years. Much has been written and discussed about
the 1932 Kinder Scout Trespass, and one of my valued possessions,
presented to myself by him, is a copy of its leaders view of the
event published in an expanded A4 paper back format in 1982. I became
friends with its author in the 1980’s who became energised in that
decade, to campaign for continued access to Water Authority land at
the privatisation of those bodies.
Benny
was by that date a genial and persuasive character, barely 5ft tall,
a pocket Hercules, but one can imagine that in 1932 he was a
firebrand, and an investigation into the social conditions then
pertaining among the working class would make any one understand why.
There was mass unemployment, and such as there was often smacked of
exploitation and degradation and the living conditions were mostly
set within poor housing and poverty.
So
much of the British story is one of immigration, and Benny Rothman’s
was a part of that, for his parents were from Romania. Hundreds of
Jews left that country around the turn of the 19th
century, and Manchester is where his father Isaac fetched up, to
become a market trader running hardware stalls at Glossop and Shaw
markets, but residing in the then predominately Jewish district of
Cheetham Hill. A high grade student Benny won a scholarship to
Manchester Central High School, but tragedy struck when his father
died suddenly forcing him to leave at 14 years old to earn a living
to help support his bereaved family.
He
found work as an apprentice in the motor trade at a garage in
Deansgate and one of his older workmates, a Scot Bill Donne invited
him to attend the Sunday economic debates in the Clarion cafe in
Market Street. The Clarion movement originated in Manchester in 1891,
fired up by a radical newspaper, leading on to the forming of cycling
clubs, rambling groups, choirs, handicrafts etc. And it had more to
do with the Trespass movement to win access to ‘mountain, moor,
heath, down and common land’ than has so far been recorded, for a
trespass in 1927 which was held in Derbyshire’s Winnats Pass was
organised by the Sheffield branch of the Clarion Ramblers. Benny
whilst an apprentice studied evening classes at the Manchester YMCA;
but by 1927 he had joined the young Communist League, and a part of
their activities were camping and rambling. Then 16 years old, he
built his own bike from spares, and cycled to North Wales and climbed
Snowdon, and from then on he was a keen outdoorsman, eventually to
become a leader/organiser for the TBWSF.
The
British Worker’s Sports Federation (TBWSF) was set up by the
National Clarion cycling club in 1923, and originally it was closely
aligned with Labour, but over the next years it became disenchanted
with the slow progress in an improvement to access, and so by 1932 it
had become a wing of the Communist Party of Great Britain.
Parliamentary ‘Access to Mountains Bills’ had perennially failed,
in 1884, in 1908 and in 1926, defeated by the landowning lobby, so
one can understand the frustration this must have engendered amongst
the Rambling/Climbing fraternity.
Labour then set up a competing
organisation, for many in the access movement retained their links
with that party, and the Manchester Ramblers Federation, made up of
over a hundred affiliates refused to support a Kinder Trespass, for
it was to be held under the auspices of the TBWSF, made up of a much
younger membership, and less experienced in dealing with the
authorities. To be fair to those that opposed this (Ramblers and
Climbers) in 1929 Ramsay MacDonald had set up a National Parks
enquiry, and the resultant Addison report in 1931 had recommended
setting up a National Parks Authority to select the most appropriate
areas to be so designated; however the Northern Moors were to be
strictly preserved for grouse shooting! The worry of the older
established outdoor organisations about a Kinder Trespass was that it
would set public opinion against open access to the Countryside and
the formation of National Parks. But
the depression and a change of government meant in any case such
initiatives were put on hold.
So
how did the idea of a Kinder Trespass germinate? At Easter 1932 the
TBWSF organised a camp at Rowarth, and from there a party set out to
tramp over Bleaklow, to be met near Yellowslacks by a party of
aggressive gamekeepers who turned the group around and back down from
whence they had started their climb. This rankled, and the
participants in the Bleaklow event, realised if there had been many
more in their party they could by sheer weight of numbers overcome
the keeper’s demands.
