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The Chartist Crisis in Birmingham

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

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On the spectrum of Victorian politics Birmingham stands at one extreme – the exemplar of class harmony and co-operation. Where other towns were torn by strife and discord, here the forces of cohesion and stability were triumphant. An alliance between the middle and working classes remained the cardinal fact of political life from Thomas Attwood's Political Union to Joseph Chamberlain's caucus. Political tranquillity reflected the deeper harmony of a well integrated culture, in which the masters and artisans of a small workshop economy shared a commitment to the social and moral values of the community.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1958

References

page 461 note 1 For the social and economic basis of Birmingham politics see Briggs, Asa, Thomas Attwood and the Economic Background of the Birmingham Political Union, in: Cambridge Historical Journal, IX, No. 2, (1948)Google Scholar, and The Background of the Parliamentary Reform Movement in Three English Cities, ibid., X, No. 3, (1952). See also my article, The Artisan and the Culture of Early Victorian Birmingham, in: University of Birmingham Historical Journal, IV, No. 2, (1954).

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page 463 note 2 Hovell, Mark, The Chartist Movement (Manchester, 1918), p. 107.Google Scholar

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page 464 note 1 Ibid., 3 November, 10 November 1838.

page 464 note 2 Ibid., 17 November 1838.

page 464 note 3 Ibid., 24 November 1838.

page 464 note 4 Ibid., 1 December 1838.

page 465 note 1 Ibid., 17 November 1838.

page 465 note 2 Ibid., 15 December 1838.

page 465 note 3 Ibid., 22 December 1838; British Museum, Add. MSS 27,820 (Francis Place Collection), p. 352.

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page 466 note 3 Ibid., 2 February 1839.

page 466 note 4 Ibid., 23 February 1839.

page 466 note 5 Ibid., 9 March 1839.

page 467 note 1 Ibid., 16 March 1839.

page 467 note 2 Ibid, 23 March 1839.

page 467 note 3 Ibid., 30 March 1839.

page 467 note 4 Ibid., 13 April 1839.

page 467 note 5 Ibid., 30 March, 6 April 1839.

page 468 note 1 Ibid., 6 April 1839.

page 468 note 2 Ibid., 27 April 1839.

page 468 note 3 Borough of Birmingham, Report of the Committee Appointed by the TownCouncil … to Investigate the Causes of the Late Riots (Birmingham, 1840), p. 4. Cited hereafter as Report on Riots.

page 469 note 1 B.J.,11 05 1839.Google Scholar

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page 475 note 1 Ibid., 11 January, 18 January 1840.

page 475 note 2 Ibid., 4 April 1840.

page 475 note 3 Ibid., 31 July 1841.

page 476 note 1 Ibid., 1 August 1840, 2 January 1841; Birmingham Mail, 9 December 1890.

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page 477 note 4 Ibid.

page 477 note 5 Ibid., 13 March 1841.

page 478 note 1 Ibid., 3 April 1841.

page 478 note 2 Ibid.

page 478 note 3 Ibid., 29 May 1841.

page 478 note 4 Ibid., 17 July 1841.

page 478 note 5 Ibid., 14 August 1841,16 March 1842.

page 479 note 1 Ibid., 18 September 1841.

page 479 note 2 Ibid., 31 July 1841.

page 479 note 3 Ibid., 2 October 1841.

page 479 note 4 Ibid., 1 January 1842.

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