A day out in Derby at the 2026 Silk Mill March and Festival

A gathering to celebrate the anniversary of the 1833-1834 lockout celebrating Derby’s, proud and historical Industrial and trade union history

The head of the Derby Silk Mill Turn out march with Marios Doucas, Stuart Richards (Regional Secretary of the Midlands TUC), and Derby Councillor Cecille Wright.

Derby’s Silk Mill Festival held every year commemorates the first organised strike by Britains Industrial workers.  I was commissioned to document the day so this is the story in pictures of the 2026 Silk Mill Festival.

1833-1834 was a year of turmoil for Britains workers. This was the time of the Tolpuddle Martyrs – six agricultural workers from the Dorset village of Tolpuddle James Brine, James Hammett, George Loveless, George’s brother James Loveless, George’s brother in-law Thomas Standfield, and Thomas’s son John Standfield formed a Friendly society to protest at low agricultural wages, being reduced from 7 shillings a week to six who were arrested and tried for swearing a secret oath and sentenced to penal transportation to Australia.

The Derby Silk Mill lockout was one of the first industrial actions. What started as the sacking of one worker became an employee strike from 1833 into 1834 – and soon became known as the Silk Trades’ Lock-out. Many consider this event, which inspired the mural on the wall of the nearby Silk Mill Public House, as one that can be seen as clearly shows the rise of class consciousness in Britain. Perhaps the clear example of working-class identity, as Derby workers attempted to use their labour – or the withholding of it gain some leverage over their employers.

Before the march begins there are speeches from local trade unionists and others ( speaking here is Geoffrey Marshall (Welsh Anglican Priest and Canon Missioner at Derby Cathedral)

Every year, Derby, with support from the Midlands TUC, celebrates this event with a march from Derby Market Place to Cathedral Green, and a chaplet laying at the Silk Mill memorial and a festival on the green.

Speakers at the Market Square

Waiting for the March to start

The march passes through Derby’s town centre and heads towards cathedral Green

The Old Silk Mill Pub in Derby – next to the Cathedral Green

The mural on the side of the Old Silk Mill Pub (on the corner of Full Street and Sowter Road facing Cathedral Green) was painted in 1986, by a (at the moment) unknown artist commemorating the 1833-34 lock out and strike

As the hundreds of marchers arrived at Cathedral Green, the stage had already been erected and there were many stalls hosted by a number of unions and other organisations as well as food and drink.

The speakers at Cathedral Green

After the speeches a chaplet was laid to commemorate the Workers sacrifice at the Plaque on the side of the Museum of Making

After the laying of the chaplet the festival began proper with ‘Mr C’ (formerly of the Shamen with a loud and lively set.

Mr ‘C’ Formerly frontman of the band the Shamen

Second act was Romy Rosong a local singer songwriter from the Derby area

Romy Rosong singer-songwriter

The third and final set was from Dan Ottewell another young and upcoming local to Derby talent who has already performed at Glastonbury and supported bands such as Terrorvision and Ferocious Dog.

Dan Ottewell

The weather was hot, hot, hot the music was good and there was plenty to see and hear over the afternoon.  There were food stands on the Cathedral Green and also in the Museum of Making, built of the site of the former John Lombe’s mill, involved in that historic lockout

The story of the 1834 Derby Silk Mill Lockout 

What started as the sacking of one worker turned into an employee strike stretching from 1833 into 1834 – which became known as the Silk Trades’ Lock-out.

The mill itself was built by John Lombe, a gentleman who is supposed to have travelled in Italy during 1716 and ‘acquired’ the plans of Italian silk weaving machinery from The North West Italian town of Piedmont.

When the Lombe’s Derby mill was built, it is believed to have been two main buildings, one a water-powered mill, and the other was an unpowered doubling shop where the silk was twisted and ‘doubled’, to prepare it for weaving. The Mill, then known as Lombe’s Mill, employed around 300 people at its peak.

After Lombe died suddenly aged 29, the mill passed through many hands until it became know as Taylor’s mill in the 1830s employing (along with other nearby mills) over 2000 workers. During the early 1800s there was a large amount of political unrest for workers working in urban mills and factories.  The first unions began to be formed.

In November 1833, a local silk manufacturer and mill owner named Frost discharged (sacked) a worker for refusing a fine.  Fines were a common way of disciplining workers, and this was ostensibly for producing substandard work. The worker and his colleagues disagreed and when he was dismissed his fellow workers walked out in support.

The strike spread to other mills and soon 800 workers (in a town of 24,00 people) were affected.  The mill owners then stated that they would not employ union members and the strike escalated until by February 1834 some, 2,000+ workers were locked out, (the total number is difficult to verify, and numbers between 80-0 and 2,400 have been suggested. The workers, supported by the Grand National Consolidated Trade Union, demanded fair pay and rights and soon all of Derby’s mills were involved.

The lockout did receive national coverage in the UK press and donations were received from trade union branches all over the country. This enabled the strike to continue for many months. The factories started to employ non-unionised labour to continue at least some of their production.

The strike started to lose cohesion by March 1834, and union members one by one started to return to work. By April 21^st the last of the strikers asked to be re-instated.

Despite the disappointing conclusion the strike has since been regarded as a major milestone in trade union history. Although the ‘Silk Mill’ itself was not the focus for the initial strike action it is seen as a symbol due to its significance in silk manufacture, and is one of those factories that pioneered modern industry in the UK

More photographs from the day:

Stuart Richards Midlands TUC Secretary talks from the main stage

North Staffordshire Trades Union Council banner

Migrants make our NHS

The march on its way through Derby

Listening to the music

More music fans

The Museum of Making (built on the site of the Old Silk Mill)

Giant Peregrine Falcons. Urban artist Sarah Yates created the work on the outside wall of Derby’s Museum of Making , in celebration of the birds, which have made their home nearby