Kinder
Scout was selected by the members of the TBWSF for a trespass because
of its history and standing, it was the most forbidden of the Peak
District mountains, a part of the ‘Enclosures’ acts from the 16th
and
19th
century, which had parcelled out public lands to private landowners,
and it had become one of the most exclusive landscapes in Britain,
preserved mainly for grouse shooting. The would be trespassers then
began to publicise their event particularly in the Manchester
newspapers, in the Daily Worker and the cafes and pubs around
Hayfield; mostly the work of Benny and a 17 year old named Jimmie
Miller from Salford, who later morphed into the legendary song writer
Ewan MacColl.
Sunday
24th
April 1932 dawned clear and bright and by mid-day Hayfield was abuzz
with Ramblers, hundreds of whom had turned up to take part in this
act of defiance, The Kinder Trespass. As they were being cosseted by
a heavy Police presence and to get things moving, post a quick
meeting of the TBWSF personnel present, word went around, to start
moving. Out from Hayfield first onto the narrow Kinder Road, leading
via White Brow and Nab Brow passing by the Kinder reservoir into
William Clough and eventually onto the plateau: but on the Kinder
Road was a convenient abandoned Quarry and the march was halted
there, and though originally it had been planned for someone else
from the TBWSF to address the crowd of trespassers that had swelled
to more than 400 participants, the person to do this had put in a no
show, and so Benny, a 20 year old was called upon to speak to this
audience. Standing on a natural rock platform set out from the Quarry
sidings, he began his address with a plea for a peaceful
demonstration, and then went on to outline the history of the access
movement as he then understood it. Finally a system of whistled
signals was agreed, and Benny’s close friend, Woolfie Winnick led
the marchers off again.
One report said that there were about 400 Trespassers, but that was the number
scrambling up William Clough, once on the plateau they met up with
other groups, mainly from Sheffield who had ascended from Edale.
Before this happened as the mass of Ramblers turned right, in William
Clough spreading out widely before gaining the Kinder Plateau they
met up with a line of about 30 keepers armed with sticks. And though
the majority of ascending bodies moved on and gained their objective,
a small group did have a physical confrontation with some of the
keepers. One who lashed out with his stick, picked the wrong guy who
was a well known amateur boxer who gave him a thump on the chin to
make him think again, and a temporary keeper, Edward Beever who had
been threatening was pushed over and sprained an ankle. He was not
badly injured and actually walked back down unaided to Hayfield, but
much was made of this in the subsequent trial. In passing it is
surprising who actually took part in the 1932 Kinder Trespass, the
subsequently to be famous historian A J P Taylor was there as was the
composer Michael Tippett, and I have already noted the participation
of Ewan MacColl. Who penned the outstanding ‘The Manchester
Rambler’ song to put recall of the Trespass forever into the back
story of the fight for, The Right to Roam!
Returning
the way they had ascended Benny and his group found the Police
waiting in numbers across the Kinder Road, and five of them were
arrested. A sixth John Anderson aged 21 had already been taken into
custody and he faced the most serious charge, one of grievous bodily
harm for allegedly attacking the injured keeper, this was eventually
changed to assault, whilst Jud Clyne 23, Harry Mendel 23, David
Nussbaum 19, Tony Gillett 19, and Benny were charged with riotous
assembly.
Their
subsequent trial in July 1932 before a Grand Jury at the Derby
Assizes is I believe the reason why this is such a historic event,
for besides it resulting in major media coverage of the case, it
highlighted an ongoing movement demanding public access to the
Countryside. Everything was legally unbalanced about the trial, which
deserves the appellation of being truly a Kangaroo court. Apart, from
a sprained ankle no harm was done, but with the biased membership of
the jury consisting of two brigadier generals, three colonels, two
majors, three captains and two aldermen even those in the outdoor
world who had opposed the Trespass became critical. And they were to
be even more so when the sentences were handed down, of six months
for John Anderson, four months for Benny, two months each for Tony
Gillett and Jud Clyne, three months for David Nussbaum-one month of
which was extra for selling the Daily Worker! Fortunately Harry
Mendel was discharged due to a lack of sufficient evidence to justify
a conviction. The Manchester Ramblers Federation approached the Home
Secretary, requesting clemency, but became rebuffed by him and in any
case by that date the prisoners were well into their months of
incarceration in Leicester jail.
