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The Chartist Prisoners, 1839–41*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

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Historians of Chartism face a dilemma. On the one hand, they are obliged to interpret this national political movement on the national level, to attempt to explain why millions of British working men and women were engaged in organized political activity over several decades. But, on the other hand, many of the richest sources on Chartism are found on the local level. Older histories of the movement treated Chartism from a national perspective, but failed to take note of many of its complexities. More recently, a good deal of local research has rigorously tested our assumptions about Chartism, but the task of carefully analyzing the movement on the national level still remains.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1979

References

1 Several scholars have pointed to the necessity of returning to the national level for a re-appraisal of Chartism. Kemnitz, Thomas Milton, “Approaches to the Chartist Movement: Feargus O'Connor and Chartist Strategy”, in: Albion, V (1973)Google Scholar, provides a new angle on the question of violent rhetoric and action. Judge, Kenneth, “Early Chartist Organization and the Convention of 1839”, in: International Review of Social History, XX (1975)Google Scholar, presents some thoughts on the national organization of the movement. James Epstein, “Feargus O'Connor and the Northern Star”, ibid., XXI (1976), offers a major re-interpretation of the Chartists' national newspaper.

2 There is no single repository of Chartist prison correspondence. A good number of letters can be found reproduced in the pages of the Northern Star and other Chartist newspapers. Some of Lovett and Collins's letters are printed in Parliamentary Papers, 1840, XXXVIII, 44, pp. 751–66. The Lovett-Place correspondence is in Set 55 of the Place Collection, British Library, Reading Room. This volume of the collection is devoted solely to the imprisonment of Lovett and Collins, and sheds light on Place's extraordinary efforts to aid the Chartist prisoners. Vincent's letters to John Minikin are in the Vincent Manuscripts, Labour Party Library, Transport House, and there are three letters written by O'Brien from Lancaster Castle in the Allsop Manuscripts, British Library of Political and Economic Science, London School of Economics, Coll. Misc. 525. Much confiscated prison correspondence may be located in various county record offices. For example, a letter from Lawrence Pitkeithly to James Duffy dated 5 September 1840 was found in the North Riding Public Record Office, Northallerton. It is printed in Singleton, Fred, The Industrial Revolution in Yorkshire (Clapham, 1970), pp. 182–83.Google Scholar

3 PP, 1840, XXXVIII, 600, pp. 691–750.

4 Much parliamentary time in 1839–40 was consumed by debates on the treatment of Chartist prisoners. See Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, Third Series, L (1839), cc. 483, 528–83; LI (1840), cc. 508–10, 1808–95, 1159–60; LII (1840), cc. 392, 1049–50, 1109, 1133–50; LIII (1840), cc. 1103–17; LIV (1840), cc. 647–56, 895–913, 917–22, 953–54, 1165–68; LV (1840), cc. 408–09,613–56, 771–74, 1287–1304, 1364. The inquiry was made in response to a request by Joseph Hume on 26 June, and the report was printed 5 August. See PP, 1840, “Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons”, pp. 1194, 1550. It is clear that the Chartists wanted such an inquiry made, to suit their own propaganda purposes, and Hume may have been fulfilling a request from them. See James Watson to Place, 4 May 1840, Place Collection, Set 55, ff. 366–68.

5 It is safe to assume that the English and Welsh political prisoners all were connected with Chartism, and that the 200-odd Irish were not. The one Scotsman, James Cairns of Hawick, was not a Chartist either. There is some confusion over the true number of prisoners. The table at the beginning of the report gives a total of 380 English and 60 Welsh prisoners, but the former number should have read 480. The discrepancy is due to an arithmetical error or misprint. Also, there are numerous repetitions in the list of prisoners. A careful count yields a total of 470 for England and Wales. This number includes some who did not spend much time in jail. According to Fox Maule, 467 of the prisoners were brought to trial in 1839–40, of whom 379 were convicted. See Hansard, Third Series, LVIII (1841). cc. 751–52.

6 For a detailed discussion of these documents, see Godfrey, Christopher and Epstein, James, “H.O. 20/10: Interviews of Chartist Prisoners. 1840–41”, in: Bulletin of the Society for the Study of Labour History. No 34 (1977), pp. 2734.Google Scholar

7 William John Williams was one of the first Home Office prison inspectors appointed under the Prisons Act of 1835 [6 Will. IV. c. 38]. He also was a member of the commission which investigated the state of the Birmingham borough prison, 1853–54. See Modern English Biography, ed. by Boase, Frederic (6 vols; London, 1921). VI. c. 898.Google Scholar Williams appears to have held a commission in the army, which made him particularly well suited to conduct these interviews, as he would have been accustomed to dealing with large numbers of men from working-class backgrounds.

