Chartists [leisure trust, arts heritage, sports centres, fitness health, rochdale, link4life, entertainment, Rochdale Boroughwide Cultural Trust, museum, middleton arena, gallery, touchstones, local studies, central, bowlee, springhill, marland, heywood, littleborough,]

Thomas Livsey (1815-1864) Chartist (c.1855)

Thomas Livsey was a chartist and radical reformer. Chief Constable of Rochdale (Mayor) in 1852.

John Fenton was Rochdale's first M.P., elected in december 1832.

Election Poll Handbill,Rochdale (1832)

John Entwisle, elected MP for Rochdale (1835)

Blackstone Edge. Etching (c.1835)

Wellington Inn, Rochdale (c.1780) - shown on the right hand side of the painting

Background to Chartism

The Chartist movement emerged in the years following the first Parliamentary Reform Act in 1832.

The 1832 Reform Act began the process of changing the representation of people in Parliament. For the first time large towns and cities in the industrial areas were allocated Members of Parliament, whilst the so-called ‘Rotten Boroughs’ were abandoned. (‘Rotten’ Boroughs typically had very few voters, in one case, as few as 7) but were still able to send an MP to Parliament).

In addition voting rights were extended to men who had property with a yearly value of £10 or over, so that approximately 1 in 5 men had the vote.

Significantly, working class men were excluded, as were all women.

In 1838 6 M.P.’s and 6 members of the London Working Men’s Association formed a committee which went on to develop and publish the ‘People’s Charter.’ The principles enshrined in this Charter were:

1. Universal male suffrage (the right to vote)
2. Electoral districts of equal size
3. Secret ballots
4. No property qualification for M.P.’s
5. Payment of M.P.’s
6. Annual Parliamentary elections

Eventually all of these principles, except annual elections, were to be realised.

In his book ‘Conflict & Co-operation,’ John Cole points out that: “Chartism, which grew up out of the sort of working class discontent that we have witnessed building up in Rochdale (as described in his book), was a truly national movement based on the belief that working people would be able to improve their standard of life only by acquiring the vote. In other words, in order to prosper they must acquire a stake in the system and all other issues and campaigns were merely a diversion from the real task.”

The Charter was unveiled to the public at a meeting of the Birmingham Political Union in 1838. It was then taken to all parts of the country, before being presented to the House of Commons, along with a large petition, in 1839. It was rejected by the House of Commons by 235 votes to 46.

Following the refusal of the petition by Parliament many radicals, including people like Feargus O’Connor, advocated the use of force to achieve their aims. John Frost, one of the leaders of the Chartist movement, carried these threats out, leading a brief and bloody clash with the authorities at Newport in South Wales. He was subsequently put on trial for treason.

The Chartist movement coincided with the economic depression of the early 1840’s (the Hungry Forties). In 1842 desperate workers in many parts of the Midlands, the North and Scotland went on strike, buoyed up by the Charter principles. These strikes were known as the ‘Plug Plots’ because striking workers removed the plugs from steam boilers, to render factories inoperable.

A second chartist petition, with over 3 million signatures, was submitted to Parliament in 1842 – but was again rejected. The third and last petition, presented in 1848, was discredited, having many forged signatures – including the name of Queen Victoria. The movement petered out after this, but its aims were not forgotten and pressure led to further Reform Acts in 1867 & 1884, which extended the franchise further. Women, of course, were still excluded, only receiving the vote (for women over 30 years) in 1918. The Equal Franchise Act of 1928 extended the vote to all women over 21, so that they had equal status with men, as far as voting was concerned.

Chartism in Rochdale

Working class people in Rochdale, like those in the rest of the country, were disillusioned by the provisions of the 1832 Reform Bill – which still barred them from voting. In Rochdale only 687 people gained the vote, from a population of around 28,000.

In the 1832 elections Rochdale had three candidates. John Fenton of the banking family was the choice of the local Liberals, whilst the Tories fielded John Entwisle, a local member of the ‘landed gentry.’ James Taylor was the third candidate, who gained the greatest show of hands at the hustings. He was a hat manufacturer from Spotland Bridge. He also preached at the Clover Street Unitarian Chapel, where his sermons had a radical political flavour.

James Taylor’s programme appealed greatly to the 8,000 strong crowd who attended the hustings outside the Wellington Hotel at the bottom of Drake Street. (The building is now the Nile nightclub.) On that occasion all three candidates stood together on a cart. James Taylor proposed “a total repeal of the Corn Laws, a reduction in taxation, a reduction in the army & navy, a total abolition of the slave trade, annual parliaments, universal suffrage and vote by ballot.”

William Robertson, in his book ‘The Social & Political History of Rochdale,’ gives the following account of the hustings, when the returning officer asked the crowd which candidate should become Rochdale’s first M.P.:

‘A few hundred hands were held up for Mr Entwisle and Mr Fenton, but for Mr Taylor an immense number were displayed.’

Remember – the crowd was estimated at 8,000.

Unfortunately, Fenton & Entwisle demanded a ballot and because the majority of Taylor’s supporters did not have a vote under the new system, the M.P. who was eventually sent to Parliament was John Fenton.

This result led to a widespread sense of betrayal and bitterness amongst Taylor’s working class supporters, and Taylor himself issued a broadsheet which underlined the situation. In addition, ordinary working people now began to realise how much power having the vote granted to people (and what the lack of it meant for them).

As John Cole states in ‘Conflict & Co-operation’ “the middle class now had access to the law-making process in Parliament and via such pieces of blatant class legislation as the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, they were soon to demonstrate their willingness to manipulate the system for their own benefit.”

