The annual Newport Chartist Convention takes place this year on Saturday 4 November at St Woolos Cathedral, Newport. The convention runs from 9.30am to 4pm. The Convention is part of the Newport Rising Festival, which celebrates the Chartist rising of 1839, and is held annually. Speakers will include: Tickets cost £15.00 including lunch, tea and coffee, and will be available nearer to the Convention date … Continue reading Newport Chartist Convention 2023
On 21 May 1838 an estimated 150,000 people assembled on Glasgow Green for a mass demonstration. There they witnessed the launch of the People’s Charter, a list of demands for political reform. The changes they called for included voting by secret ballot, equal-sized constituencies and, most importantly, that all men should have the vote. The Chartist were the first national mass working-class movement. In the … Continue reading In Our Time: Chartism
There is nothing special about anniversaries. No intrinsic reason to look back at events fifty years ago rather than at the years either side. But just as we mark birthdays and other significant events in our lives, so societies do much the same on a bigger scale, not least as a politically charged means of creating shared histories. But what we choose to commemorate and … Continue reading Eight labour history anniversaries in 2023
Newspapers and magazines always like to list their ‘best books of the year’ as Christmas approaches. But what if the best books weren’t published this year? Preferring to take a longer perspective, we asked labour historians to tell us about a work relevant to labour history that they felt was overlooked, should be better known – or which simply meant something to them. Here’s what … Continue reading Well read: labour historians recommend books that deserve to be better known
Stephen Roberts, who has died aged 64, was a political, social and cultural historian of Victorian Britain whose focus over more than four decades was on Chartism and the city of Birmingham, two topics on which he was both expert and passionate. Stephen was born in Sutton Coldfield, and his commitment to and fascination with his home town was life long. He first encountered Chartism … Continue reading Stephen Frederick Roberts (1958-2022)
One hundred and eighty years ago the people of Halifax marched to demand bread and the ballot. Now thanks to Calderdale Trades Council and its supporters, their struggle has been marked with a series of events and in more permanent ways, as Dan Whittall explains. At least 150 people gathered in Halifax on Saturday 13 August to take part in a series of commemorative events … Continue reading ‘They came for bread not bayonets’: Halifax marks the Great Strike of 1842
Calderdale Trades Council and Calderdale Industrial Museum are teaming up this Sunday (17 July) to host a free public meeting at the museum on ‘The Great Strike of 1842: Halifax’s Peterloo?’ The event is supported by the Society for the Study of Labour History. This event is being held in person and there are limited tickets – please only book a ticket if you are … Continue reading The great strike of 1842: Halifax’s Peterloo?
Chartism has been a central part of labour history since the discipline emerged. A brief flurry of activity in the early 1920s led nowhere in particular, but Professor Asa Briggs’ Chartist Studies (1959) opened the door to what Dr Stephen Roberts has dubbed a ‘golden period’ of research and publication (see below). Dorothy Thompson, meanwhile, led the intellectual effort to centre Chartism not just as … Continue reading Classics of labour history: Malcolm Chase and the story of Chartism
From ‘Shabby Feargus’ to the impact of the Northern Star’s move south and Chartists as ‘premature liberal democrats’, the first Chartism Day since 2019 was as entertaining as it was informative and thought-provoking. It had been a long-time coming. But finally, after two years in which Chartism Day did not happen as the world went into lockdowns and social distancing, more than 70 delegates were … Continue reading Chartism Day 2022: report from a day of research, song and a missing friend
Update: this article was published to publicise and promote the event. A full report of Chartism Day 2022 can be found here. Chartism Day returns in March 2022 after an enforced absence of two years. This year’s event, held jointly with the Social History Society, is in honour of Professor Malcolm Chase, who died in February 2020. Malcolm was a great historian of Chartism, a … Continue reading Chartism Day 2022: programme online
Society for the Study of Labour History 