The Chartists ─ Perspectives & Legacies

This book explores some of the main channels and by-ways in the history of Chartism—a middle class movement in mid-19th-century Britain that attempted to bring about political reform. Considering the place of Chartism within the wider framework of Victorian politics, this study also evaluates topics such as the impact of Canada's rebellions on Chartism, Chartism's endurance in Wales beyond the 1839 Rising, the role of children in campaigning, and Chartism's impact on the mid-Victorian ethos of “self-help” and the workings of parliamentary democracy. Written in an open, accessible style, this collection, firmly located within Britain's tradition of writing history from below, offers an unusually wide variety of stimulating perspectives on key issues in the history of what, effectively, was Britain's civil rights movement.

Malcolm Chase is a professor of social history at the University of Leeds and is a leading historian of 19th-century radicalism and the labor movement. He is the author of four books and has published widely, including articles inEnglish Historical Review and Past & Present.