Chartist Movement in Britain

The electoral system in the early nineteenth century was radically different from the
parliamentary democracy of today. The system was not representative of the population in
terms of wealth or region, and elections were open to corruption. Before 1832, just ten per
cent of British adult males were eligible to vote, and this portion of the population was the
richest.
There were many efforts to reform this outdated system by people who used methods such
as corresponding societies, pamphlets and mass meetings to spread their messages. The
most notorious of the mass meetings occurred at St. Peter’s Fields in August 1819. Eleven
people were killed and 400 wounded when a group of soldiers on horseback charged on the
crowd. This event soon became known as the Peterloo Massacre and remained in people’s
memories for many years to come, intensifying support for reform.

o. it
Reform of the electoral system finally arrived with the 1832 Reform Act, which increased

m
id ix
the proportion of eligible voters in England and Wales to 18 per cent of the adult-male
population and 12 per cent in Scotland. Although the working classes had high hopes for the
av D
co
Reform Act, they eventually felt betrayed as despite the new legislation, the poor ultimately
remained voiceless in the way their country was run. In the years following the Reform Act,
.fl en

the Chartists would begin to plan their campaign to try to effect real electoral change in
Britain.
w e
w v

Origins of the movement

w ra

After the passing of the Reform Act 1832, which failed to extend the vote beyond those
P

owning property, the political leaders of the working class made speeches claiming that
there had been a great act of betrayal. This sense that the working class had been betrayed
by the middle class was strengthened by the actions of the Whig governments of the 1830s.
The Reform Act 1832, reapportioned representation in Parliament in a way fairer to the
cities of the industrial north, which had experienced tremendous growth, and did away with
"rotten" and "pocket" boroughs like Old Sarum, which with only seven voters (all controlled
by the local squire) was still sending two members to Parliament. This act not only re-
apportioned representation in Parliament, thus making that body more accurately represent
the citizens of the country, but also gave the power of voting to those lower in the social
and economic scale, for the act extended the right to vote to any man owning a household
worth £10, adding 217,000 voters to an electorate of 435,000. Approximately one man in
five now had the right to vote.
For many conservatives, this effect of the bill, which allowed the middle classes to share
power with the upper classes, was revolutionary in its import. Some historians argue that
this transference of power achieved in England what the French Revolution achieved
eventually in France. Therefore, the agitation preceding (and following) the first Reform Act,
which Dickens observed at first hand as a shorthand Parliamentary reporter, made many
people consider fundamental issues of society and politics.
Notably, the hated new Poor Law Amendment was passed in 1834, depriving working
people of outdoor relief and driving the poor into workhouses, where families were
separated. It was the massive wave of opposition to this measure in the north of England in
the late 1830s that gave Chartism the numbers that made it a mass movement. It seemed
that only securing the vote for working men would change things, and indeed Dorothy
Thompson, the pre-eminent historian of Chartism, defined the movement as the time when
"thousands of working people considered that their problems could be solved by the
political organization of the country."
Both nationally and locally a Chartist press thrived in the form of periodicals, which were
important to the movement for their news, editorials, poetry and (especially in 1848)
reports on international developments. They reached a huge audience. The Poor Man's
Guardian in the 1830s, edited by Henry Hetherington, dealt with questions of class
solidarity, manhood suffrage, property, and temperance while condemning the Reform Act

o. it
m
of 1832. The paper explored the rhetoric of violence versus non-violence, or what its writers
id ix
referred to as moral versus physical force. It was succeeded as the voice of radicalism by an
av D
co
even more famous papers. These papers gave justifications for the demands of the People's
Charter, accounts of local meetings, commentaries on education and temperance and a
.fl en

great deal of poetry. The papers also advertised upcoming meetings, typically organised by
local grass roots branches, held either in public houses, or in their own halls. Readers also
found denunciations of imperialism, the First Opium War (1839–42) was condemned, and of
w e

the arguments of free traders about the civilizing and pacifying influences of free trade.
w v
w ra

