{{short description|Brighton-based working class activist}} {{Infobox person | name = Harry Cowley | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth year|1890}} | birth_place = Brighton, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | death_date = {{Death year and age|1971|1890}} | death_place = United Kingdom | resting_place = Woodvale Cemetery | occupation = Chimney sweep | organization = | known_for = | movement = Anti-fascism | spouse = Harriet | children = 3 }}
'''Harry Cowley''' (1890–1971) was a working class organizer, social activist and anti-fascist in Brighton, England.
==Biography== Born in 1890 in Brighton, and working as a chimney sweep, he became involved in grass-roots social activism from the 1920s until his death in the 1970s.<ref name=argus>{{cite news |url=http://archive.theargus.co.uk/2003/1/7/143173.html |work=The Argus |title=The Guv'nor's spirit lives on |date=January 7, 2003 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929105722/http://archive.theargus.co.uk/2003/1/7/143173.html |archivedate=September 29, 2007 }}</ref>
Cowley was a key figure in confronting fascism in 1930s Brighton. He was put in hospital for eight months when he was alone and ran into a group of fascists on Middle Street, who broke his leg. He took his revenge by organising an attack on a meeting of the Fascist League on The Level, a park in Brighton.<ref name="WW2">{{cite web |title=WW2 People's War |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/17/a4212217.shtml |website=BBC |publisher=BBC Southern Counties Radio |accessdate=15 May 2019}}</ref>
Cowley became leader of the 'Barrow Boys' in the 1920s. They sold cheap fruit and vegetables out of wheelbarrows on Oxford Street. When the Council attempted to clear the barrows in response to the complaints of local shops, Cowley made a fiery speech to a crowd and when the police attempted to clear it, the protest became known as 'The Battle of Oxford Street.'<ref name="Old Police Cells Museum">{{cite web |url=http://www.oldpolicecellsmuseum.org.uk/content/history/local-historians-history/david-rowland/our-patch/the_open_market |work=David Rowland |title=Our Patch 7 |date=August 9, 2016 |access-date=2019-05-15 |archive-date=2018-06-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618230318/http://www.oldpolicecellsmuseum.org.uk/content/history/local-historians-history/david-rowland/our-patch/the_open_market |url-status=dead }}</ref> The barrow boys were subsequently allowed to sell fruit and vegetables on The Level and then, in 1926, the Open Market was built.<ref name="OM">{{cite web |title=The Open Market |url=http://www.brightonopenmarket.co.uk/history-of-brighton-open-market/ |website=OM |accessdate=14 May 2019}}</ref>
==Legacy== The Cowley Club in Brighton was named after him as a sign of its aim of furthering this tradition of grass-roots organising and class solidarity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who was Harry Cowley? |url=https://cowley.club/about/harry-cowley |access-date=2025-04-03 |website=cowley.club |language=en}}</ref> Bus operator Brighton & Hove has named a bus after Cowley.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.buses.co.uk/history/fleethist/826hc.htm |title=Names on the buses: 826 Harry Cowley |accessdate= 18 November 2008 |work=Buses.co.uk |publisher=Brighton & Hove |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927225410/http://www.buses.co.uk/history/fleethist/826hc.htm |archivedate=September 27, 2007 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.cowleyclub.org.uk/ Cowley Club website] * [http://www.queensparkbooks.org.uk/books/catalogue_book.html?id=17&p=2 Queens Park Books: Who was Harry Cowley?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928122014/http://www.queensparkbooks.org.uk/books/catalogue_book.html?id=17&p=2 |date=2007-09-28 }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowley, Harry}} Category:1890 births Category:1971 deaths Category:British anti-poverty advocates Category:20th-century squatters Category:Activists from Brighton