These disappointments led to increasing political activity, with thousands of people turning their thoughts and activity towards even more radical reforms. Feargus O’Connor, the radical editor of the Northern Star newspaper, who was to become one of the chartist leaders, visited Rochdale in 1835. Within a few days of his visit a Radical Association had been established in the town. The President of the Rochdale Radical Association was none other than James Taylor, whilst the treasurer was Thomas Livsey. Another leading member of the Association was James Leach. All three men were to become dedicated Chartists.

The failure to reduce the long hours worked in factories (particularly for children) and the attempts to introduce the New Poor Law in the area fuelled the anger of the working class people in the Rochdale area too. They were ripe for the message of Chartism.

William Robertson, in ‘The Social & Political History of Rochdale’ tells us that on 7th November 1839 a torchlight procession was held in the town against the Poor Law. About 2,500 people eventually assembled on open ground near Baillie Street, where the meeting was presided over by Joseph Haigh. At the end of the meeting, the Charter was adopted.

Joseph Raynor Stephens, a national anti Poor law campaigner was present at the rally and urged people to arm themselves in order to resist the new Poor Law. Feargus O’Connor also attended the rally, where he hinted at the possibility of a general uprising throughout the country, saying: “He had preached for peace all his life, but at the same time he was prepared for war.”

Clement Royds, a local Tory magistrate, reported on the rally to the Home Secretary, indicating the seriousness of the call to arms and possibility of insurrection.

“The general topic was subversion to our laws, calling the people to arms and destruction to our magistrates……….I beg to further inform your lordship that regular meetings are held for the purpose of debate, to organise plans to arm the people – that arms are made to a great extent and sold throughout this country – that a cart was brought into this market last Monday laden with firearms and that they were readily sold at very reduced prices – clubs and societies formed for the purpose of arms – that this population will soon be armed to a very great extent.”

Women played a leading role within the Chartist movement, often acting as “shock troops,” leading processions and being active in demonstrations. In 1839 a Female Radical Association was formed.

On 20th February 1840, Robertson reports that an open air meeting was held in the Butts, attended by about 500 people. Thomas Livsey presided over the meeting which was called to petition Queen Victoria for the release of “Messers. Frost, Williams and Jones, who were imprisoned for giving expression to extreme views, and requesting the dismissal of the Ministry then in office.”

11th August 1842 saw the implementation of the ‘Plug Plots’ when the plugs were drawn from factory boilers in order to halt work. This was in order, says Robertson, that Feargus O’Connor’s scheme for the ‘Sacred Month’ (of strikes) would be carried out. Five or six thousand people paraded through the streets of Rochdale and most of the mills were closed. These tactics were applied throughout Lancashire.

Writing to his brother-in-law, John Bright said of the strikes:

“About 2,000 women paraded the town this morning singing hymns. The men are gone to other towns and villages to turn the hands out. Has the revolution commenced? It looks very probable. The authorities are powerless.”

Bright also noted that the large procession marched down Drake Street, headed by “women, eight or ten abreast, singing lively songs.”

John Cole notes that ‘the Liberal magistrates, Ashworth, John Fenton, Henry Kelsall and particularly William Chadwick, were cheered by the crowd…… the Chadwicks were deeply affected by events at Peterloo twenty-odd years previously, and now the Liberal majority on the bench, influenced by the Chadwicks, declined the offer of the use of troops.”

Following these strikes there were mass demonstrations for the Charter to be implemented. These were held on Blackstone Edge and Tandle Hill – and at the Basin Stone above Walsden.

Millowners attempted to re-open their factories on 18th August, but were thwarted by the return of a contingent of strikers from Oldham. The Oldman contingent were confronted at Buersil Bridge by a detachment of the 11th Hussars, accompanied by the magistrates Clement Royds (a Tory) and William Chadwick (Liberal). The Riot Act was read out, and a “volley of stones was thrown at the police and Mr Chadwick was struck on the head with a stone which cut through his hat and almost laid his skull bare.” Even so, the magistrates did not call on the troops to intervene.

Eventually, the workers were forced back to their jobs by hunger, but throughout the 1840’s Thomas Livsey continued to organise and address huge meetings.For example, on 8th August 1846 a crowd of 12,000 people climbed Blackstone Edge to listen to Livsey, O'Connor and James Taylor.

In 1848, local women also attempted to re-kindle the movement. Women had been part of Chartism, and John Cole points out in his thesis: 'Chartism in Rochdale' that as the enthusiasm of men for direct action waned, that of women seemed to have increased.

Mrs. Theobold of Manchester addressed female chartists in August 1848, in one of the last major meetings to be held in the Chartist Rooms in Yorkshire Street, Rochdale. She began by announcing that ‘…the authorities should not put female meetings down,’ and ended by saying that women in France had put their husbands into the street and made them fight by threatening to shoot them if they did not. Her audience apparently responded with cries of “that’s capital!’

On August 30th 1848 a camp meeting at Wardle was attended by a crowd of 200-300, most of whom were reported to be female.

John Cole (in Conflict & Co-operation) observes that:

“In 1853 Livsey & his colleagues succeeded in establishing a constitution for municipal elections which were virtually the Charter at local level and in 1856 he and other council leaders were branded a ‘rag-bag of defunct Chartists.’

What did die a little in 1842, however, was the notion that the Charter provided the only solution for working class ills. Gradually other avenues were explored as debates among working people broadened to include such concepts as self-education, self-improvement and Co-operation.”