8 Throughout this paper, unless otherwise noted, direct quotations have been taken from the interviews in HO 20/10.

9 Hovell, Mark, The Chartist Movement, ed. and completed with a memoir by Tout, T. F. (Manchester, 1918), pp. 180.Google Scholar

10 These include the riots at Birmingham and Mid Wales (July 1839), Bolton and Nottinghamshire (August 1839), and the risings at Newport (November 1839), Sheffield and Bradford (January 1840). More problematic is the group of about a dozen Chartists arrested in South Lancashire and Cheshire on a charge of conspiracy in early August 1839. They had procured a large number of weapons, and, although it is impossible to ascertain their intentions, it is likely that they were preparing to resist a government attack on the Chartists during the National Holiday, in the style of Peterloo. See Stockport Advertiser, 2 August 1839; Jones, Lloyd, “Chartism in Difficulties”, in: Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, 13 September 1879, p. 3Google Scholar; Lovett Collection, Vol. II, f. 73, Birmingham Reference Library; Bowman, Winifred M., England in Ashton-under-Lyne (Altrinsham, Cheshire, 1960), pp. 501.Google Scholar

11 The best work on the place of artisan trades in the history of Chartism has been done by Iorwerth J. Prothero. He feels that their “role in Chartism is clearer and more obvious than that of miners or factory workers”. See his “London Chartism and the Trades”, in: Economic History Review, Second Series, XXIV (1971), p. 204.Google Scholar Although he is dealing with London, Prothero's assertion holds true for many centers of Chartism.

12 See, for example, English Chartist Circular, II, pp. 6, 10–11.

13 A recent study of French workers utilizes the notion of a “crisis of expansion”. See Sewell, William H. Jr, “Social Change and the Rise of Working-Class Politics in Nineteenth-Century Marseille”, in: Past & Present, No 65 (1974).CrossRefGoogle Scholar For a full discussion of the crisis facing English artisans in this period, see Thompson, E. P., The Making of the English Working Class (New York, 1963), ch. 8.Google Scholar

14 In 1852, when the woolcombers were being displaced by machinery, Ernest Jones called woolcombing “an ancient – a once flourishing and high-paid trade”. See People's Paper, 4 September 1852, p. 1.

15 Peacock, A. J., Bradford Chartism 1838–1840 (York, 1969), pp. 23Google Scholar; Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, op. cit., p. 282.

16 Much the best account of the problems of the Lancashire cotton spinners in this period is Kirby, R. G. and Musson, A. E., The Voice of the People: John Doherty, 1798–1854 (Manchester, 1975)Google Scholar; see especially p. 15.

17 Quoted in Godfrey and Epstein, “H.O. 20/10”, loc. cit., p. 30.

18 A distinction should be drawn between public houses and beershops. The former required procuring a license, which entailed a certain degree of surveillance by the authorities. James Duke lost his license immediately after his arrest, and could not re-open his pub, the Bush Inn at Ashton, when bailed. Beerhouses, after the Act of 1830, did not require licenses. Any householder whose name was in the rate book was authorized to sell beer, but not other intoxicating beverages, on payment of two guineas to the Excise.

19 Prothero, “London Chartism and the Trades”, loc. cit., p. 209.

20 I owe this reference to Dr James Epstein.

21 Maughan, John, “Memoir of Mr. C. H. Neesom”, in: National Reformer, 20 July 1861 p. 7.Google Scholar

22 Newspaper Cuttings Relating to Sheffield. Vol. XLI, p. 258, Sheffield Central Library.

23 Read, Donald, “Chartism in Manchester”, in: Chartist Studies, ed. by Briggs, Asa (London, 1959), pp. 56.Google Scholar

24 Bradford Observer, 30 January 1840.

25 The most thorough study of the radical tradition in Barnsley is a doctoral thesis by Kaijage, F. J., “Labouring Barnsley, 1815–56: A Social and Economic History” (Warwick University Ph.D. thesis, 1975).Google Scholar See also id., “Manifesto of the Barnsley Chartists”, in: Bulletin of the Society for the Study of Labour History, No 33 (1976), pp. 2026.Google Scholar

26 Joseph Wilkinson, Barnsley Obituary, p. 151, Barnsley Public Library.

27 Kaijage, “Labouring Barnsley”. op. cit., ch. 9, passim.

28 Peel, Frank, The Risings of the Luddites, Chartists and Plug-Drawers, 4th ed. (London, 1968), pp. 323.Google Scholar

29 “Biographical Sketch of the Late Samuel Holberry”, in: English Chartist Circular, Nos 118–22; Jones, Lloyd, “Poor Chartists Not To Be Forgotten”, in: Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, 11 October 1879, p. 3Google Scholar; information in HO 20/10.

