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“In the Thickest of the Fight”1: The Reverend James Scholefield (1790-1855) and the Bible Christians of Manchester and Salford

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2014

Paul A. Pickering  and
Alex Tyrrell
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Extract

Few places in early nineteenth-century Britain had as grim a reputation as the Manchester suburb of Ancoats. In this concentration of “dark, satanic mills” and festering slums were some of the worst social problems of the Industrial Revolution. Angus Reach, a journalist with the Morning Chronicle, who visited Ancoats in the late 1840s, described it as “entirely an operative colony” containing “some of the most squalid-looking streets, inhabited by swarms of the most squalid-looking people which I have ever seen.” While making his way through this “labyrinth,” Reach saw no promise of anything better. Even the handful of chapels seemed to complement the scene of hopelessness; in a pathetically futile attempt to carry the eye up to a vision of something better their “infinitesimal” Gothic arches and ornaments only served to reinforce “the grimy nakedness” of the surrounding factories.

Type
Research Article
Information
Albion , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , Fall 1994 , pp. 461 - 482
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference on British Studies 1994

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Footnotes

1

Manchester and Salford Advertiser (22 December 1838). Paul Pickering has written about aspects of James Scholefield's career in his Ph.D. thesis, “‘The Fustian Jackets’: Aspects of the Chartist Movement in Manchester and Salford to 1842” (LaTrobe University, 1992). There was much contemporary disparity in the spelling of Scholefield's name. In this article we have corrected all spelling to conform with the spelling that he favored-Scholefield.

References

2 Reach, Angus, Manchester and the Textile Districts in 1849, edited by Aspin, C. (Helmshore, 1972), pp. 3, 6Google Scholar. See also Engels, Frederick, The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845; London, 1979), pp. 90–92Google Scholar.

3 The description of Christ Church is based on the following sources: Manchester and Salford Advertiser (4 November 1837, 17 November 1838, 5 October 1839)Google Scholar; Manchester Times (1 December 1838); [Love, Benjamin], Manchester As It Is; Or Notices Of The Institutions, Manufactures, Commerce, Railways Etc. Of The Metropolis Of Manufactures (1839; Manchester, 1971), p. 57Google Scholar; O'Connor, Feargus, ed., The Trial of Feargus O'Connor Esq. and Fifty-Eight Others at Lancaster on a Charge of Sedition, Conspiracy, Tumult and Riot, (1843; New York, 1970), pp. 110-11, 155Google Scholar; Wentworth, Phillip, “The Every Street Beef Steak Chapel and Burial Ground,” Middletown Guardian (5 April 1890)Google Scholar; MS, “Register of Christ Church, Every Street, Manchester,” Manchester Central Reference Library, Archives Department, p. 1; Roberts, N., “Sixty Years of Service,” Manchester University Settlement Diamond Jubilee 1895-1955: Souvenir Brochure (Manchester, 1955), p. 3Google Scholar.

4 Manchester Times (26 March 1842); British Statesman (2 April 1842); Northern Star (2nd ed., 20 August 1842); Harrison, W., “Monument to Henry Hunt,” Proceedings of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, (1889), 7: 325Google Scholar. The Monument was not completed until at least 1844; Chartists were buried in the “Patriot's Vault” into the 1850s. See Northern Star (24 August 1844); People's Paper (23 September 1854). It should be noted that Peter Lineham's claim that Hunt was “buried” in Scholefield's Church yard is incorrect. See Lineham, Peter J., “Restoring Man's Creative Power: the Theosophy of the Bible Christians of Salford,” in The Church and Healing, ed. Sheils, W.J. (Oxford, 1982), p. 213Google Scholar.

5 O'Connor, The Trial of Feargus O'Connor, passim.

6 This fundamental error was made by the Census enumerators as early as 1851. See Papers, Parliamentary, “1851 Census: Great Britain. Report and Tables on Religious Worship, England and Wales,” Accounts and Papers (33), vol. 89, 1852-1853, pp. ccix, 95Google Scholar. Historians who have replicated the error include Faulkner, H. U., Chartism and the Churches: A Study in Democracy (1916; London, 1970), p. 90Google Scholar, and Wearmouth, R. W., Some Working Class Movements of the Nineteenth Century (London, 1963), pp. 191-92Google Scholar.

