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Southern Chartism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Roger Wells
Roger Wells
Affiliation:
Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities, Brighton Polytechnic, Brighton, UK.
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Extract

Chartism, the first genuinely working-class mass political movement, has attracted numerous general, regional, and local histories. The overwhelming proportion of these works concentrate on Chartism's strongholds in London, provincial urban centres, and the theatres of industrialism — including those in Scotland and Wales. Yet despite these regional characteristics, the common assumption is that Chartism was a national movement. This assumption is implicit in works including J.T. Ward's Chartism, while Dorothy Thompson, the author of the most recent notionally national overview, suggests that countryside Chartism has been underestimated.

Type
Research Article
Information
Rural History , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , April 1991 , pp. 37 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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References

Notes

1 Ward, J.T., Chartism, (1973)Google Scholar; Thompson, D., The Chartists, (1984), esp. pp. 173–9.Google Scholar

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10 In the event his attendance was ‘utterly impossible’, owing to his inability to pay somebody to work on the Essex smallholding, provided by trade unionist campaigners for the Martyrs on their return. Loveless, to Lovett, , 13 04 1838Google Scholar, B[ritish] L[ibrary] Add.Mss. 34245A, f.240.

11 A'Court to the PLC, 9 and 22 Nov. 1838, PRO. MH. 32/4. Dorset County Chronicle, 15 Nov. 1838; Sherborne Journal, 22 11 1838Google Scholar; The Operative, 25 11 1838Google Scholar; Reports, and Vincent to Lovett, B[irmingham] R[eference] L[ibrary], L[ovett] C[ollection], vol. II, ff. 281, 285, 291; Bawm, K.D., ‘Social Protest, Popular Disturbance and Public Order in Dorset, 1790–1838’, (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Reading, 1984), pp. 217–8.Google Scholar

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14 BRL. LC. vol. II, ff. 241, 250Google Scholar; Brighton Patriot, 6 and 27 06, 7 08, 25 09, 29 10, 6, 20 and 27 11 1838Google Scholar; Anotated notice of election; Harris, J., Brighton, , to Lovett, , 14 04 1839Google Scholar, BL. Add.Mss. 34245A, ff. 13–4, 244–5; Kenmitz, , ‘Chartism’, pp. 121–39, 376.Google Scholar

15 Brighton Patriot, 26 11 1838Google Scholar; The Operative, 30 12 1838, 3, 10 and 24 02 1839Google Scholar; Letters to Lovett from Claris, n.d., R. Hawes, Canterbury, and L. Snelling, Tonbridge, 21 and 28 Feb., and Stallwood, E., Croydon, , 15 04 1839, BL. Add.Mss. 34245A, ff. 12, 55–6, 78, 248Google Scholar; Maidstone Gazette, 22 01 1839Google Scholar; Kent Herald, 7 and 14 02 1839. BRL. LC. vol. II, f. 301.Google Scholar

16 Brighton Patriot, 4, 11, 18 and 25 12 1838, 8 01 and 5 02 1839Google Scholar; The Operative, 2 and 16 12 1838, and 6 01 1839Google Scholar; Sussex Agricultural Express, 12 01 1839Google Scholar; SirBurrell, C.M. to the Duke of Richmond, 21 12 1838Google Scholar, W[est][ S[ussex] C[ounty] RO, G[oodwood] Mss. 1584. BRL. LC. vol II, f. 282Google Scholar; Sherborne Journal, 20 12 1838.Google Scholar

17 Letter from Cirencester, Gloucestershire, cited Godfrey, C., Chartist Lives. The Anatomy of a Working-Class Movement, (1987), p. 196Google Scholar; The Operative, 27 01, 3 and 24 03 1839Google Scholar, Brighton Patriot, 26 02 1839Google Scholar. Convention sub-committee minute, 23 Feb. 1839, BL. Add.Mss. 34245A, ff. 61–2.