30 The Grand Midland Demonstration at Birmingham, August 6, 1838 (Birmingham, 1838), pp. 16.Google Scholar

31 Read, “Chartism in Manchester”, loc. cit., pp. 41–43.

32 Obituary in Ashton-under-Lyne News, 2 October 1869, p. 8. See also Aitken's serialized “Remembrances of the Struggles of a Working Man for Bread and Liberty”, ibid., September-October 1869.

33 Operative, 6 January 1839, p. 3.

34 It should be pointed out that not all the Chartists were so implacably opposed to the New Poor Law. Isaac Johnson told the prison inspector: “I am of the opinion that the Poor Law Bill was not wrong as a whole but in parts.”

35 An exception is Thompson, Dorothy, “Women and Nineteenth-Century Radical Politics: A Lost Dimension”, in: The Rights and Wrongs of Women, ed. by Mitchell, Juliet and Oakley, Anne (Harmondsworth, 1976).Google Scholar This essay draws attention to the role of women in conveying political attitudes within working-class families. Of course, the family backgrounds of some of the more famous Chartists, such as O'Connor, have been examined by their biographers.

36 Quoted ibid., p. 120.

37 Maughan, , “Memoir of Mr. C. H. Neesom” (continued), in: National Reformer, 27 July 1861, p. 6.Google Scholar See also Harrison, Brian, “Teetotal Chartism”, in: History, LVIII (1973), p. 199.Google Scholar

38 Lloyd Jones, “Poor Chartists”, loc. cit., p. 3.

39 It should be pointed out that Holberry, Wells and Holdsworth, members of “Chartist families” mentioned above, were not among those who pleaded guilty to rioting at Sheffield.

40 Sir John Campbell, the prosecutor in the Monmouth trials, wrote to the Home Office: “Richard Benfield and John Rees are the two for whom a slighter punishment seems stipulated. In truth we had not a particle of evidence against them except that they were found concealed in the Westgate Inn and that they stood out. I must have agreed to their acquittal.” Campbell to S. M. Phillipps, 19 February 1840, HO 20/8, Pt 1.

41 Letter of 16 September 1840, printed in the Northern Star, 24 October, p. 7.

42 Hansard, Third Series, LV, c. 1301.

43 Williams to Maule, 17 December 1840, HO 20/10.

44 Benbow to Jackson, 16 October 1840, HO 20/10. This letter was confiscated by the prison authorities.

45 Operative, 20 January 1839, p. 6; William Willis to R. J. Richardson, 12 March 1839 (copy of intercepted letter), HO 40/53, ff. 991–94.

46 Benbow to Jackson, 16 October 1840. There is some further information on this episode in Kemnitz, T. M. and Jacques, F., “J. R. Stephens and the Chartist Movement”, in: International Review of Social History, XIX (1974), p. 224.Google Scholar

47 I owe this insight to Dorothy Thompson. Benbow does not fit the pattern, however. His loyalty to Stephens defies explanation.

48 See his “Last Sermon”, in: Northern Star, 17 August 1839, p. 6. The degree to which Stephens's conduct alienated many Chartists is exemplified by Thomas Dunning, the Nantwich shoemaker: “The Chartists had subscribed liberally to the defence of Mr. S., but he having on his trial denied all connection with Chartism, Chartists felt no further sympathy for him; in fact, many felt pleased he got a heavier sentence than Dr. McDouall, who defended his Chartist principles in a speech [at his trial].” The Reminiscences of Thomas Dunning (1813–94) and the National Shoemakers' Case of 1834”, ed. by Chalinor, W. H., in: Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, LIX (1947), p. 119.Google Scholar

49 Stephens's Monthly Magazine, 1840, pp. 190–91.

50 I. J. Prothero found this to be the case in London, where even Henry Hetherington took part in the campaign to support Stephens. See his “London Working-Class Movements, 1825–1848” (Cambridge University Ph.D. thesis, 1967). p. 199.Google Scholar

51 “Prospects of our Cause”, in Chartist, 7 July 1839, p. 1. The wording of the last phrase is significant. Most Chartist rhetoric in this period, even calls for arming, were couched in defensive terms.