7 Jones, David, Chartism and the Chartists (London, 1975), p. 53Google Scholar; Howell, Mark, The Chartist Movement (1918; Manchester, 1966), p. 261Google Scholar; Mather, F.C., “The Government and the Chartists,” in Chartist Studies, ed. Briggs, Asa (London, 1959), p. 391Google Scholar; Epstein, James, The Lion of Freedom: Feargus O'Connor and the Chartist Movement, 1832-42 (London, 1982), p. 66Google Scholar; Jenkin, Alfred, “Chartism and the Trade Unions,” in The Luddites and Other Essays, ed. Munby, L. M. (London, 1971), p. 84Google Scholar; Royle, Edward & Walvin, James, English Radicals and Reformers 1760-1848 (Lexington, 1982), p. 127, 161Google Scholar; Thompson, Dorothy, The Chartists (London, 1984), p. 168-9Google Scholar. In Donald Read's essay on Manchester Chartism Scholefield is mentioned once as “Scholfield [sic], a local Chartist leader,” and in their short article on Manchester Chartism Edmund and Ruth Frow fail to notice him at all. Surprisingly, there is no reference to him in Eileen Yeo's writings on Chartism and Religion. See Read, Donald, “Chartism in Manchester,” in Chartist Studies, ed. Briggs, p. 57Google Scholar; Edmund, & Frow, Ruth, Chartism in Manchester 1838-1858 (Manchester, 1980)Google Scholar; Yeo, Eileen, “Christianity and Chartist Struggle 1838-1842,” Past and Present 91 (May 1981): 109-39CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem., “Chartist religious belief and the theology of liberation,” in Disciplines of Faith: Studies in Religion, Politics and Patriarchy, ed. Jim Obelkevich, Lyndal Roper & Raphael Samuel (London, 1987), pp. 410-21.

8 Redford, A., History of Local Government in Manchester, 3 vols. (London, 1950)Google Scholar; Longmate, Norman, The Water-Drinkers (London, 1968), p. 38Google Scholar; Harrison, Brian, Drink and the Victorians: The Temperance Question in England 1815-1872 (London, 1971), pp. 100, 164, 225-26Google Scholar. Most notably there is no reference to Scholefield in Harrison's, Brian article, “Teetotal Chartism,” History, 58 (1973): 193–217CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 Axon, William E. A., A History of the Bible Christian Church Salford (Manchester, 1909)Google Scholar; Ward, W. R., “Swedenborgianism: Heresy, Schism or Religious Protest?,” in Schism, Heresy and Religious Protest, ed. Baker, D. (Cambridge, 1972), pp. 303-09Google Scholar; Lineham, “Restoring Man's Creative Power.” See also Ward, W. R., Religion and Society in England 1790-1850 (London, 1972), pp. 95–96Google Scholar.

10 Parkin, Frank, Middle-Class Radicalism: The Social Bases Of The British Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament (Manchester, 1968), pp. 2, 64Google Scholar. We assume these are the sort of people Lineham has in mind in his dismissive reference to “middle class urban sophisticates” with a “predilection to food fads” (p. 208).

11 Taylor, A. J. P., The Trouble Makers: Dissent over Foreign Policy 1792-1939 (1957; London, 1969), pp. 13–14Google Scholar. The terms “Dissenter” and “Nonconformist” have been used again very recently to refer to “an embryonic grand alliance” of Christians, socialists and members of the peace and Green movements who have opposed the policies of the Thatcher Government on moral grounds. See Schwarz, Walter, The New Dissenters. The Nonconformist Conscience In The Age Of Thatcher (London, 1989)Google Scholar.

12 Munson, James, The Nonconformists: In Search of a Lost Culture (London, 1991), p. 207Google Scholar.

13 Diary Of The Late John Epps, M.D. Edin., Embracing Autobiographical Records; Notes On Passing Events; Homeopathy, General Medicine; Politics and Religion, Etc. (London, n.d.), p. 474Google Scholar.

14 Wigham, H. M., A Christian Philanthropist of Dublin: A Memoir of Richard Allen (London, 1886), pp. 13–14Google Scholar.

15 Taylor, , The Trouble Makers, pp. 14–15Google Scholar; Lineham, , “Restoring Man's Creative Power,” p. 207Google Scholar.

