FACES OF CHARTISM
This page tells about some influential Chartists, however, if you want to learn about Chartism and the Chartist Movement, please click on this link: CHARTIST MOVEMENT which will take you to that information on this website.
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INFLUENTIAL LEADERS & REFORMERS
John Collins 1802-1852 -- (to whom this website is dedicated) was the first working class man elected to the middle class council of the Birmingham Political Union in Birmingham, England. He was a leading orator for the Union and through his tour of speaking engagements was largely responsible for bringing together the English and Scottish radical forces in the early years of the Chartist Movement. Collins mixed with some of the most well-known reformers of the day. His moderate approach - known as "Moral Force" - demanding political reform through peaceful means gained him the respect of local community leaders, including the Mayor of Birmingham, William Scholefield, who called on Collins to help keep the peace during a time of political unrest. In spite of his moderation, Collins was arrested and imprisoned for libel and sedition during the Bull Ring Riots of July 1839. Together with fellow prisoner, William Lovett, he co-authored a small but politically and socially advanced book entitled "Chartism: a New Organization of the People." Following Collins' release from Warwick Gaol he helped establish the first Chartist Church in Birmingham, England. Like many Chartists, he eventually became more involved in local community affairs, and in 1847 he was elected Town Councillor of Birmingham.
Thomas Attwood MP 1783-1856 -- from Halesowen near Birmingham, he claimed success for the 1832 Reform Bill that increased the vote to the middle class. However, the Bill completely failed the working class whom Attwood and the Birmingham Political Union (BPU) represented. He was the first Member of Parliament for Birmingham, England and his panacea for the ills of the working class was currency reform. Mainly an absentee figurehead of the BPU after John Collins was elected to the BPU council in 1837.
Thomas Slingsby Duncombe 1796-1861 -- Radical politician and Member of Parliament for Hertford & Finsbury. In a Parliamentary debate Duncombe asked Lord John Russell why there was a distinction between the grim prison treatment for John Collins and William Lovett compared to the relative comfort of other political prisoners who had committed similar offences.
George Jacob Holyoake, Writer and Publisher - As a boy he knew John Collins in his capacity as preacher at a church in Harborne. A Chartist in his own right Holyoake wrote 60 Years of an Agitator's Life and he coined the terms "secularism" in 1851 and "jingoism" in 1878 .
William Lovett - Like his fellow prisoner John Collins, Lovett was a thinking, self-educated man. A transplanted Cornishman and a cabinet maker, he was a leading member of the London Working Men's Association which produced The People's Charter. More of a writer than a great speaker, Lovett wrote many pamphlets and addresses, and was appointed secretary at the first National Convention of the Industrious Classes whose purpose was to oversee the 1839 National Petition. Along with John Collins, Lovett was arrested and imprisoned for criticizing the London police. Whilst in Warwick Gaol they co-wrote "Chartism: a New Organization of the People." Lovett belonged to that class of Chartists know for moderation and 'moral force' to gain reform, being the complete opposite to 'physical force' devotee Fergus O'Connor. The two men were arch enemies.
Arthur O'Neill - Born in Chelmsford, Essex he came to Birmingham via Scotland. Following attendance at celebrations to mark John Collins' release from prison in 1840, O'Neill moved to Birmingham and became a preacher at John Collins' Christian Chartist Church in Newhall Street. Like many leading Chartists of the day, O'Neill eventually fell foul of the government when he came out in support of striking colliers in August 1842. Speaking at prohibited meetings, he was subsequently arrested and imprisoned for twelve months in Stafford Gaol. Nevertheless, he emerged as much a Chartist as he had ever been.
Feargus O'Connor - Proprietor of the Northern Star. Called the "great I am of Chartism" by William Lovett, O'Connor became a highly popular leader of the Chartist Movement thanks to his fiery tongue and platform theatrics, that promised to lead his followers to "death or glory." He incorrectly claimed, in a long litany of accomplishments addressed to his "political children," (appealing to their blistered hands and fustian jackets) that he alone had led the people from 1835 to 1839 (Northern Star, Jan 1841). O'Connor was also something of a hypocrit, on one hand lambasting the newly formed Chartist Church as being exclusionist, and at the same time attempting to exclude the likes of John Collins from the Chartist Convention in London [Northern Star, 3 April 1841]. Although O'Connor was sincere in his desire for reform, his "demagogic egotism did more than anything else to discredit, mislead, and ruin the cause." (Who Were the Chartists, Linton).
Francis Place 1771-1854 - A journeyman tailor and a self taught man, his shop premises in London became a gathering place for like-minded radicals. Place helped William Lovett draft The People's Charter that took the form of a parliamentary bill for political reform. Place worked with others to improve prison conditions for Lovett and John Collins.