52 See for these years English Chartist Circular, McDouall's Chartist and Republican Journal, Midland Counties Illuminator, Northern Liberator, and of course the Northern Star. A report in the latter on a meeting to pray for imprisoned Chartists is reprinted in Thompson, , The Early Chartists (London, 1971), pp. 218–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

53 Northern Star, 18 July 1840, p. 6. See also Epstein, “Feargus O'Connor and the Northern Star”, loc. cit., p. 94, note 2.

54 British Library, Add. Mss 34, 245 B (Miscellaneous Papers of the Chartist Convention, 1839), ff. 61–62.

55 Northern Star, 26 October 1839, p. 5.

56 Ibid., 14 September, p. 8. Owing to a powerloom weavers' strike, this level of support could not be maintained in 1840. See ibid., 25 July 1840, p. 1.

57 O'Brien to Allsop, 17 June 1840, Allsop Manuscripts.

58 Ashton to O'Brien, 5 August 1842, printed in British Statesman, 8 October 1842, p. 9.

59 Northern Star, 17 October 1840, p. 5.

60 Ibid., 15 August, p. 7.

61 Midland Counties Illuminator, 20 February 1841, p. 6, and following issues.

62 Hannah Collins to Place, 20 March 1840, Place Collection, Set 55, unnumbered folio.

63 “Subscription for Lovett and Collins in 1839–40”, ibid.

64 The Chartist period was not the first time that the British public had been shocked by revelations concerning prison conditions, which radicals then used to embarrass the government. Sir Francis Burdett had first made his mark in Parliament by exposing the cruel treatment of the inmates at Cold Bath Fields prison in 1798–1800. In the early 1820's, there had been scandals surrounding Ilchester and Milbank prisons. Henry Hunt had issued a pamphlet, A Peep into a Prison (1821), which prompted several parliamentary inquiries. See, among others, PP, 1822, XI, 7, pp. 277–312; 1822, XI, 30, pp. 733–56; 1823, V, 150, pp. 365–78.

65 The Times, 28 May 1840, p. 4. See also Peacock, A. J., “Feargus O'Connor at York”, in: York History, No 2.Google Scholar

66 The episode may well have been a crucial watershed in the history of Chartism, displaying the efficacy of legal pressure tactics and the futility of violence. See Thompson, Dorothy, “Chartism as a Historical Subject”, in: Bulletin of the Society for the Study of Labour History, No 20 (1970), p. 12.Google Scholar

67 Northern Star, 8 May – 5 June 1841.

68 Hansard, Third Series, LVIII, cc. 740–65; The Life and Correspondence of Thomas Slingsby Duncombe, Late MP. for Finsbury, ed. by Duncombe, Thomas H. (London, 1868), pp. 301.Google Scholar

69 For others, see HO 13/77 (Criminal Correspondence and Warrants, 1840).

70 “Liberation of Political Victims”, in: English Chartist Circular, I, p. 90.

71 Midland Counties Illuminator, 27 March 1841, p. 27.

72 The Northern Star's report of this meeting is reprinted in Thompson, The Early Chartists, op. cit., pp. 139–74.

73 “The Marquis of Normanby and the Torture of Political Prisoners”, in: Reynolds's Newspaper, 17 May 1863, p. 1.

74 The surgeon at Northallerton had recommended that Duffy and Holberry, for reasons of health, be moved to “some prison in a more elevated and airy situation”. But Captain Williams wrote to the Home Office that “the case of Samuel Holberry is not one of immediate or pressing necessity”, and that his condition was improving. Williams to Maule, 29 December 1840, HO 20/10. A year and a half later he died of tuberculosis, shortly after being moved to York Castle.

75 Northern Liberator, 31 October 1840, p. 6.

76 “A Chapter from a Memorable Life”, in: Birmingham Mail, 9 December 1890.

