I am relaunching the Chartist Ancestors Blog on a new platform, which means a change to the website address. From this point on, you should be able to find it at chartistancestors.blog.
This change does not affect the main Chartist Ancestors website, which stays at chartistancestors.co.uk. But it does mean that all future blog posts will be at the new address.
The version of the blog that you are on at present will remain up, but won't be updated.
Mark Crail
Chartist Ancestors
14 October 2024
I really enjoyed talking about 'Women and Chartism' for All About That Place 2024. This is the second year I've recorded a short video for the event, which takes place entirely online and has more speakers on a wider range of topics than any history conference I can think of.
Organised jointly by the Society of Genealogists, Society for One Place Studies, British Association for Local History and Genealogy Stories, there were something like 140 ten-minute talks - all of them free of charge. It is fantastic event, and I hope it continues to run in future years.
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| The opening screen for my presentation includes the only known portrait of Susanna Inge, a leading light in the City of London Female Chartist Association. |
Here's my talk for AATP2024.
One of the great advantages to an online event of this sort is that talks can remain online for as long as the speakers are happy for them to remain. I see no reason why my own talk should not stay up available for the long term.
If you've watched my video and want to find out more about Chartism, here are a couple of links to the main Chartist Ancestors website that you might find useful:
Other AATP2024 talks are available through the Society of Genealogists YouTube channel and via their Facebook Group.
Last year I talked at AATP2023 about the Newport Rising of 1839, a key event in Chartist history. You can watch the video here...
Dorothy Thompson was the first historian to write about Elland’s Female Radical Association, but the story of them rolling the local poor law commissioners in the snow before sending them on their way has ensured them at least a mention in pretty much every subsequent account of women in Chartism ever written.
I have now added an article on them to the website which focuses on their opposition to the New Poor Law, and their run-ins not just with the unfortunate poor law guardians but with the London press.
Chartism Day has now been in existence for two or three times as long as Chartism itself was around (depending on how you define being around). But every year brings new research and fresh ideas. This year’s event, which took place at the University of Reading at the weekend was no exception.
I have now written a full report (with photos) for the Society for the Study of Labour History website. You can read it here.
Robert LeBlond was a leading member of the National Charter Association in its final days, and an important link with middle class reform organisations. But his real interest was in secularism - still a quite shocking idea for many people.
LeBlond supported the secularist cause with the wealth generated by his print business, and promised to do more. But then things went badly wrong for him.
Although a little-known figure in the history of Chartism, I’ve been researching his life story - and, thanks to his three times great granddaughter and her assiduous work on family history, have even been able to include a photograph with the biography I’ve put together for Chartist Ancestors.