16 Harrison, , Drink and the Victorians, pp. 36, 159, 363Google Scholar.

17 The need to do this has been referred to by Hollis, Patricia, ed., Pressure From Without in Early Victorian England (London, 1974), p. ixGoogle Scholar, and Tyrrell, Alex, Joseph Sturge and the Moral Radical Party in Early Victorian Britain (London, 1987), p. 6Google Scholar.

18 Alex Tyrrell has offered an answer to this question with reference to a like-minded Quaker (see Joseph Sturge, pp. 196-200).

19 As Parkin points out with reference to his middle-class radicals, an overarching canopy of shared values allows for frequent reformulations of policy around ideological rallying points (Middle-Class Radicalism, pp. 5, 39). Recent studies of millennialism and reform include Oliver, W. H., Prophets and Millennialists: The Uses of Biblical Prophecy in England from the 1790s to the 1840s (Auckland, 1978)Google Scholar; Harrison, J. F. C., The Second Coming: Popular Millennarianism 1780-1850 (London, 1979)Google Scholar; and Tyrrell, Alex, “Making the Millennium: The Mid-Nineteenth Century Peace Movement,” Historical Journal 20, 1 (1978): 75–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

20 Boase, F., Modern English Biography (London, 1965), 3: 439Google Scholar; Manchester Central Reference Library, Local History Library, Biographical Index: Manchester Evening News (15 December 1883); Slugg, J. T., Reminiscences of Manchester Fifty Years Ago (1881; Shannon, 1971), pp. 192-4Google Scholar. The details of Cowherd's early life and career have been compiled from various sources: Slugg, , Reminiscences, p. 192Google Scholar; [anon], A Description of Manchester and Salford Containing Some Account of their Antiquities, Public Buildings… (Manchester, 1815), pp. 136-37Google Scholar; Axon, William E. A., The Annals of Manchester (Manchester, 1886), pp. 120, 128, 140-41Google Scholar; idem. Handbook of the Public Libraries of Manchester and Salford (Manchester, 1887), pp. 38-39; idem, A History, pp. 17-22; Aston, J., A Picture of Manchester (1816; Manchester, 1969), pp. 103-04Google Scholar; Dictionary of National Biography, 4: 1303-04Google Scholar.

21 Hindmarsh, Robert, Rise and Progress of the New Jerusalem Church, In England, America, And Other Parts: Particularly In Reference To Its External Manifestation By Public Worship, Preaching And The Administration Of the Sacraments, With Other Ordinances Of The Church (London, 1861), pp. iv–vGoogle Scholar. Two modem studies of the origins and growth of Swedenborgianism exist in thesis form: Peter Lineham, J., “The English Swedenborgians 1770-1840: A Study In The Social Dimensions Of Religious Sectarianism” (D.Phil., University of Sussex, 1978)Google Scholar; Williams-Hogan, Jane, “A New Church In A Disenchanted World: A Study Of The Formation And Development Of The General Conference Of The New Church In Great Britain,” Ph.D. Diss., University of Pennsylvania Dissertation, 1985)Google Scholar.

22 Rev.Adam, Robert, The Religious World Displayed: Or A View Of The Four Grand Systems of Religion, Namely Christianity, Judaism, Paganism, And Mohammedanism, And Of The Various Existing Denominations, Sects, And Parties In the Christian World, To Which Is Subjoined, A View Of Materialism, Necessitarianism, Deism, And Atheism (London, 1823), 2: 242-43Google Scholar; Hindmarsh, , Rise and Progress of the New Jerusalem Church pp. 53–69Google Scholar.

23 Compton, Theodore, The Life And Correspondence Of The Reverend John Clowes, M.A. Rector For Sixty-Two Years Of St. John's Church, Manchester, And formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge (London, 1874), pp. 14-84, 112Google Scholar; Rev.Clowes, John, “The Marks And Characters Of A True Faith,” Sermons Preached At The Parish Church of St. John Manchester (London, 1793), 1: 8–12Google Scholar; Lineham, , “The English Swedenborgians,” pp. 73–112Google Scholar.

24 For English syncretic folk religions of this era see Bamford's, Passages In The Life of A Radical And Early Days, ed. Dunckley, Henry (London, 1883), 1: chs. 13, 16Google Scholar; Atkinson, John C., Forty Years in a Moorland Parish: Reminiscences and Researches in Danby in Cleveland (London, 1891), passimGoogle Scholar; Obelkevich, James, Religion and Rural Society: South Lindsey, 1825-1875 (Oxford, 1976), ch. 6Google Scholar. See also Lineham, , “The English Swedenborgians,” pp. 107-08Google Scholar.

