Tireless Work ………………………….. Everyone who knew Harry tells a story of The Guv\u2019nor\u2019s tireless work in the neighbourhood. They remember Harry organizing outings for the poor kids of Southover St., finding furniture for old people moved in a slum clearance, or standing up to the Board of Guardians to get more money for an out-of-luck family.<\/p>\n
Mrs Williams was a neighbour of the Cowleys: \u201cAnything you wanted, go to Mr Cowley, he\u2019d help you, if you was in trouble, no matter what trouble. Probably hadn\u2019t got the money himself, but he\u2019d find something to help them with. He used to have big concerts and do all this, that and the other so little kiddies could have a good Christmas. He\u2019d give the old people 10s notes, pound notes; what he thought they most needed. And then, when the children was in want of any boots or shoes, if the authorities wouldn\u2019t give it to them, Harry Cowley got round. I remember my dad when he had nothing, he come to us and give us all shoes, and there was eight of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
These bread-and-butter needs were the core of Harry Cowley\u2019s politics. His organized campaigns for the unemployed and for better housing were simply an extension of this determination to improve the lives of his working-class neighbours. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WHO WAS HARRY COWLEY?<\/p>\n
He addressed the unemployed men with fierce determination: \u201cWell now boys, it\u2019s no good of us messing about with the Labour Exchange. Let\u2019s go where we can get a job. There\u2019s only one place we can go in this town and that\u2019s down the Town Hall. I\u2019ll go down and I want you to come with me.\u201d Confronted by the police for disturbing the peace, Harry cheekily replied, \u201cThey\u2019re nothing to do with me. They\u2019re following me about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harry won this first battle with the authorities. He secured work for 600 men on the widening of Ditchling Road. But he was not happy when he discovered that \u2018his boys\u2019 were receiving below the union rate: \u201cI said, \u2018Well down tools boys, and straight down to the Town Hall.\u2019 I went before the Council and put the case and got the trade union rate.\u201d<\/p>\n
A men\u2019s unemployed centre in Tichborne Street was one successful result of these protests. The club gave unemployed men a respectability that they were fast losing as the vacant days crept by. They organized lively campaigning marches, where banners were waved and bugles blown.<\/p>\n
Despite the high unemployment rate, these men were accused of being unskilled and lazy. When a Brighton councillor announced, \u201cHarry Cowley is the leader of a bunch of unemployables,\u201d Harry and \u2018his boys\u2019 set out to prove him wrong by marching along the Sussex coast looking for work. Day after day the column of unemployed tramped from one Sussex town to the next. By day they badgered employers, at night they slept in barns and sheds.<\/p>\n
After a couple of weeks they were back in Brighton….\u201cNow,\u201d said Harry, \u201cyou dare call us unemployables again.\u201d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WHO WAS HARRY COWLEY?<\/p>\n