Whilst
this was happening, on the 26th
June 1932 there was a massive turn out of approximately 10,000 people
at a Winnats Pass demonstration demanding ‘Free Access to
Mountains’, which was addressed by Dr C E M Joad one of the best
known broadcasters and commentators of the period, and in August a
protest rally was held at Jacob’s Ladder on Kinder Scout at which
recently released, Jud Clyne and other trespass supporters spoke out
demanding ‘The Right to Roam’. In September a trespass North West
of Sheffield at Abbey Brook was of a different scale, however in
October 16th
an attempted one at Stanage Edge of Ramblers and Climbers was stopped
incredibly in its tracks by mounted police and foot patrols with
Alsatian dogs. But a flame had been lit, and there was once again a
large turnout in 1933 at a Winnats Pass gathering, addressed by
several leading politicians including Arthur Henderson, and in the
south of England, a thousand strong demonstration demanding access
was held at Leith Hill in Surrey, and later similar rallies took
place in Wales and Scotland.
In
1931 The National Council of Ramblers had been formed, and the 1932
trespass seemed to concentrate their minds. Tom Stephenson a major
figure in that body, who originally was not a supporter of the Kinder
Trespass, admitted that ‘it had been the cockpit of the battle for
The Right to Roam’. Praise indeed, for the journalist Tom Criddle
Stephenson (1893-1987) held a unique position as a leading champion
of walkers’ rights in the Countryside, and like Benny he was from a
working class background, a true non-conformist, a pacifist who had
been imprisoned in the First-World War as a conscientious objector.
He was however a man of vision who would subsequently inspire the
creation of the Pennine Way, and supported the setting up of The
Ramblers’ Association on the 1st
January 1935. A body which now has over 100,000 members throughout
the UK and is today simply called The Ramblers, whose credo is that
rambling in the Countryside is a right, and that it benefits the
whole of British society. When I was at the BMC we often found The
Ramblers were ahead of the game when it came to access and
conservation legalities, and they have always campaigned for full
rights of responsible access to all of this countries open spaces.
Stephenson was a tireless worker for these policies, a lead supporter
of the need for National Parks in order to conserve the most
significant environmental areas of our Country, and as a means to
improve and guarantee access. He became the Secretary of The
Ramblers’ in 1948.
The
demand for the setting up of National Parks was gathering pace
throughout the late 1930’s. In 1936 the first meeting of a body set
up to investigate further the needs for such, ‘The Standing
Committee on National Parks’ held an inaugural gathering, and in
1938 this resulted in a widely circulated and promoted paper by its
secretary John Dower ‘The case for National Parks’ which tipped
the balance in favour of such, and in 1939 an ‘Access to Mountains’
bill was finally passed by parliament, but then the war intervened.
In
1945 the newly elected Labour government, under Prime Minister
Clement Atlee set up a new committee, ‘A National Parks review’
chaired by a big hitter, Sir Arthur Hobhouse; it reported in 1947 and
recommended that 12 National Parks be set up as soon as legally and
financially possible. I had by then started to climb and I can
remember how in such rambling and outdoor groups that one might meet
at Ilkley, there was huge excitement about these proposals. But
Yorkshire being Yorkshire a mass demonstration was organised at the
Cow and Calf demanding that the Yorkshire Dales be one of the first
such Parks to be set up, it was to be 1954 before this happened.