18 Brighton Patriot, 2, 9, 16 and 30 04 1839Google Scholar; The Operative, 7 and 14 04 1839Google Scholar; Freeland, J.B., Richmond's agent, Chichester, to the Duke, 29 03 1839Google Scholar, WSCRO. G.Mss. 1602; Linden, A.J., Gosport, , to O'Brien, , 30 04 1839Google Scholar, BL. Add.Mss. 34245A, ff. 200, 345–6; BRL. LC. vol. II, f. 354.Google Scholar

19 Harris, to Lovett, , 14 04 1839, BL. Add.Mss. 34245A, ff. 244–5Google Scholar; Blackman to Richmond, 25, 26, 29 and 30 Apr; Richmond, to Russell, , with enclosures, 1 05 1839Google Scholar, WSCRO. G.Mss. 1601; PRO. HO. 40/24 (2), ff. 178–81, 186–93; Brighton Patriot, 30 04 1839.Google Scholar

20 Brighton Patriot, 14 05 1839Google Scholar; Blackman, to Richmond, 30 04 1839, PRO. HO. 40/24 (2), ff. 186–9Google Scholar; Sussex Agricultural Express, 27 04, 4 and 11 05 1839Google Scholar; Sussex Advertiser, 29 04 and 29 07 1839.Google Scholar

21 Brighton Patriot, 21 05 1839Google Scholar; Anon., Tunbridge Wells, to Lovett, , 28 04 1839, BL. Add.Mss. 34245A, f. 325Google Scholar; Kent Herald, 7 and 14 03, 4 and 11 04, 30 05 and 27 06 1839Google Scholar; Kent's experience is among those confirming Gammage, Chartism's first historian's stricture, that ‘Nearly all’ the Convention's missions eschewed the ‘more unenlightened parts’ in favour of fairly firmly established centres. Gammage, R.C., History of the Chartist Movement, (1894 edition), p. 107.Google Scholar

22 Sussex Agricultural Express, 4 05 1839Google Scholar; Sussex Advertiser, 6 05 1839Google Scholar; Brighton Patriot, 7 05 1839.Google Scholar

23 Brighton Patriot, 28 05 1839Google Scholar; Hampshire Telegraph, 27 05 1839Google Scholar; Brighton Guardian, 29 05 1839Google Scholar; Freeland, to Richmond, , 10 07, 10, 13 and 14 08 1839Google Scholar, WSCRO. G.Mss. 1607; Gray, to Collins, and Hartwell, , 2 05 1839, BL. Add.Mss. 34245A, ff. 373–5Google Scholar; Wells, , ‘Social protest’, p. 183.Google Scholar

24 The record which is almost certainly defective, reveals minor food rioting, wage and poor relief protests during the wartime famines, and a more full-blooded, if ephemeral, mobilisation of the entire district during the Swing rising; Mrs D'Arblay, diary entries, 3 and 22 Mar. 1800, Hemlow, J. et al. (eds.), The Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney (Madame D'Arblay), 4 vols, (Oxford, 1973), IV, pp. 401, 407Google Scholar; Wells, R., Wretched Faces; Famine in Wartime England, 1793–1801, (Gloucester, 1988), p. 426Google Scholar. Crawford, , Dorking, , to Peel, , 19 11 1830, PRO. HO. 52/10, ff. 204–5.Google Scholar

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26 A line of argument particularly attractive to the many Brightonians who were migrants from the Weald, a stronghold of small farmers, but where the equilibrium of many little proprietors was currently threatened: Reed, M., ‘The peasantry of nineteenth-century England: a neglected class?’, History Workshop Journal, 18, (1984)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; ‘“Gnawing It Out” a new look at economic relations in nineteenth-century rural England’, Rural History, 1, 1, (1990).Google Scholar

27 Brighton Patriot, 4 06 and 23 07 1839Google Scholar; The Champion, 14 07 1839Google Scholar; Justice Seymour, Brighton, , to Russell, , 25 07 1839, PRO. HO. 40/24 (2), ff. 204–5Google Scholar; Parsinnen, T., ‘Association, convention and anti-parliament in British radical politics 1771–1848’, English Historical Review, 88, (1973)Google Scholar; Sussex Advertiser, 29 07 and 19 08 1839Google Scholar; Brighton Guardian, 25 08 1839Google Scholar; The Champion, 25 08 1839.Google Scholar

28 Melbourne, to Russell, , 1 12 1838Google Scholar, Saunders, L.C. (ed.), Lord Melbourne's Papers, (1889), p. 386Google Scholar; Mayor of Southampton to Wellington, and reply, 18 and 20 Dec: Wellington, to Normanby, , 24 12 1839Google Scholar, Southampton University Library, Wellington Papers, 4/1/10/57, 63, 66.

