The Chartists
What is this sheet about?
 The Chartist movement developed out of
disappointment with the 1832 Reform Act
 ‘The Chartists’ was just another name for groups
of people who wanted the government to listen to
their needs
 The Chartists were split in how they wanted to
achieve their demands and in the short term
seemed to fail
 In the longer term, though, their ideas lived on to
inspire others
 Today, all but one of the Chartist demands are
part of our democratic system of government
Glossary
Poor Law = an 1834 act to make the poor go into
workhouses, where the conditions were very bad
Laissez-faire = a French phase meaning to leave alone and
not get involved in people’s lives
General strike = where a large proportion of the country’s
workers stop working
Petition = a collection of signatures from people to show
parliament the high level of support for change
Moral force = using peaceful protest methods
Why did protest grow again after 1832?
Physical force = use forceful protest methods
 It disappointed many as it did not do enough to
make Britain more democratic
 Most of those who benefitted from the 1832 act were the middle-classes and industrialists. Ordinary workers
were hugely disappointed by the failure to gain to vote
 In 1834 a new Poor Law was passed which introduced the hated workhouse system in England/poorhouse in
Scotland. In those places, the poor were treaty as if their poverty was their own fault. Only the desperate
would go to these places because conditions inside were deliberately harsh to put people off using them.
Families would be split up and children removed from their parents. In the workhouses, the poor had to do
horrible, disgusting jobs to earn their food and shelter
 The working class were furious and protest groups gathered across Britain
 By mid-1830s, Britain faced another economic recession – unemployment increased and people feared ending
up in workhouses/poorhouses
 The government, however, believed that helping the poor was not its responsibility. This attitude is called
laissez-faire
Who or what were the Chartists?
 London Working Men’s Association (LWMA) started 1836: radical group who wanted much more political
reform, especially changes to give the working-classes influence in government
 LWMA issued six-point ‘People’s Charter’ to make parliament fairer and more democratic
 Supporters of the Charter’s demands were called Chartists
What were the six demands?
1. Universal manhood suffrage – all men to have the vote
2. Secret voting – to end bribery and corruption at elections
3. Equal electoral districts – each MP to represent roughly the same number of people
4. Elections every year – so that MPs could be voted out if they did not keep their promises
5. No property qualification for MPs – so that people who did not own land could become MPs
6. Pay for MPs – so that poor men could afford to become MPs
 The movement grew quickly and it became one of the largest movements of the nineteenth century
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It began in earnest in 1838 with series of local radical groups in Glasgow, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester all
organising rallies and marches to support the People’s Charter
They soon realised that they needed to work more closely together to get anything changed
What was the national convention of 1839?
 This was a group of 50 representatives from different radical movements across the country
 The representatives began organising a month-long general strike that would hurt the profits of business and
might make parliament accept the Chartist demands
 The Chartists called the planned strike their sacred month
 They also planned to get people to sign huge petitions in support of the six demands and then present them to
parliament
 Some member of the convention were so determined they were willing to use violence and break the law
 This alarmed the government and it refused to listen to the Chartist’s petition when it was presented to them
 They presented their petitions three times in all: 1839, 1842 & 1848. They were rejected each time
 Faced with such opposition, the Chartists began to split and argue over how best to get their demands met
 William Lovett believed only ‘moral force’ would win through. Methods such as publishing newspapers,
posters, petitions and holding public meetings were all included. All over the country there were Chartist
churches and Chartist Sunday schools
 Fergus O’Connor believed ‘physical force’ would be necessary – O’Connor even claimed he wanted to start a
national revolution for the working people!
 The split in the movement made it possible for the government to claim that the Chartists were dangerous
revolutionaries
 This hard attitude shown in 1842 when factory workers in north of England organised a strike, known as Plug
Plot. Striking workers removed the plugs from steam engine boilers to bring a stop to production. The
machines would not operate without water in the boilers. This hurt the profits of factory owners and if the idea
spread then industry could be seriously damaged
 Government reacted as if this was a terrorist campaign – around 1500 strikers were arrested and sentenced to
between 7 and 21 years’ transportation to Australia
 In Wales, in early morning of Monday 4th November 1839, around 5000 workers arrived at Newport. Many
carried guns and pikes…attack or defence? Protestors remembered Peterloo and may have been scared of an
attack by soldiers. However, little doubt that leaders saw it as way of starting a Chartist revolution. The
authorities in Newport were ready for trouble – troops were waiting for action and gunfire suddenly broke out.
At least 22 marchers died, 50 were wounded and 2 soldiers were seriously hurt
 Three Chartist leaders were arrested and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. In end execution did
not happen for fear that these leaders would be seen as martyrs and cause more trouble in death than they had
in life. Instead the men were sent to prison in Australia – at that time Australia was used by Britain as a place to
send all of its serious criminals.
The end of Chartism
 The movement came to an end in 1848 when the final petition was rejected and troops broke up when the final
petition was rejected and troops broke up a Chartist demonstration at Kennington Common in London
 Authorities were well prepared and intended to stop the meeting – in addition to the police and army, 10,000
special police constables had been recruited
 Government announced meeting was banned and only a fraction of expected number of Chartists turned up
 O’Connor urged his followers to go home peacefully and the rally came to nothing
An early photograph of the Chartist meeting on
Kennington Common, 10th April 1848. Parliament
rushed through new laws banning large public
meetings and making it easier for people to be
tried for treason. This made it much harder for the
Chartists to organise future protests. After 1848
Chartism became less of a threat to the
government and faded away…or did it?
Why did Chartism fail?
 Support for Chartism varied – in hard times people supported Chartism but as the economy improved and jobs
returned, support faded
o The government refused to talk to the Chartists and rejected their petitions
o Many of the signatures on Chartist petitions were false and made the Chartists a focus of jokes
o Divisions between the moral force Chartists and the physical force Chartists weakened the
movement
o Many workers were scared of losing their jobs or being arrested so they ignored Chartist activities
o The Chartist leader, Fergus O’Connor, was incompetent and most of his schemes failed
Was Chartism really a failure?
 True to say Chartists were not successful in their aim to have their six-point plan accepted but they were a
significant movement at the time
 Chartist movement was a real organisation of the working-class population in Britain
 In short-term Chartists failed but in longer term their ideas lived on, inspiring others
 Chartists kept alive the demand for more reform of the election process
 Both political parties at time of 1832 Reform Act hoped it was the last reform...without the Chartists keeping
the issue very much alive it may well have taken longer for any further reform to happen
 In following 60 years, all but one of the Chartist demands became reality