Chartists

Causes

Poor harvests

Working-class people were finding it hard to find work because of the new machines being invented; one machine could do the work of ten men, and faster. There were bad harvests in the 1830s which created further problems.

Poor Law

Changes were made to the Poor law in 1834 through a desire to help people in the new industrial society. People who needed assistance were sent to the workhouse. However, this did not solve the problems faced by most people.

Development

1836 – Chartist movement born when William Lovett from the London Working Men’s Association, started a campaign that was quickly adapted around the country. Thomas Attwood and the BPU joined the campaign.

1839 – a national Chartist convention was held in Birmingham.

Peaceful movement with six main aims which were set out in the People’s Charter.

Votes for all men
Equal-sized constituencies
Wages for MPs
Voting in secret
No property qualifications to be able to vote
An election every year
Aimed for equality and to make voting, and therefore, society, fairer.

1839 – First petition sent to parliament and rejected.

November 1839 – Newport Uprising. Tried getting one of their leaders released who had been imprisoned by attacking the prison. There were soldiers guarding the prison who opened fire and 22 men were killed.

1842 – Second petition sent to parliament and rejected. Coincided with the emergence of Feargus O’Connor who became the leader of the movement and called for violent actions to pressurise parliament into agreeing to the demands.

Many workers in factories in the north of England started to vandalise machinery – became known as the ‘plug plot’.

O’Connor demanded a general strike and even for a British Republic. The government was so concerned for the safety of Queen Victoria that she moved to the Isle of Wight.

1847 – Economic and agricultural depression had returned to Britain, and a third petition was sent to Parliament and rejected.

10th April 1848 – O’Connor and 50,000 supporters met on Kennington Common in London. The Duke of Wellington had been expecting more so had prepared troops and police. There were 85,000 special constables present.

Wellington stopped the crowd from entering the city, O’Connor had to deliver the petition on his own. The petition apparently had 5 million signatures, it was actually less than 2 million. Many of the signatures were forged and many had signed ‘Queen Victoria’. O’Connor argued that workers felt compelled to keep their identity a secret from their employers.

Consequences

Some of the campaigners were arrested several times, included O’Connor and Lovett. This followed on from government officials putting up posters asking people not to attend Chartist meetings.

Those found to being pushing for reform were punished by transportation to other countries, such as Australia.

The Great Chartist Meeting (see above)

Significance

Short term

No immediate change in the law due to strong parliamentary opposition as the government suppressed local meetings and gatherings.

Failure to make change at the time was partly due to the divided leadership of Lovett and O’Connor as they were not able to give one clear message.

Long term

All but one of the six aims of the People’s Charter were achieved within 100 years. The only one that was never achieved was an election every year.