Lord John Russell - Home Secretary and known by the scathing sobriquet "Finality Jack" for his parliamentary speech on 7 November 1837 opposing amendments (the ballot, extension of suffrage, and shorter triennial parliaments) to the 1832 Reform Bill.
Joseph Sturge - A Quaker and an abolitionist, he was an important part of the anti-slavery movement in England and abroad. In 1842 he formed the Complete Suffrage Union to unite the working and middle classes in an attempt to gain parliamentary reform through peaceful means. He particularly wanted the leading moral force chartists John Collins and William Lovett involved. Sturge and his middle class associates agreed to the principals of the People's Charter, however, the Sturgites refused to accept the terminology chartism, chartists, and the People's Charter. With neither side willing to compromise the CSU was short lived.
ARRESTED - CHARTIST DELEGATES TO THE 1839 NATIONAL CONVENTION
William Carrier: Arrested 7 June 1839 Sentenced 2 years
John Collins 1802-1852: Arrested 5 July 1839. Sentenced 1 year 6 August 1839
John Deegan: Arrested 9 August 1839 Discharged on bail 2 years Mar 1840
James Fenney: Arrested 17 August 1839 Sentenced 1 year Oct 1839
John Frost 1784-1877: Arrested 4 November 1839 Sentenced death, commuted to transportation for life
George Harney: Arrested 7 July 1839 Acquitted
William Lovett 1800-1877: Arrested 5 July Sentenced 1 year 6 August 1839
Dr Peter McDouall: Arrested 8 June 1839 Sentenced 1 year August 1839
James O'Brien (Bronterre) 1805-1864: Arrested Oct 1839 Sentenced 18 mos 24 Mar 1840
Fergus O'Connor 1794-1855 : Arrested Oct 1839 Sentenced 18 mos 27 Apr 1840
Reginald Richardson: Arrested 13 Sept 1838 Sentenced 9 mos 25 Mar 1840
Joseph Stephens : First Chartist Arrested 27th December 1838
Dr John Taylor: Arrested and sentenced Dec 1839
Henry Vincent 1813-1878: Arrested 8 May 1839 Sentenced 1 year Mar 1840
Edward Brown: "Unofficial Delegate" for Birmingham. Arrested 17 May 1839 Sentenced 18 mos
BIRMINGHAM POLITICAL UNION (BPU) - UNION LEADERS & DELEGATES TO THE 1839 NATIONAL CONVENTION
- John Collins: Delegate for Birmingham (6 Aug 1838), Northampton (20 May 1839), Cheltenham (24 Jan 1839), and Coventry.
- Robert Douglas: Editor of Birmingham Journal. Birmingham Delegate resigned 28 March 1839
- Geo Edmunds: Birmingham Delegate, but did not attend Convention
- Benjamin Hadley: Birmingham Delegate resigned 28 March 1839
- G & P Muntz: Birmingham Delegates, but did not attend Convention
- John Pierce: Birmingham Delegate who disappeared from the scene and emigrated
- Thomas Salt 1789-1859: Birmingham Delegate who resigned 28 Mar 1839
- Edward Brown: "Unofficial Delegate" for Birmingham. Working man.
- Henry Donaldson: "Unofficial Delegate." Working man.
- John Powell: "Unofficial Delegate" for Birmingham. Working man.
FRIENDS OF JOHN COLLINS, THE BIRMINGHAM CHARTIST
In October 1839 Joshua Scholefield, Member of Parliament for Birmingham, England wrote Lord Normanby, Home Secretary at that time, on behalf of the "numerous friends of John Collins." Scholefield's letter enclosed a petition requesting Collins be transferred from the criminal side to the debtor side of Warwick Gaol, where he would get better treatment, and was signed by important pillars of the community including eight Borough Magistrates and a "considerable number" of Town Councilors:
Joshua Scholefield (Member of Parliament, Birmingham 1832-1840)
William Scholefield (Lord Mayor, Birmingham 1838)
James Tongue.
Thomas Phillips.
Philip Henry Muntz (Lord Mayor, Birmingham 1839-1840).
James C. Perry.
John Betts.
John Meredith.
Daniel Turner.
Joseph Gillott. (Gillott Pen Manufacturer)
John Boit Davies.
John Thomas Dyer.
Edward M. Martin.
Henry Van Wart (Justice of the Peace).
W. H. Ashmore.
John Hollingsworth.
Thomas Bolton.
G. V. Blunt.
James Goddard.
Thomas Clarke.
J. W. Winfield.
Wm. & Francis Room.
Samuel Beale (founder Birmingham & Midland Bank, Lord Mayor Birmingham 1841).
D. B. Smith.
John Bourn.
George Attwood (Thos Attwood's brother).
Thomas Weston.
Butler Brothers.
