Chartism Newsletter #8 (November 2013)
1 Chartism Day 2014 – keep the date
2 Parliament commemorates Chartism
3 Publications on Chartism, 2012: a further addenda
4 News from Newport
5 News from Crayford
A detail from a stained glass window that commemorates Chartism in the
Houses of Parliament – see item 2 below for more details.
1 Chartism Day 2014: keep the date!
 Friday & Saturday 4th and 5th July 2014
Venue: National University of Ireland, Galway
There will be an evening plenary on Friday night and a full day of papers on
the Saturday. Further details will be circulated in due course.
2 Parliament commemorates Chartism
There have been several developments since 77 MPs signed a House of
Commons’ Early Day Motion laid down in February to mark the 175th
anniversary of the publication of the People’s Charter (see
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/1088). Over the summer a
temporary exhibition devoted to Chartism in the No Lobby of the Commons
was seen by perhaps as many as 250,000 people. (The Chartists would have
appreciated the irony of the location, but it was choice based on the low
light-levels necessary for conservation reasons).
A permanent exhibition, Chartism, 1838-1858, has been now been
established on the Upper Committee Corridor of the House of Commons.
This is a publicly accessible and also summarised in an excellent on-line
version of the exhibition at
http://www.parliament.uk/about/art-in-parliament/news/chartism-18381858/
Chartism is celebrated in one of the four ‘Dearsley Windows’, a strikingly
colourful stained-glass installation in St Stephen’s Hall, a major throughroute in Parliament. The windows, which trace the history of the franchise,
were installed in 2002 using a generous bequest from Mrs Norah Dearsley.
Parliament has now published a leaflet explaining the second window, which
is largely devoted to the Chartist movement. As a result a hitherto littleknown memorial to Chartism should now get the attention it deserves.
Owen Ashton led a seminar on Chartist Archives and Malcolm Chase gave a
lecture, both organised by the All Party Parliamentary Group on History &
Archives in conjunction with the Archives & Records Association. All these
activities have recently been marked in a further Early Day Motion, signed
by 89 MPs from across all parties. The primary sponsor of this EDM is Hywel
Francis, MP for Aberavon. ‘At long last Parliament has recognised its
Chartist history’, Dr Francis writes in this month’s issue of Parliament’s
internal The House Magazine. Most of the credit for this is due to him and
Melanie Unwin, Deputy Curator of the Parliamentary Art Collection. The
text of this new EDM is accessible at
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2013-14/644
3 Further addenda: publications on Chartism, 2012
Andrew Heath ‘“The producers on the one side, and the capitalists on the
other”: Labor Reform, Slavery, and the Career of a Transatlantic Radical’,
American Nineteenth Century History 13:2 (2012), pp. 199-227
Frank McLynn, The road not taken: how Britain narrowly missed a
revolution (London: Faber, 2012)
Paul O'Leary, Claiming the Streets: Processions and Urban Culture in South
Wales, c. 1830-1880 (Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 2012)
Neil Pye, ‘The Home Office and the Chartists’, in Anne Baldwin et al (eds),
Class, culture and community: new perspectives in nineteenth and
twentieth century British labour history (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge
Scholars, 2012)
Mike Sanders, ‘“God is our guide! Our cause is just!": The National Chartist
Hymn Book and Victorian Hymnody’, Victorian Studies 54:4 (2012), pp 679705
Antony Taylor, London's burning: pulp fiction, the politics of terrorism and
the destruction of the capital in British popular culture, 1840-2005
(London: Continuum, 2012)
Plus another publication from 2011
Edward Beasley, ‘Views of Gentlemanly Capitalism, 1837-1842: The Colonial
Society and the Chartists’, in Toyin Falola, and Emily Brownell, Africa,
empire and globalization: essays in honor of A.G. Hopkins (Durham NC:
Carolina Academic Press, 2011), pp. 293-316
4 News from Newport
First, as many readers will be aware, the 1970s’ mural commemorating the
1839 Rising in the John Frost Square, Newport, has now been demolished.
Press coverage has been extensive, too-extensive to summarise here, but
the link below leads to an especially pertinent contribution to the debate on
the South Wales Argus website.
http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/10781614.Hollywood_star_Michael_Sheen_cal
ls_for_end_to_political_debate_to_create_new_Chartist__lsquo_symbol_rsquo__in_Ne
wport/
Secondly, Les James has issued Celebrating the Chartists, the first of a
series of newsletters that will be produced during the 175th Anniversary
Year of the South Wales Rising and its preparations, which are already
underway. This is being distributed alongside this newsletter.
5 News from Crayford
The Crayford Manor House Historical Society has managed to get a plaque
placed on the One Bell pub in Crayford, commemorating the fact that it was
here that the Crayford Chartists ‘held their first meeting here on 21st June
1844 to campaign for social and political reform’. And an extensive internet
feature on Chartism in Crayford, flagged as up-coming in Chartist
Newsletter #7 is now live. Go to www.crayfordhistory.co.uk, click on ‘The
Fabric of Our Town’ and follow the links. These include an interactive copy
of a rare anti-Chartist pamphlet: Augustus Applegarth, A letter on Chartism,
addressed to the operatives of Dartford, and its environs (Dartford: Reeves,
1848).
This is an occasional newsletter. It is not intended to replace the several
excellent websites devoted to Chartism, but simply to circulate quickly
news and details of events that may be of interest. Feel free to send items
( m.s.chase@leeds.ac.uk ) and, equally, to pass this on to anyone who may
be interested. If you do not wish to receive future issues please email
‘Unsubscribe Newsletter’.