Chartists, Who are They?
The Chartists were a group of working-class men who wanted democratic change.
The
National Archive definition states that ‘Chartism was a working-class movement
which emerged in 1836 in London’. It saw expansion during 1838 and 1848 with
activity in Wales also and their aim was to gain political rights for those of
similar backgrounds, they had meetings and published pamphlets. (read more here)
So to start off this post, there are a few definitions to make things clearer.
Charter - a written statement of the rights of a specified group of people.
Rotten/Pocket Borough - a parliamentary borough or constituency before the Great Reform Act of 1832, which had a small electorate and could be used by a patron to gain unrepresentative influence within the unreformed House of Commons. (read more here)
The Great Reform Act of 1832 (GRA) - This is for context to show what the political and democratic situation was like in Britain at this time.
This Act was passed as a result of discontentment amongst British people. However, it gave the vote to the middle class and excluded those of working-class backgrounds, the wealthier population were 'safe' when it came to voting as they often owned property. Constituencies elected two MPs and were called 'rotten boroughs' as they had no secret ballot and those up for election could 'buy' votes, areas such as Manchester and Birmingham had no MP representation as they were industrial areas.
There was a Bill passed in 1831 through the House of Commons but was defeated by the House of Lords who were dominated by the Tory Party. As a result of this there were riots across parts of England including London, Birmingham and Bristol and the threat of revolution was rife as we see the French Revolution of 1830. Prime Minister at the time was Arthur Wellesley, the First Duke of Wellington and he opposed parliamentary reform, however, Earl (Lord) Grey became PM shortly after and pledged to carry out reform.
This then leads to the Chartists.
There were two types of Chartism - moral force and physical force. Feargus O'Connor, an Irish Chartist led the physical side of things whereas English William Lovett fronted the 'more' moral side, his aim was to 'inform the mind'. He founded the London Working Men's Association in 1836 which produced the People's Charter and later, the National Association for Promoting the Political and Social Improvement of the People was founded in 1841, whereas Feargus established a weekly paper called the Northern Star and he criticised the moral chartists.
The People's Charter
The points of the Charter consisted of:
- All men to have the vote (universal manhood suffrage)
- Voting should take place by secret ballot
- Parliamentary elections every year, not once every five years
- Constituencies should be of equal size
- Members of Parliament should be paid
- The property qualification for becoming a Member of Parliament should be abolished
The petition was presented to the House of Commons first in June 1839, with over 1.25 million signatures and it was rejected, leading to 'unrest' (more on this tomorrow). A second petition with over 3 million signatures was also rejected in May 1842, and further unrest occurred. Lastly, a third petition was presented in April 1848 with a mass meeting on Kennington Common in London and was organised by Chartist leaders including Feargus O'Connor. Despite their efforts, the movement fizzled out and it was 'no longer a driving force for reform'. Their legacy did live on, and by 1918, five of their demands were achieved and the only demand not included was the elections every year.
The Chartists were a group of passionate men wanting 'basic' democratic rites. I do see similarities between them and the suffragettes and their efforts although unsuccessful at the time, have provided us with our democratic rights today.
Read more on the movement here:
https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/chartists/
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