R. K. Douglas (publisher of the Birmingham Journal)
Henry Tidmarsh.
Thomas Clowes.
Abel Preston.
Josiah James.
C. Smith.
John Collins 1802-1852 -- (to whom this website is dedicated) was the first working class man elected to the middle class council of the Birmingham Political Union in Birmingham, England. He was a leading orator for the Union and through his tour of speaking engagements was largely responsible for bringing together the English and Scottish radical forces in the early years of the Chartist Movement. Collins mixed with some of the most well-known reformers of the day. His moderate approach - known as "Moral Force" - demanding political reform through peaceful means gained him the respect of local community leaders, including the Mayor of Birmingham, William Scholefield, who called on Collins to help keep the peace during a time of political unrest. In spite of his moderation, Collins was arrested and imprisoned for libel and sedition during the Bull Ring Riots of July 1839. Together with fellow prisoner, William Lovett, he co-authored a small but politically and socially advanced book entitled "Chartism: a New Organization of the People." Following Collins' release from Warwick Gaol he helped establish the first Chartist Church in Birmingham, England. Like many Chartists, he eventually became more involved in local community affairs, and in 1847 he was elected Town Councillor of Birmingham.
Thomas Attwood MP 1783-1856 -- from Halesowen near Birmingham, he claimed success for the 1832 Reform Bill that increased the vote to the middle class. However, the Bill completely failed the working class whom Attwood and the Birmingham Political Union (BPU) represented. He was the first Member of Parliament for Birmingham, England and his panacea for the ills of the working class was currency reform. Mainly an absentee figurehead of the BPU after John Collins was elected to the BPU council in 1837.
Thomas Slingsby Duncombe 1796-1861 -- Radical politician and Member of Parliament for Hertford & Finsbury. In a Parliamentary debate Duncombe asked Lord John Russell why there was a distinction between the grim prison treatment for John Collins and William Lovett compared to the relative comfort of other political prisoners who had committed similar offences.
George Jacob Holyoake, Writer and Publisher - As a boy he knew John Collins in his capacity as preacher at a church in Harborne. A Chartist in his own right Holyoake wrote 60 Years of an Agitator's Life and he coined the terms "secularism" in 1851 and "jingoism" in 1878 .
William Lovett - Like his fellow prisoner John Collins, Lovett was a thinking, self-educated man. A transplanted Cornishman and a cabinet maker, he was a leading member of the London Working Men's Association which produced The People's Charter. More of a writer than a great speaker, Lovett wrote many pamphlets and addresses, and was appointed secretary at the first National Convention of the Industrious Classes whose purpose was to oversee the 1839 National Petition. Along with John Collins, Lovett was arrested and imprisoned for criticizing the London police. Whilst in Warwick Gaol they co-wrote "Chartism: a New Organization of the People." Lovett belonged to that class of Chartists know for moderation and 'moral force' to gain reform, being the complete opposite to 'physical force' devotee Fergus O'Connor. The two men were arch enemies.
Arthur O'Neill - Born in Chelmsford, Essex he came to Birmingham via Scotland. Following attendance at celebrations to mark John Collins' release from prison in 1840, O'Neill moved to Birmingham and became a preacher at John Collins' Christian Chartist Church in Newhall Street. Like many leading Chartists of the day, O'Neill eventually fell foul of the government when he came out in support of striking colliers in August 1842. Speaking at prohibited meetings, he was subsequently arrested and imprisoned for twelve months in Stafford Gaol. Nevertheless, he emerged as much a Chartist as he had ever been.
Feargus O'Connor - Proprietor of the Northern Star. Called the "great I am of Chartism" by William Lovett, O'Connor became a highly popular leader of the Chartist Movement thanks to his fiery tongue and platform theatrics, that promised to lead his followers to "death or glory." He incorrectly claimed, in a long litany of accomplishments addressed to his "political children," (appealing to their blistered hands and fustian jackets) that he alone had led the people from 1835 to 1839 (Northern Star, Jan 1841). O'Connor was also something of a hypocrit, on one hand lambasting the newly formed Chartist Church as being exclusionist, and at the same time attempting to exclude the likes of John Collins from the Chartist Convention in London [Northern Star, 3 April 1841]. Although O'Connor was sincere in his desire for reform, his "demagogic egotism did more than anything else to discredit, mislead, and ruin the cause." (Who Were the Chartists, Linton).
Francis Place 1771-1854 - A journeyman tailor and a self taught man, his shop premises in London became a gathering place for like-minded radicals. Place helped William Lovett draft The People's Charter that took the form of a parliamentary bill for political reform. Place worked with others to improve prison conditions for Lovett and John Collins.
Lord John Russell - Home Secretary and known by the scathing sobriquet "Finality Jack" for his parliamentary speech on 7 November 1837 opposing amendments (the ballot, extension of suffrage, and shorter triennial parliaments) to the 1832 Reform Bill.