Aims of the movement

P

In 1836 Cornish cabinet-maker William Lovett formed the London Working Men’s
Association. Besides disseminating information for the good of the working classes, the
association wanted 'To seek by every legal means to place all classes of society in possession
of their equal, political, and social rights.' With the help of Francis Place, Lovett composed
The People’s Charter, which demanded the following changes to the British electoral
system-
1. Universal suffrage (the right to vote)
2. Abolition of property qualifications for members of parliament
3. Annual parliamentary elections
4. Equal representation
5. Payment of members of parliament
6. Vote by secret ballot
Although The People’s Charter did not advocate any new ideas, it created a central doctrine
for radicals wishing to reform the political system. Support for the Charter spread rapidly
and its advocates became known as the Chartists.
Movement
Chartism was a mass movement that attracted a following of millions. Hundreds of
thousands of people were sometimes reported to have attended their meetings and their
three petitions amassed millions of signatures, although some were proved to be fake.
Friedrich Engels wrote that '...in Chartism it is the whole working class which rises against
the bourgeois', but it was more than simply a working-class movement, it attracted some
rural support as well as more radical elements of the middle classes. Chartists saw
themselves fighting against political corruption and for democracy in an industrial society,
but attracted support beyond the radical political groups for economic reasons, such as
opposing wage cuts and unemployment.

Although the People’s Charter did not advocate votes for women, Chartism was far from a
male-only movement. William Lovett, the author of the People’s Charter, wrote in his

o. it
m
autobiography that he was in favour of female suffrage. However, it was decided that calls
id ix
for female suffrage would damage the prospects for the Charter’s success. Women may not
av D
co
have spoken publicly like the male Chartist orators, but many did attend meetings and mass
demonstrations, and formed Female Charter Associations. Others actively challenged the
.fl en

Chartists to campaign for female suffrage.

w e

Method
w v
w ra

The Chartist movement was not a completely unified organisation and its leadership was
often fragmented. All members were decided on the end purpose of Chartism, but there
P

were radical differences in opinion over the means to achieve it.

'Moral force' Chartists such as William Lovett believed that tactics such as holding public
meetings, publishing pamphlets and newspapers, and taking petitions to government would
succeed in convincing those in power of the moral right of electoral reform. However, many
people believed that electoral reform would not be achieved through the use of 'moral
force' alone. 'Physical force' Chartists, such as Feargus O’Connor, advocated the use of
violence to demand the six points of the Charter be granted, should that not be achieved by
peaceful means.
The more radical Chartists took part in riots in Newcastle, Birmingham and elsewhere round
the country, at which leading members of the movement were arrested. The most infamous
episode in the history of Chartism was the disatrous Newport Rising, which took place on 4 th
November 1839. A group of Chartists stormed a hotel and 22 of the protestors were killed
by waiting troops. For a while the energy went out of the movement, though the National
Charter Association was established in 1840 to co-ordinate its work across the country.
Eventually, the Chartists split into several factions and the movement's influence declined.
The last big protest was at Kennington Common in April 1848, which was followed by a
procession to Westminster to present another petition. The Chartist leaders claimed this
petition had over 5 million signatures, but many were proved to be fake. There was a
massive police and military presence, but the meeting was peaceful, with a crowd estimated
by some at 150,000. The petition was defeated heavily.
After 1848, as the movement faded, its demands appeared less threatening and were
gradually enacted by other reformers. After 1848, middle class parliamentary Radicals
continued to press for an extension of the franchise in such organisations as the National
Parliamentary and Financial Reform Association and the Reform Union. By the late 1850s,
the celebrated John Bright was agitating in the country for franchise reform. However,
working class radicals had not gone away. The Reform League campaigned for manhood
suffrage in the 1860s, and included former Chartists amongst its ranks. Chartism has also
been regarded by historians as a forerunner to the UK Labour Party.

Evaluation

o. it
m
Although the Chartists gathered enormous support in the form of signatures for their
id ix
petitions, their demands were rejected by Parliament every time they were presented. By
av D
co
the time Chartism ended in 1858, not a single demand from the People’s Charter had
become law. Although the Chartists failed to achieve their aims directly, their influence
.fl en

persisted and reformers continued to campaign for the electoral reforms advocated by the
People’s Charter.
w e
w v

Legacy
w ra

At the time, Chartism may have been judged unsuccessful, but there is no doubt that the
P

movement's campaign for electoral reform played an important role in the development of
democracy in the UK and its colonies.