25 Compton, , Reverend John Clowes, p. 29Google Scholar.

26 Manchester Examiner (12 December 1849); Williams, T., A Dictionary of All Religious Denominations, Antient and Modern, Jewish, Pagan, Mahometan, Or Christian; Also of Ecclesiastical History (London, 1823), p. 212Google Scholar; Conder, Josiah, An Analytical And Comparative View Of All Religions Now Extant Among Mankind: With Their Internal Diversities Of Creed And Profession (London, 1838), pp. 534-37Google Scholar. Conder also referred to fifty Church of England clergymen who had accepted “Swedenborg's Revelation.”

27 Manchester Examiner (12 December 1849).

28 Williams-Hogan, , “A New Church,” pp. 553-54Google Scholar; Lineham, , “The English Swedenborgians,” pp. 155-56, 172, 181-82Google Scholar.

29 Blake And Swedenborg: Opposition Is True Friendship, An Anthology, ed. Bellin, Harvey F. & Ruhl, Darrell (New York, 1985), pp. 52–53Google Scholar.

30 Intellectual Repository for the New Church, no. 1 (1812), Prospectus.

31 Noble, Samuel, An Appeal In Behalf Of The Views Of The Eternal World And State, And Doctrines Of Faith And Life, Held by the body of Christians who believe that a New Church Is Signified (In The Revelation, Chap XXI) By The New Jerusalem: Including Answers To Objections, Particularly those of the Rev. G Beaumont in his Work entitled “The Anti-Swedenborg” Addressed To The Reflecting Of All Denominations (London, 1826), pp. 209-24Google Scholar. See also Goyder, David G., My Battle for Life: The Autobiography Of A Phrenologist (London, 1857), pp. x, 124, 216-17Google Scholar; and Diary Of The Late John Epps, pp. 243, 416.

32 Hulbert, Charles, Memoirs Of Seventy Years Of An Eventful Life, Including Abo, Original Notices Of Hundreds Of Persons, Places And Objects, Of Interest, Singularity, And Amazement (Shrewsbury, 1852), p. 155Google Scholar; Goyder, D. G., A Concise Account Of The New Jerusalem Church; With a Critical Account Of Her Defenders; An Abstract Of Her Doctrines; Together With A Biographical Sketch Of The Life Of Her Acknowledged Apostle, The Hon. Emanuel Swedenborg (London, 1827), pp. 68–69Google Scholar; Hindmarsh, , Rise and Progress of the New Jerusalem Church pp. 147, 190-91, 203Google Scholar. Goyder referred to Cowherd's “unusual and almost unheard of severity” as a schoolmaster.

33 These were Salford, Hulme, and Ancoats. Other Bible Christian chapels were established at Brinksway near Stockport, Addingham in Yorkshire, and Philadelphia in America.

34 The First Teetotal Tract On Abstinence from Intoxicating Liquor. First Published in 1821, by Joseph Brotherton, M.P. Salford, 1832-1857. With A Biographical Introduction By William E. A. Axon, FRSL (Manchester, 1890), pp. 3–7Google Scholar; Boase, , Modern English Biography, 1: 423Google Scholar; Stenton, M., Who's Who of British Members of Parliament 1832-1885 (London, 1976), 1: 50Google Scholar; DNB, 2: 1354.

35 Axon, , A History of the Bible Christian Church, p. 22Google Scholar.

36 Cowherd, William, Facts Authentic In Science and Religion Designed To Illustrate A New Translation Of The Bible (Manchester, 1818), pp. i–iiiGoogle Scholar. See also Axon, , A History of the Bible Christian Church, p. 25Google Scholar; idem., Handbook of the Public Libraries of Manchester and Salford (Manchester, 1877), p. 41. Natural science was part and parcel of the form of public worship adopted by the Bible Christians. See: [anon], A Description of Manchester, p. 136-37; Craig, E. T., “Socialism in England: Historical Reminiscences,” American Socialist (13 December 1887)Google Scholar.

