The names of some 3,900 Chartist sympathisers from Lancashire have now been added to Chartist Ancestors. This completes a project that has taken several weeks.
The names are those of subscribers to the Chartist Land Company from the 11 towns of Ashton under Lyne, Bacup, Bolton, Bury, Colne, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale, Salford, Staleybridge and Wigan. Almost all names also have an occupation and home address, which should make it easier for family historians to claim their Chartist Ancestor.
I am immensely grateful to Professor Jamie Bronstein of New Mexico State University, who transcribed the names from the original, 19th century shareholders’ register during the course of her PhD research in the early 1990s, for allowing me to use the lists.
The register include a total of some 70,000 names in all, and was drawn up as part of the land company’s attempt to register under joint stock company laws which would have given it a proper legal basis for its work and protected its funds and investors.
The attempt failed, and ultimately the company was wound up by a special Act of Parliament – but not before it had settled some hundreds of Chartists on smallholdings.
You can read more about the Chartist land plan on Chartist Ancestors. In addition to the lists of Lancashire subscribers, the site includes the names of all those allocated land as part of the scheme, and the names of local officials of the land company.
Chartist land company - An overview and introductionLists of names by town
Ashton-under-Lyne - 168 names
Bacup - 500 names
Bolton - 781 names
Bury - 639 names
Colne - 254 names
Oldham - 219 names
Preston - 215 names
Rochdale - 285 names
Salford - 350 names
Stalybridge - 643 names
Wigan - 69 names
Chartist land plan - Read about the land plan and see the names of those allocated land.
