Kennington 1848: the women in white bonnets, the man in the dustman's hat and the coachman

The daguerreotype images of the famous Chartist Kennington Common meeting on 10 April 1848 have fascinated historians since they first came to light in the Royal Collection in the mid-1970s. Though not the first crowd photographs, as is sometimes claimed, they are the first such pictures of a protest meeting, and they provide a real glimpse into this historic moment in time.

Professor Fabrice Bensimon, historian of the nineteenth century and a noted expert on the Chartist movement at Sorbonne Université, has spent many hours pouring over the two surviving daguerreotypes in an attempt to shed light on the people who made up the crowd. His research appears in a recent article in the Journal of Victorian Culture¹.

Join the great Chartist day out - 7 July 2018

The Kennington Chartist Project culminates on Saturday 7 July 2018 with a day of workshops, participation and action in Kennington Park. It looks great – so if you are free on the day, please go along.

In fact, if you know a bit about Chartism or could otherwise help out, the project’s organisers are looking for volunteers. Find out more about volunteering.

Video: London Chartism author David Goodway on the events of 10 April 1848

Great to see Dr David Goodway, author of the first (and only) full-length study of London Chartism speaking at Kennington Common on Chartism Day 2018. Here's the video...



Find out more about Dr Goodway's book London Chartism 1838-1848.

Read the Illustrated London News account of the Kennington Common monster meeting of 10 April 1848.

Read about the Orange Tree conspiracy of 1848.

Chartism Day 2017: from biscuits and salt pork for the troops to surrealist Chartist images and a lost letter

Some 20 years on from the first ever Chartism Day, each year’s event still brings word of archive discoveries, exciting new images and innovative ways of “doing history” that shed light on the people who made up the Chartist movement and how they thought and acted.

Chartism Day 2017 was no exception. Organised by Dr Katrina Navickas and colleagues from the University of Hertfordshire history department, this year’s conference visited Heronsgate – better known to those with an interest in Chartism as O’Connorville.