In the early days , South Shields was traditionally a working class town apart from the middle class area of Westoe Village. Being at the mouth of the River Tyne , the majority of the trades were related to shipbuilding, engineering and of couirse mining. Many of the workers were from the collieries of St Hilda, Harton and Marsden. In 1872 a trades council was formed which largely determined the direction of labour politics in the last century.

By 1892 , there were several working men sitting on the Borough Council. The Liberals, who were a powerful force in the early days absorbed Labour representatives into there ranks without conceding any real power. Many of the commitee men of the Harton Lodge were, at one time, Liberals.

The Harton Coal Company was, at the onset, an amalgamation of St Hilda, Harton, Marsden ( sometimes known as Whitburn ) and Boldon Collieries. In 1892 there was pressure locally for an Independent Labour Party ILP in South Shields. On August 7th a meeting was called in the Alhambra Temperance Hall at the Mill Dam which was about the need for the state payment of M.P.s . Two people present at that meeting was Joe Abbott and C H Reynolds who would emerge as pioneers of the South Shields Labour Party.

On 31st August 1892 the South Shields Labour Party would be formally established.

Within the first week the new Party attracted over 4000 people to an open air meeting in the Market Place. By mid September South Shields ILP had almost 100 paid up members and were meeting in the Browns Cocoa Rooms every Friday for several years until they moved into there own Labour Hall in Chapter Row.
Gordon Scott was elected as the first President but stood down after a month to be correspondence secretary making way for Joe Abbott to become secretary and Charles Reynolds being officially designated, organiser. On 7th October 1892 the ILP jointly held and co-sponsored a meeting with the South Shield branch of  the Fabian Society which was addressed by Ramsay MacDonald who would later become the Prime Minister.