77 The best account of this episode is Peacock, “O'Connor at York”, loc. cit. See also Read, Donald and Glasgow, Eric, Feargus O'Connor: Irishman and Chartist (London, 1961), pp. 9091.Google Scholar

78 Higgins to Samuel Walker, 29 May 1840, printed in Stephens's Monthly Magazine, August 1840, p. 188.

79 Northern Star, 16 May 1840, p. 1.

80 Duncombe to Russell, 5 December 1839, Place Collection, Set 55, ff. 208–10.

81 Williams to Maule, 3 November 1840, HO 20/10. Benbow described this woman as “a duck-footed wench nearly two yards in length”. Benbow to Jackson, 16 October 1840. If she really was six feet tall, they would have made a humorous couple, as all descriptions of McDouall emphasize his petite stature. The two were married at Glasgow in 1840, and had five children, one of whom, a daughter, died while McDouall was serving a second prison term in 1850. McDouall emigrated with his family to Australia in 1854, but he died soon after their arrival. Mrs McDouall returned to England with her four children, and was thrown onto parish relief at Everton. She also received some aid from a special Chartist fund. See People's Paper, 9 August 1856, p. 4.

82 Holberry to Harney, 24 April 1842, printed in Northern Star, 30 April, p. 1.

83 Ibid., 5 September 1840, p. 7.

84 Hoey to Duncombe, 20 May 1851, printed in Hansard, Third Series, LVIII, cc. 745–46.

85 “Liberation of Political Victims”, loc. cit.

86 “Letter from William Martin to a Friend in Sheffield”, in: Sheffield Working Man's Advocate, 6 March 1841, p. 5. A portion of this letter was also printed in the Northern Star, 6 March, p. 7. Martin was born in County Wexford, Ireland.

87 Petition dated 10 January 1840, Holyoake Collection, Co-operative Union Library, Manchester, No 13.

88 Walker to his wife, 9 August 1841, printed in Northern Star, 28 August, p. 7.

89 English Chartist Circular, I, p. 153.

90 PP, 1824, XIX, 247, p. 169.

91 “Letter from William Martin to a Friend in Sheffield”, loc. cit.

92 Midland Counties Illuminator, 10 April 1841, p. 34. Peddie's “Diary” also was printed in the Northern Star, 17 April, p. 5. See also Peacock, Bradford Chartism, op. cit., p. 51.

93 Midland Counties Illuminator, 10 April 1841, p. 34.

94 Vernon, W. J., “Prison Discipline – No. III”, in: Reynolds's Political Instructor, 2 March 1850, p. 135.Google Scholar This passage is taken from one in a series of articles written by Vernon for Reynolds's paper, shortly after his release. They constitute one of the most detailed descriptions of the treatment of political prisoners in the early Victorian period. Vernon himself, greatly weakened by his imprisonment, died in 1851.

95 Midland Counties Illuminator, 27 March 1841, p. 27

96 William to Mary Lovett, 12 August 1839, Place Collection, Set 55, ff. 37–39.

97 O'Brien to Allsop, 17 June 1840.

98 Northern Liberator, 23 May 1840, p. 6. See also Cook to Normanby, 17 March 1840, HO 20/11.

99 Northern Liberator, 14 November 1840, p. 3.

100 O'Brien to Allsop, 17 June 1840.

101 Gammage, R. G., History of the Chartist Movement, 1837–1854, 2nd ed. (London 1894, reprinted 1976), pp. 29, 133.Google Scholar See also Northern Star, 13 July 1839, p. 1.

102 O'Brien to Allsop, 17 June 1840, quoted by Faherty, Ray, “Bronterre O'Brien's Correspondence with Thomas Allsop”, in: European Labor and Working Class History Newsletter, No 8 (1975), p. 29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

103 William to Mary Lovett, 26 August 1839, Place Collection, Set 55, ff. 47–48; “Feargus O'Connor Herding and Feeding with Convicted Felons”, in: Northern Star, 23 May 1840, p. 4.

104 Chartism: A New Organisation of the People (1840, reprinted New York, 1969).Google Scholar

105 Vincent to Minikin, 1 June 1839, Vincent Manuscripts.

106 The adroit combination of terror and mercy had long been a characteristic of the English legal system. In the Chartist period, the government applied against an organized political movement methods which had proved effective against common criminals, both individual (murderers, thieves, forgers) and social (rioters, poachers, machinebreakers). See Hay, Douglas, “Property, Authority and the Criminal Law”, in: Albion's Fatal Tree: Crime and Society in Eighteenth-Century England (New York, 1975).Google Scholar

107 Chartist emigration to the USA has received study in Boston, Ray, The British Chartists in America, 1839–1900 (Manchester, 1971).Google Scholar Unfortunately, this book is rather scanty and, in places, inaccurate.

108 Schoyen, A. R., The Chartist Challenge: A Portrait of George Julian Harney (London, 1958), pp. 230Google Scholar; Boston, The British Chartists in America, op. cit., pp. 24–26.