29 Blackman, to Richmond, , 26 and 29 04 1839Google Scholar, WSCRO. G.Mss. 1599; for Blackman's skilfull demolition of the resourceful Barcombe gang shortly afterwards, see Wells, R., ‘Popular protest and social crime; the evidence of criminal gangs in southern England 1790–1860Google Scholar, in Stapleton, B. (ed.), Conflict and Community in Southern England, (forthcoming).Google Scholar

30 Letters to Richmond from, Earl of Chichester, 5 Apr., F.F. Hastings, Shoreham, 28 May, Rusbridger, 9 and 17 Aug., and Freeland, 10 Aug: Home Office to Hastings, 11 Jan, and to ?, May 1839, WSCRO. G.Mss. 1600–2, 1863.

31 Seymour to the Home Office, 13 Mar: Letters to Richmond from Seymour, 7 June, 18 July and 2 Aug., and Chichester, 1 and 14 Aug. 1839, WSCRO. G.Mss. 1600, 1606; Sussex Advertiser, 29 07 1839Google Scholar; Richmond, to Russell, , 14 10 1839, PRO. HO. 40/24 (2), ff. 210–3.Google Scholar

32 Northern Star, 7 08, 4 09 and 4 12 1841, and 3 09 1842Google Scholar; cf. The Operative, 23 12 1838Google Scholar, ‘We do not want speeches’.

33 Sussex Advertiser, 16 02 1840Google Scholar; Southern Star, 16 02 and 8 03 1840Google Scholar; Northern Star, 16 02 1842Google Scholar; Brighton Gazette, 7 01 1841Google Scholar; Harris, to Lovett, , 14 04 1839, BL. Add.Mss. 34245A, ff. 244–5.Google Scholar

34 For further information on Brooker, see Wells, , ‘Southern resistance’.Google Scholar

35 Southern Star, 2 and 23 02 1840.Google Scholar

36 Brighton Gazette, 10, 17 and 24 06, 1 and 8 07 1841Google Scholar; Northern Star, 10 and 17 07, and 7 08 1841, and 23 04 1842.Google Scholar

37 Brighton Gazette, 17 and 31 03, 14 04, 5, 12 and 19 05 1842Google Scholar; Northern Star, 26 03 and 9 04 1842Google Scholar; English Chartist Circular, 2, 59.Google Scholar

38 Epstein, J., The Lion of Freedom. Feargus O'Connor and the Chartist Movement 1832–1842, (1982), pp. 230–3.Google Scholar

39 Plummer, A., Bronterre. A Political Biography of Bronterre O'Brien 1804–1864, (1971), pp. 156–7Google Scholar; Northern Star, 23 04 1842.Google Scholar

40 Northern Star, 24 04 and 1 05 1841, 23 and 30 04, 25 06, 2 and 16 07, 27 08, 22 and 29 10, 5 and 19 11 24 and 31 12 1842Google Scholar, and 28 Jan. 1843; British Statesman, 23 07, 6 08, 17 09 and 8 10 1842Google Scholar. Brighton Gazette, 8 12 1842.Google Scholar

41 Southern Star, 19 and 26 01, 2, 9 and 23 02, and 1 03 1840. BRL. LC. vol. IV, f. 174.Google Scholar

42 Northern Star, 19 09 1840.Google Scholar

43 Northern Star, 28 11 1840, 3 11, 12 and 19 06, 28 08, 9 10, 20 and 27 11, and 18 12 1841Google Scholar, 1, 8 and 29 Jan., 12 Mar., 23 Apr., 25 June, 9 July, 12 and 26 Nov., and 18 Dec. 1842; Southern Star, 21 06 1840.Google Scholar

44 Kent Herald, 20 01, 28 04 and 12 05 1842.Google Scholar

45 Northern Star, 21 12 1841Google Scholar, 1 and 29 Jan., 5 Feb., 11 Mar., 2 and 23 Apr., 21 May and 25 June 1842.

46 Northern Star, 5 and 19 02 and 23 04 1842.Google Scholar

47 Northern Star, 12 and 19 11, 1842Google Scholar; Hampshire Independent, 4, 11 and 18 03 1843.Google Scholar

48 Northern Star, 1844–1847Google Scholar, passim., but esp. 29 June 1844 and 11 Jan. 1845.

49 Northern Star, 7 09 1844, 1 03, 26 04 and 1 11 1845Google Scholar, 3 and 31 Jan., 25 Apr. and 17 Nov. 1846, and 12 Feb. 1848.