37 Lion (16 May 1828).

38 James Scholefield, “Lecture On The Deluge, Commonly Called Noah's Flood; Delivered At Christ Church, Ancoats, by the Rev. J. Scholefield, 1832,” in his Letters, etc. On Religious Subjects (n.p., n.d.); Scholefield, James, A Reply To The Address To The Labouring Classes Of Manchester and Salford; Together With Remarks on the Letters on the Subject of the Auxiliary Bible Society (Manchester, 1821), pp. 11–12Google Scholar.

39 Cowherd, , Facts Authentic, pp. iv, 1Google Scholar; [Scholefield, James], The Second Lecture On The Creation Of Man, Delivered At Christ Church Ancoats (n.p. n.d.), pp. 13, 24Google Scholar. There is no reference to the Bible Christians in Gillispie, Charles C., Genesis and Geology: A Study in the Relations of Scientific Thought, Natural Theology, and Social Opinion in Great Britain (New York, 1959)Google Scholar.

40 The Trial Of Henry Hunt, Esq. For An Alleged Conspiracy To Overturn The Government &c. By Threats Of Arms Before Mr. Justice Bayley And A Special Jury At The York Lent Assizes, 1820 (London, 1820), p. 255Google Scholar; Scholefield, James, Remarks On The Sermon, Adapted to the State of the Times, Preached By The Rev. John Stephens, In The Methodist Chapel, Oldham Street, Manchester (Manchester, 1819), p. 23Google Scholar (hereafter cited as Scholefield, Remarks). See also Northern Star (16 March 1839).

41 See Manchester Guardian (30 October 1847).

42 Hindmarsh, , Rise and Progress of the New Jerusalem Church p. 187Google Scholar.

43 Detrosier, Rowland, A Form Of Public Worship On The Principles Of Pure Deism As Used On The First Sunday Of Every Month At The Chapel Of The Society Of Universal Benevolence, Brinksway Near Stockport (Manchester, 1827)Google Scholar; Royle, Edward, Victorian Infidels: The Origins of the British Secularist Movement 1791-1866 (Manchester, 1974), pp. 39, 309-10Google Scholar; Williams, Gwynn A., Rowland Detrosier, A Working Class Infidel 1800-34 (York, 1965), pp. 8–13Google Scholar; Glen, Robert, Urban Workers in the Early Industrial Revolution (London, 1984), p. 269Google Scholar.

44 HO 40/10 fol. 337, Lloyd to Home Office, 28 December 1820. We are indebted to Dr. Iain McCalman for this reference.

45 Lion (16 May 1828). Scholefield was not amused by this allegation as he later replied to Carlile, “I shall not condescend to notice anything more that you may either say, write or do,” Lion (17 July 1829).

46 Carlile, Richard, Address to Men of Science, 1821, reprinted in Simon, Brian, The Radical Tradition in Education in Britain (London, 1972), pp. 116-17Google Scholar.

47 See Perkin, Harold, The Origins of Modem English Society, 1780-1880 (London, 1981)Google Scholar.

48 Williams, , Rowland Detrosier, p. 8Google Scholar.

49 HO 40/17 fols. 330-1, Eckersly to HO, 1 August 1822; fol. 336, Norris to HO, September 1822. We are indebted to Dr. Iain McCalman for these references. Manchester Guardian (30 October 1847); Manchester Times (1 December 1838); Manchester and Salford Advertiser (8 December 1838); O'Connor, , Trial of Feargus O'Connor, p. 308Google Scholar. A survey in 1835 showed that the three Bible Christian Sunday Schools in Manchester and Salford-King Street, Salford, Hulme and Every Street-catered for about 500 children. By 1840 Every Street Sunday School catered for 482 scholars. See Love, pp. 90-91; Manchester Times (13 June 1840).

50 Swedenborg, Emanuel, Heaven And Its Wonders, And Hell: From Things Heard and Seen, 1757 (London, 1909), p. 290Google Scholar. See also Trobridge, G., Swedenborg: His Life and Teaching (1909; London, 1974), p. 128Google Scholar.

51 Select Hymns For The Use Of Bible Christians; By The Late Rev. W. Cowherd, With An Appendix By The Rev. Jas Scholefield, Christ Church, Every Street, Ancoats (7th ed.; Manchester, 1841), p. 111Google Scholar, Hymn 83. See also: Scholefield, , Remarks, p. 23Google Scholar; Manchester and Salford Advertiser (5 October 1839, 1 February 1840).