In
1949 post long and difficult negotiations in Parliament, the
‘National Parks and access to the Countryside Act’ was finally
passed into law. Guided there by Lewis Silkin, the Minister for ‘Town
and Country Planning’, he declared that ‘it was the people’s
charter for the open air’. In 1951 the first National Park was set
up in the Peak District. I think this was no accident for invoking
Tom Stephenson’s views of the Kinder Mass Trespass, but expanding
these to cover the whole of the Peak, it had been the cockpit of the
battle for a right of access. There are now 15 National Parks
throughout the UK; The Lake District, Snowdonia and Dartmoor were
also set up in 1951, inviting one to wonder if we will ever
experience again another such reforming government as Atlee’s?
I
believe the 1949 Access bill was the most important in my lifetime,
it did not magically open up all the prime climbing and walking
sites, but it set in motion the belief that access was a right,
generally supported by government on behalf of the whole population.
Slowly the barriers came down, and concentrating on the Peak, in 1955
the first access agreement for Kinder Scout was signed, and in 1962
also a Stanage Edge agreement. The Friends of the Peak District
through a major fund raising effort purchased the Longshaw Estate and
handed it over to the National Trust, and in 1980 the Peak Park
purchased the Roaches estate etc. Maybe I have concentrated this
access history too much on the bodies I know of and have worked with
in the past, but many other individuals and organisations put their
shoulders to the wheel to achieve the position we enjoy today,
including the Open Spaces Society and groups such as SCAM, the
Sheffield campaign for access to moorland, and the Woodcraft folk who
were involved in supporting the Winnats Pass demonstrations. The
Council for the Preservation of Rural England contributed to a
voluntary warden system whenever it was felt needed to buttress
access and many other persons were also involved.
Young Benny Rothman
In
1982 the National Trust acquired Kinder Scout, and Benny Rothman was
recruited as a voluntary advisor on recreational activities, and in
1990 The Rights of Way Act was established by a private members bill.
In 2000 the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (Crow) and in 2003 the
Scottish Land Reform Act, were both intended to improve access for
the general public. Under the Crow act all rights of way, footpaths
and open access in England and Wales must be recorded by 1st
January 2026, and the rights confirmed in the Scottish Act are even
greater than Crow due in part to the work of the late Alan Blackshaw.
The final piece in this complicated process is a Marine and Coastal
Access Act 2009, concerned with access to such as coastal paths,
beaches and sea cliffs.
That
is the story so far, on paper a successful outcome, but noting Benny
Rothman’s advice about how difficult it is to preserve such
freedoms, it is germane to advise those now charged with
preserving/improving such to be ever vigilant on the
climbing/rambling fraternity’s behalf. But what happened to Benny
post the Kinder Trespass? His was a life written large in radical
action, battling against the British Union of Fascists in the 1930’s,
a Trade Unionist, a shop steward for the Amalgamated Engineers Union
working on aircraft production during the war, which was to override
his wish to join up into the services, and later to advise and
participate in many local and national organisations serving the
wider community. In 1991 he presented a programme for Channel 4 about
the history of the power held in the British Landscape, who owned
what and who had access to it, a subject still of great interest as I
write, for in recent news is a finding that despite the attempts
(failed?) to create a more equal society, more than 50% of the land
in this country is held by just 1% of the population. Owning large
tracts of land often leads on to great wealth, and many of the access
agreements we enjoy today have come about by either considerable
payments to landowners for agreeing to these, or by generous tax
benefits.
Mass Trespass: The Story of the rise of the Access Movement from WellRed Films
In
1996 Benny was made a Hon Life Member of The Ramblers, and when he
died in 2002 a blue plaque commemorating his life was placed at his
former home in Timperley. In April 2007 The Ramblers celebrated the
75th
anniversary of the Kinder Trespass and the imprisonment of five of
those who participated; literally many hundreds attended this
gathering, which was televised. Previously on the 50th
Anniversary in April 1982 a commemorative plaque was placed in the
Quarry on the Kinder Road, which has now become a place of pilgrimage
to those who realise the real meaning of the Trespass, which was a
truly significant event in the movement demanding public access to
the Countryside.
Dennis Gray: 2019
