Category: Chartism

This long essay is an updated chap­ter from my PhD thesis (Univer­sity of New Eng­land, 2000). It examines the rhetoric and symbolism of the radical propaganda mobilised around Char­tist leader Fear­gus O’Con­nor at his trial for seditious libel at York in 1840, his imprisonment at York Castle and the extensive celebrations that followed his release (dressed in a fustian suit) in 1841. I argue that a coherent quest narrative is identifiable in the mediation of O’Connor’s travails and this was an important (and to date unrecognised) element of Char­tism’s first renewal in 1841–42. [About 12,400 words, 219 foot­notes, 11 images, three maps and one chart].

Naming children after radical radical political heroes was something of a tradition in England in the nineteenth century. In particular, during the early 1840s thousands of working-class parents named both male and female children after imprisoned Char­tist leaders such as Fear­gus O’Con­nor or transported counterparts such as John Frost (a convicted traitor). This paper examines the phenomenon at the national and local levels and features an interactive heatmap of identifiably ‘Char­tist’ names drawn from state registration records from 1840 to 1842. [About 4,100 words, 43 footnotes, six images, two maps and two charts].

Remarkably, a pioneering photographic record survives of the culmination of one of the most significant days in English nineteenth-century political history—William Kil­burn’s fascinating Daguerreo­types of the Char­tist mass meeting held at Kenning­ton Common (now Kenning­ton Park), Lon­don on 10 April 1848. In this article I look at the two extant images in some detail as close study reveals interesting new evidence relating to historiographical debate upon the supposed insurrectionary intent of the Char­tists. I also look at Kil­burn, his relationship with the Royal family and some of the potential reasons why he captured these very early images of mass political action. The paper concludes with a short discussion of whether the Char­tist photographs were the first of a crowd. [About 4,400 words, 74 footnotes, nine images and one map].