52 Intellectual Repository for the New Church 22 (April-June, 1817); Hindmarsh, , Rise and Progress of the New Jerusalem Church, p. 19Google Scholar; Wilkinson, James J. G., Emanuel Swedenborg: A Biography (London, 1849), pp. 237-38Google Scholar.

53 Scholefield, James, An Address To The Members And Friends Of The Bible Christians, Assembling At Christ Church, Every Street, Manchester, Delivered On Sunday Evening (After Tea) The 6th April, 1845, Being The Twenty-First Anniversary Of The Opening Of the Said Church For Public Worship (Manchester, 1845)Google Scholar; Axon, , A History of the Bible Christian Church, p. 25Google Scholar. Bible Christians also sang vegetarian hymns. See no. 218 in Select Hymns For the Use Of Bible Christians. Obviously, we disagree with Lineham's argument against Keith Thomas that the history of the Bible Christians exemplified the revitalization and redirection of traditional culture by “revivalist and heterodox protestantism.” On the contrary, the Bible Christians' science-based epistemology accords well with Thomas's thesis, as summarized by Lineham, that “protestants turned to natural methods and empirical science for answers to their medical and practical needs” (Lineham, , “Restoring Man's Creative Power,” p. 207Google Scholar). See also Thomas, Keith, Religion and the Decline of Magic (Har-mondsworth, 1973)Google Scholar.

54 Poor Man's Advocate and People's Library (February 1832); Star of Temperance: A Weekly Publication for the Diffusion of Temperance Information (24 October 1835, 30 April 1836); Manchester and Salford Advertiser (11 January 1840); Vegetarian Messenger (September 1849, July 1850, July 1851, July 1852, November 1852). See also Manchester and Salford Temperance Journal (18 June 1836, 30 July 1836).

55 “Physical Puritanism,” Westminster And Foreign Quarterly Review (April 1852): 405-22Google Scholar.

56 MS., “Mortgage By Demise—Trustees of the Bible Christian Building Society” (1822), MC 1576; MS., “Attested Copy of the Rules and Regulations to be Observed by Members of the Bible Christian Building Society for Building Dwelling Houses Established at the Academy, King Street, Salford, on the Twenty-Ninth Day of October One Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty One” (1834), MC 1578, Manchester Central Reference Library, Archives Department.

57 Northern Star (5 December 1840, 27 March 1841, 4 December 1841, 18 April 1846, 25 July 1846, 31 July 1847); British Statesman (6 August 1842); Vegetarian Messenger (July 1851).

58 Hulbert, , Memoirs, p. 155Google Scholar.

59 Slugg, , Reminiscences, pp. 55, 193-94Google Scholar; Lion (16 May 1828); Wentworth, Phillip, “The Rev. James Scholefield as a Preacher, and Orator, a Doctor and a Swedenborgian,” Middletown Guardian (12 April 1890)Google Scholar; Manchester City News, Notes and Queries (12 March 1904). See also Roberts, , “Sixty Years of Service”, p. 3Google Scholar.

60 Letters from England By Robert Southey, ed. Simmons, Jack (London, 1951), p. 295Google Scholar.

61 Wentworth, , “The Rev James Scholefield”; Northern Star (8 July 1843)Google Scholar.

62 Manchester Times (25 April 1840); Manchester and Salford Advertiser (1 February 1840, 29 February 1840, 25 April 1840). See also O'Connor, , Trial of Feargus O'Connor, p. 204Google Scholar.

63 Manchester and Salford Advertiser (19 March 1842, 23 April 1842); Manchester Guardian (16 March 1842, 20 April 1842).

64 British Statesman (6 August 1842). Scholefield supported a “searching and vigorous inquiry…into every branch of the public expenditure.” See Northern Star (29 February 1840).

65 Chronicle of the City Council 1838-1877 (Manchester Centra] Reference Library, Local History Library, Biographical Index).

66 Manchester Times (7 November 1840).

67 See DNB, 4: 1303; Ward, , “Heresy,” p. 307Google Scholar.

68 HO 52/42 fol. 111, Poster, December 1839; Manchester and Salford Advertiser (5 October 1839). For earlier Chartist opposition to Incorporation in which Scholefield participated see inter alia Manchester and Salford Advertiser (13 January 1838, 10 February 1838, 15 September 1838, 3 November 1838, 17 November 1838, 1 December 1838, 22 December 1838); Manchester Times (20 January 1838); Manchester Guardian (10 February 1838); Clwmpion and Weekly Herald (2 December 1838, 9 December 1838).