50 Brighton Gazette, 21 01 and 22 07 1847Google Scholar; Northern Star, 23 01, 6 and 13 02 1847.Google Scholar

51 Brighton Gazette, 16 03, 6 and 20 04, and 25 06 1848Google Scholar; Maidstone Gazette, 11 and 18 04, 2, 23 and 30 05 1848, and 2 01 1849Google Scholar; Northern Star, 1848Google Scholar, passim, esp. 1 and 22 Apr. and 17 June; letters to the Home Office from Mayor of Hastings, 9 Apr., and Justices' Clerk, Worthing, 19 July 1848, PRO. HO. 45/2410B.

52 Brighton Gazette, 3 05 1849, 11 07 1850, 27 03, 3 04 and 31 07 1851, 26 02 1852, and 19 03 1857.Google Scholar

53 PRO. Board of Trade 41/474–6. For a discussion of localised support from this source see Chase, M., ‘The Chartist Land Plan and the local historian’, The Local Historian, 18, 2, (1988)Google Scholar. My thanks are owing to Dr. Chase for discussing many aspects of the topic with me.

54 Northern Star,7 08 and 4 09 1847.Google Scholar

55 British Parliamentary Papers, ‘Second report of the select committee of the House of Commons on the National Land Company’, (1847–8), vol. xiii, Questions 1799–1802; Maidstone Gazette, 23 05 1848.Google Scholar

56 J. Moore, Secretary, Gosport WMA, to the Convention, n. d. (May 1839), BL. Add.Mss. 34245B, ff. 21–2; Northern Star, 11 12 1847.Google Scholar

57 Northern Star, 25 01, 1 02, 4 05, 2 06, 7 07 and esp. 6 12 1845Google Scholar, 24 and 31 Oct. 1846, 6 and 13 Feb., and 31 July 1847.

58 Northern Star, 31 07, 14 and 21 08, 4 09 6 11 and 11 12 1847.Google Scholar

59 The Operative, 14 04 1839Google Scholar; Brighton Gazette, 29 05 1839Google Scholar. J. Beaumont and three others, Croydon, and C. Cox, Southampton, to the Convention, 8 and 30 May; Gray, J., Chichester, , to Collins, and Hartwell, , 2 05 1839, BL. Add.Mss. 34245A, ff. 74–5, 419Google Scholar; 34245B, f. 27.

60 Jones, David, Chartism and the Chartists, (1975), p. 25Google Scholar; Thompson, , ChartistsGoogle Scholar; Brown, , Chartism, pp. 50–6Google Scholar; Fearn, , ‘Chartism’, pp. 161–2, and esp. p. 172Google Scholar; Pugh, , ‘Chartism’, p. 216.Google Scholar

61 Maidstone Gazette, 23 05 1848.Google Scholar

62 Report of Proceedings, (1842), BRL. LC. vol. IV, f. 247.Google Scholar

63 Wells, , ‘Social protest’, esp. pp. 168–73, 200–1.Google Scholar

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65 Northern Star, 25 01 1845Google Scholar; English Chartist Circular, 2, 73.Google Scholar

66 D. Compigné, Hants and Dorset Fire Office, to Normanby, 4 May 1840. cf. Chairman Penrith Petty Sessions to Russell, 24 Dec. 1839, who asserted that three fires resulted ‘from the exhortations to violence constantly held out by travelling leaders of the Chartists’. PRO. HO. 64/9, ff. 125–6; 64/10, f. 142.

67 Sussex Agricultural Express, 25 05 1839Google Scholar; cf. Sherborne Journal, 29 11 1838.Google Scholar