The Chartist movement, or Chartism, refers to an English social-reform movement from 1838 to 1848, based on the belief that Parliamentary legislation could correct economic and social exploitation. In 1837, the London Working Men’s Association submitted a program titled the People’s Charter to Parliament, and the reform group derived its name. Chartism developed due to working-class discontent with the Reform Bill of 1832 and the Poor Law of 1834. Many saw the bills as discriminatory against workers who faced multiple abuses in the new industrialized society.

Novels of the day, termed thesis novels, including books by Charles Dickens, Charles Kingsley, Frances Trollope, Benjamin Disraeli, and Mrs. Gaskell, reflected the working-class concerns championed by the Chartists. Newspapers supporting the movement included The Charter, The Champion, and The Weekly Police Gazette.

Robert Wilson: Chartist demonstration Chartist demonstration, Kennington Common, 1848; illustration from The Life and Times of Queen Victoria (1900) by Robert Wilson.

The Charter presented six demands that included voting rights for all males over 21 years of age, all of which the House of Commons rejected. That led to a petition bearing 1.25 million signatures presented to Parliament, which again rejected all demands. Over the next 10 years, organization continued, including that of a Chartist branch supporting violence, led by Feargus O’Connor, an Irish radical. The group donned red caps symbolizing liberty, carried arms, and waved banners with slogans such as “He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and bear one.”

Talk of organization among the Chartists alarmed the government, which organized paramilitary forces led by the Duke of Wellington to be used in case of attacks against Parliament. The Chartists then attempted a strike (which failed), and riots in 1839 resulted in many arrests. Following years of inactivity, the Chartists presented another petition to Parliament in 1848, but rather than the 6 million signatures Chartists had declared they would collect, it contained fewer than 2 million. The movement failed because of forged signatures and the discovery of Chartist armaments concealed around London, which contributed to the movement’s loss of credibility.

Built on poverty, the movement was doomed to fail due to little material support. Although Chartism as such disappeared, all the reforms demanded eventually became law, thanks to continued efforts by political and social leaders. Charles Kingsley, among others, began in 1849 to sponsor workmen’s cooperative associations, and such organization strengthened the reform drive originally begun by the Chartist movement.

Bibliography

Cripps, Elizabeth. Introduction to Alton Locke: Tailor and Poet, An Autobiography, by Charles Kingsley. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.

Haywood, Ian. Working-class Fiction: From Chartism to Trainspotting. London: Northcote House, 1998.

Categories: British Literature, Literary Terms and Techniques, Literature

Tags: 1838 to 1848 reform movement, 19th-century England, Alton Locke, Benjamin Disraeli, British labor history, British social reform, Charles Dickens, Charles Kingsley, Chartism, Chartist demands, Chartist movement, Chartist newspapers, Chartist petition 1848, Chartist riots 1839, cooperative associations, Duke of Wellington, English radical movements, Feargus O’Connor, Frances Trollope, historical protest movements UK, history of British democracy, industrial revolution protests, Mrs. Gaskell, People’s Charter, political reform in Britain, poor law protests, Reform Bill 1832, social justice in 19th century, The Charter newspaper, thesis novels, universal male suffrage, Victorian era politics, Victorian Literature, working-class activism, working-class history