69 Manchester and Salford Advertiser (12 October 1839).

70 Scholefield, , Remarks, p. 16Google Scholar.

71 Scholefield, Remarks, passim. See also: Northern Star (2 April 1842).

72 Scholefield, , Remarks, p. 11Google Scholar.

73 HO 42/158 Report of R. F., January 1817. We are indebted to Dr. Iain McCalman for this reference.

74 Manchester Observer (11 September 1819).

75 Manchester City News, Notes & Queries (15 December 1883); Axon, , A History of the Bible Christian Church, p. 80Google Scholar. See also Ward, , “Heresy,” p. 307Google Scholar.

76 Scholefield, , Remarks, p. 8Google Scholar. Brotherton also assisted those who suffered at Peterloo; see Axon, , The First Teetotal Tract, p. 5Google Scholar.

77 Scholefield, , Remarks, pp. 8, 11, 12, 16, 18Google Scholar.

78 Manchester Observer (2 October 1819).

79 Manchester Observer (5 December 1820, 16 December 1820). See also 26 August 1828; 25 November 1820.

80 HO 40/17 fol. 336, J. Norris to HO, September 1822. See also Hunt, Henry, [Letters] To The Radical Reformers, Male and Female, of England, Ireland and Scotland (25 August 1821), pp. 20–21Google Scholar.

81 Ward, , Religion and Society, pp. 179-80Google Scholar.

82 “A Monument To Henry Hunt,” 1835 (Handbill in Manchester Central Reference Library, Local History Library); Poor Man's Guardian (26 September 1835); Manchester Times (11 April 1835, 19 December 1835); O'Connor, Trial of Feargus O'Connor, p. 289.

83 Wentworth, Phillip, “The Chaplain of the Manchester Chartists,” Middletown Guardian (29 March 1890), attributed the title to O'ConnorGoogle Scholar.

84 For examples see: HO 45/249c fol. 48, Shaw to Phillips, 29 June 1842; Manchester Times (21 December 1839, 1 February 1840, 20 March 1841, 22 May 1841); Manchester and Salford Advertiser (12 October 1839, I February 1840); Northern Star (29 February 1840); British Statesman (6 August 1842).

85 Manchester and Salford Advertiser (15 February 1840); Anti Corn Law Circular (24 December 1840); Report on the Conference of Ministers of All Denominations on the Corn Laws, held in Manchester, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th, 1841, with a Digest of Documents contributed during the Conference (Manchester, 1841), pp. 5–18Google Scholar.

86 Northern Star (27 September 1851). See Maccoby, S., English Radicalism 1832-1852 (London, 1935), pp. 314-15Google Scholar. We have work in progress on the Parliamentary and Financial Reform Association.

87 Scholefield's defense against the charge of conspiracy was based on the argument that he was busily engaged in other ways. See O'Connor, , Trial of Feargus O'Connor, p. 208Google Scholar; Manchester and Salford Advertiser (8 October 1842).

88 The Times (29 March 1843); Northern Star (1 April 1843). Brotherton was seen as weak and vacillating by many Chartists although “at the eleventh hour” they had supported him during the 1841 General Election on the grounds that he was “one of the best Whigs.” See Notes Of A Conversation Between J. Brotherton, M.P. For Salford , And Mr R J. Richardson, Member of the General Convention And Mr P. McDouall, Member For Ashton-Vnder-Lyne (n.p., n.d.); Northern Star (10 July 1841).

89 Vegetarian Messenger (July 1849; July 1850). Alex Tyrrell has work in progress on a general study of the middle-class moral radicals of this era.

90 Lineham, , “Restoring Man's Creative Power,” p. 213Google Scholar.

91 See Vincent, John, The Formation of the British Liberal Parry 1857-68 (Harmondsworth, 1966), part 2Google Scholar; Tholfsen, Trygve, Working Class Radicalism in Mid-Victorian England (London, 1976), chs. 4-5Google Scholar; Harrison, B., “Chartism, Liberalism and the life of Robert Lowery,” English Historical Review 82 (1967): 503-35CrossRefGoogle Scholar.