Joseph Sturge - A Quaker and an abolitionist, he was an important part of the anti-slavery movement in England and abroad. In 1842 he formed the Complete Suffrage Union to unite the working and middle classes in an attempt to gain parliamentary reform through peaceful means. He particularly wanted the leading moral force chartists John Collins and William Lovett involved. Sturge and his middle class associates agreed to the principals of the People's Charter, however, the Sturgites refused to accept the terminology chartism, chartists, and the People's Charter. With neither side willing to compromise the CSU was short lived.
ARRESTED - CHARTIST DELEGATES TO THE 1839 NATIONAL CONVENTION
William Carrier: Arrested 7 June 1839 Sentenced 2 years
John Collins 1802-1852: Arrested 5 July 1839. Sentenced 1 year 6 August 1839
John Deegan: Arrested 9 August 1839 Discharged on bail 2 years Mar 1840
James Fenney: Arrested 17 August 1839 Sentenced 1 year Oct 1839
John Frost 1784-1877: Arrested 4 November 1839 Sentenced death, commuted to transportation for life
George Harney: Arrested 7 July 1839 Acquitted
William Lovett 1800-1877: Arrested 5 July Sentenced 1 year 6 August 1839
Dr Peter McDouall: Arrested 8 June 1839 Sentenced 1 year August 1839
James O'Brien (Bronterre) 1805-1864: Arrested Oct 1839 Sentenced 18 mos 24 Mar 1840
Fergus O'Connor 1794-1855 : Arrested Oct 1839 Sentenced 18 mos 27 Apr 1840
Reginald Richardson: Arrested 13 Sept 1838 Sentenced 9 mos 25 Mar 1840
Joseph Stephens : First Chartist Arrested 27th December 1838
Dr John Taylor: Arrested and sentenced Dec 1839
Henry Vincent 1813-1878: Arrested 8 May 1839 Sentenced 1 year Mar 1840
Edward Brown: "Unofficial Delegate" for Birmingham. Arrested 17 May 1839 Sentenced 18 mos
BIRMINGHAM POLITICAL UNION (BPU) - UNION LEADERS & DELEGATES TO THE 1839 NATIONAL CONVENTION
- John Collins: Delegate for Birmingham (6 Aug 1838), Northampton (20 May 1839), Cheltenham (24 Jan 1839), and Coventry.
- Robert Douglas: Editor of Birmingham Journal. Birmingham Delegate resigned 28 March 1839
- Geo Edmunds: Birmingham Delegate, but did not attend Convention
- Benjamin Hadley: Birmingham Delegate resigned 28 March 1839
- G & P Muntz: Birmingham Delegates, but did not attend Convention
- John Pierce: Birmingham Delegate who disappeared from the scene and emigrated
- Thomas Salt 1789-1859: Birmingham Delegate who resigned 28 Mar 1839
- Edward Brown: "Unofficial Delegate" for Birmingham. Working man.
- Henry Donaldson: "Unofficial Delegate." Working man.
- John Powell: "Unofficial Delegate" for Birmingham. Working man.
FRIENDS OF JOHN COLLINS, THE BIRMINGHAM CHARTIST
In October 1839 Joshua Scholefield, Member of Parliament for Birmingham, England wrote Lord Normanby, Home Secretary at that time, on behalf of the "numerous friends of John Collins." Scholefield's letter enclosed a petition requesting Collins be transferred from the criminal side to the debtor side of Warwick Gaol, where he would get better treatment, and was signed by important pillars of the community including eight Borough Magistrates and a "considerable number" of Town Councilors:
Joshua Scholefield (Member of Parliament, Birmingham 1832-1840)
William Scholefield (Lord Mayor, Birmingham 1838)
James Tongue.
Thomas Phillips.
Philip Henry Muntz (Lord Mayor, Birmingham 1839-1840).
James C. Perry.
John Betts.
John Meredith.
Daniel Turner.
Joseph Gillott. (Gillott Pen Manufacturer)
John Boit Davies.
John Thomas Dyer.
Edward M. Martin.
Henry Van Wart (Justice of the Peace).
W. H. Ashmore.
John Hollingsworth.
Thomas Bolton.
G. V. Blunt.
James Goddard.
Thomas Clarke.
J. W. Winfield.
Wm. & Francis Room.
Samuel Beale (founder Birmingham & Midland Bank, Lord Mayor Birmingham 1841).
D. B. Smith.
John Bourn.
George Attwood (Thos Attwood's brother).
Thomas Weston.
Butler Brothers.
R. K. Douglas (publisher of the Birmingham Journal)
Henry Tidmarsh.
Thomas Clowes.
Abel Preston.
Josiah James.
C. Smith.