109 See Boston, op. cit., pp. 16–18. The English Chartist Circular, I, p. 45, charged that “attempts are now being industriously made to seduce many of our countrymen into transporting (emigrating is the cant term) themselves from their native soil”.

110 Northern Star, 22 January 1842, p. 7.

111 Newspaper Cuttings Relating to Sheffield, Vol. XLI, p. 258.

112 Aitken, “Remembrances”, loc. cit., 9 and 16 October.

113 Vincent's sudden change was viewed with suspicion by many of his former supporters. The young W. E. Adams's Chartist aunts were convinced “that the Government had somehow found means to influence or corrupt him”. Adams, W. E., Memoirs of a Social Atom (2 vols; London, 1903), I, p. 168.Google Scholar

114 See British Statesman, April-December 1842, passim.

115 Midland Counties Illuminator, 20 February 1841, p. 6.

116 Northern Star, 26 August 1843, quoted in Peacock, Bradford Chartism, p. 53.

117 See, for example, Northern Star, 20 May 1843, p. 6.

118 Wright, Leslie C., Scottish Chartism (Edinburgh, 1953), pp. 167Google Scholar; Wilson, Alexander, The Chartist Movement in Scotland (Manchester, 1970), pp. 203.Google Scholar

119 Printed in Manchester Examiner, 22 April 1848, p. 6.

120 The four who signed Vincent's pledge were William Edwards, W. V. Jackson, Isaac Johnson and William Shellard. See English Chartist Circular, I, p. 35.

121 Peacock, Bradford Chartism, pp. 42, 50–51; Northern Star, 9 April 1842, p. 7.

122 Martin to White, 13 September 1840, printed in Northern Star, 26 September, p. 7.

123 “Liberation of Mr. McDouall from Imprisonment”, in: Northern Liberator, 29 August 1840, p. 7.

124 White to Mark Norman, 18 October 1849, printed in The Harney Papers, ed. by F. G., and Black, R. M. (Assen, 1969), pp. 89.Google Scholar

125 Northern Star, 2 October 1841, p. 6.

126 Ibid., 24 August 1844, p. 7. Another ex-prisoner, Christopher Doyle, also spoke at this meeting.

127 Ibid., 11 and 18 September 1841, p. 3.

128 Ibid., 4 September, pp. 6–8; Peacock, A. J., “Chartism in York”, in: York History, No 3, p. 128Google Scholar; Barnsby, George, “The Working-Class Movement in the Black Country, 1815–1867” (University of Birmingham M.A. thesis, 1965), pp. 162.Google Scholar

129 Northern Liberator, 31 October 1840, p. 6.

130 Duffy to his son, 16 May 1841, printed in Northern Star, 29 May, p. 3.

131 J. F. C. Harrison, “Chartism in Leicester”. in: Chartist Studies, op. cit., p. 133.

132 Northern Star, 9 July 1842, p. 5.

133 Manchester Examiner, 14 March 1848, p. 5.

134 HO 48/40 (Law Officers' Reports, 1848), unnumbered folio.

135 Peacock, Bradford Chartism, p. 50.

136 Pugh, R. B., “Chartism in Somerset and Wiltshire”, in: Chartist Studies, p. 215.Google Scholar

137 John, Angela, “The Chartist Endurance: Industrial South Wales, 1840–68”, in: Morgannwg, XV (1971), p. 33.Google Scholar

138 Manchester Times, 16 March 1844, p. 6. See also Ward, J. T., The Factory Movement, 1830–1855 (London, 1962), pp. 286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

139 People's Paper, 30 August 1856, p. 5.

140 Barnsby, “The Working-Class Movement in the Black Country”, op. cit., ch. 4, passim.

141 Wilkinson, Barnsley Obituary, pp. 43–58, 207–62.

142 Ashton Reporter, 30 January 1869.

143 Source: PP, 1840, XXXVIII, 600. The total in this table slightly exceeds the number of prisoners listed in the parliamentary report, due to several prisoners having worked in more than one trade. For instance, R. J. Richardson is listed once as a cabinet-maker and once as a bookseller. A version of this table also appeared in a paper presented by Dorothy Thompson at the Anglo-Scandinavian Labour History Conference, 1975.

144 As in Appendix II, multiple occupations inflate the total beyond the actual number of prisoners in the group.

145 Source: PP, 1840, XXXVIII, 600. An asterisk signifies the dominant trade in the community. Only the localities which provided the largest number of prisoners are entered on this table. To include all of the localities listed in the parliamentary investigation would greatly extend the length of the table without altering the conclusions derived from it.