 Chartism did not directly generate any reforms. It was not until 1867 that urban
working men were admitted to the franchise under the Reform Act 1867 (which gave
the vote to all male heads of households over 21, and all male lodgers paying £10 a
year in rent). Further reform arrived with the Ballot Act in 1872, which ensured that
votes could be cast in secret – a key demand of the People’s Charter. In 1884 the
Third Reform Act extended the qualification of the 1867 Act to the countryside so
that almost two thirds of men had the vote. Eventually, only one of the Chartists’
demands, for annual parliamentary elections, failed to become part of British law.
Slowly the other points of the People's Charter were granted. The payment of MPs
was granted under the Parliament Act of 1911. It was not until 1918 that full
manhood suffrage was achieved. Annual elections remain the only Chartist demand
not to be implemented so far.
  Participation in the Chartist Movement filled some working men with self-
confidence: they learned to speak publicly, to send their poems and other writings
off for publication, to be able, in short, to confidently articulate the feelings of
working people. Many former Chartists went on to become journalists, poets,
ministers, and councillors.
 Political elites feared the Chartists in the 1830s and 1840s as a dangerous threat to
national stability. In the Chartist stronghold of Manchester, the reform movement
undermined the political power of the old Tory-Anglican elite that had controlled
civic affairs. However, the reformers of Manchester were themselves factionalized.
 Colonies- Chartism was also an important influence in some British colonies. Some
leaders had been transported to Australia, where they spread their beliefs. In 1854,
Chartist demands were put forward by the miners at the Eureka Stockade on the
gold fields at Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Within two years of the military
suppression of the Eureka revolt, the first elections of the Victorian parliament were
held, with near-universal male suffrage and by secret ballot. In the African colonies

o. it
after 1920, there were occasional appearances of a "colonial chartism" which called

m
for improved welfare, upgraded education, freedom of speech, and greater political
id ix
representation for natives.
av D
co
 The demands and methodologies of early Nationalists (moderates) of Indian National
movement were modelled and derived from the Chartist movement of Britain. The
.fl en

Nationalists withered but their demands remained the basis of the National
movement of India.
w e
w v
w ra
P

During the decades of 1830s and 40s, the Nation and State had found one another and
British life was enriched by their meeting. Elaborate
The statement is about Chartist movement in Britain

 Although radicalism in general remained frustrated and dissatisfied with the extent
of parliamentary and electoral reform accomplished in 1832, it began to exert a
strong influence on administrative reform.
 The practice of giving outdoor relief to supplement wages and in proportion to the
number of dependents had done something to save the poor from destitution during
years of economic depression, and had gone far to mitigate the rigours of the early
industrial revolution
 The radical reformers succeeded in getting through Parliament, in 1834, an Act to
reform the whole system. It checked payments to supplement wages, reorganized
the running of the workhouses, and set up a central Poor Law Commission to
supervise the system. The effect in the end was to yield a system of poor relief more
efficient in its working and more subject to democratic control than the old.
  The many problems of street paving and lighting, drainage and sanitation, water
supply and fire precautions, the prevention of epidemics and an adequate medical
service, had hitherto been left to be tackled by local authorities. In 1846 Parliament
set up a commission of inquiry into the health of towns. An Act of 1848 set up a
central board of health on the lines of the Poor Law Commissioners, with power to
create local boards
 Social and administrative reforms of this kind in the first half of the century came
slowly, belatedly, and only after their complete necessity had been abundantly
proved. But their accomplishment, despite these obstacles, revealed also the great
qualities of British life at that time. They reflected a growing conscience about social
ills, a readiness to treat poverty, disease, squalor, and human suffering as
remediable; and a willingness to try new ideas and embark on novel experiments in
public administration
Politics came to be concerned more urgently and more continuously with the welfare of the
community as a whole, and with the organized provision, through state legislation and state

o. it
action, of the minimum conditions of a civilized life. The nation and the state had found one

m
id ix
another, and British life was enriched by their meeting.
av D
co
.fl en
w e
w v
w ra
P