The Chartists - Timelines.tv History of Britain B13
Summary
TLDRThe video script recounts the Chartist risings in 1839, a pivotal moment in British history when the working class, particularly Bradford's weavers, mobilized for political change. Displaced by industrialization and frustrated by the Great Reform Act's exclusion of the poor, they sought universal suffrage and other democratic rights. Despite initial peaceful efforts, the movement turned to force, with workers gathering on the moors to prepare for uprisings. However, the Chartist movement was infiltrated by police informers, and uprisings were swiftly crushed, leaving a legacy of unmet demands and a significant chapter in the struggle for democracy.
Takeaways
- 🏙️ The script describes the landscape of Bradford Moors northeast of Manchester and its historical significance during the Chartist risings.
- 🗓️ It was the winter of 1839 when thousands of men, exhausted from the mills, assembled on the moors preparing for an uprising.
- 🛠️ The weavers of Bradford, once respected craftsmen, faced disaster with the introduction of power looms that replaced their skilled handloom work.
- 📉 The Industrial Revolution led to significant changes in the lives of weavers, causing wage cuts and unemployment, leading to widespread suffering.
- 🌾 Trade depression, failing harvests, and the high price of bread contributed to the misery experienced by the working class during the early Industrial Revolution.
- 🏛️ Parliament, unrepresentative of the majority, was seen as both the cause of distress and the hope for change among the suffering masses.
- 📜 The Great Reform Act of 1832 was a controversial piece of legislation that aimed to make Parliament more representative but was seen as hypocritical and insufficient by the working class.
- 📝 The Chartist movement emerged as a political movement demanding political change, with the Great Charter listing democratic demands such as universal suffrage and secret ballots.
- 🗣️ The Chartists' petition was dismissed by Parliament, leading to a shift towards more forceful methods, including rumors of weapon stockpiles and drilling for revolution.
- 🚨 Despite the brewing tension, the Chartist uprisings were crushed by the authorities, who were well-informed due to police informers and spies.
- 🏙️ The final Chartist meeting in 1848 on Kennington Common in London was a somber event with more spectators than demonstrators, marking the end of the movement's hope for political change.
Q & A
What significant event took place on the Bradford Moors in 1839?
-In 1839, thousands of men gathered on the Bradford Moors, preparing for an uprising related to the Chartist movement. They were weavers who had been deeply affected by the Industrial Revolution and were plotting revolution due to their worsening living and working conditions.
Who were the men involved in the nighttime gatherings on the Bradford Moors, and what motivated them?
-The men involved were primarily weavers from Bradford, who were once well-respected craftsmen. The introduction of power looms during the Industrial Revolution had drastically reduced their wages and employment opportunities, driving them to seek political change.
How did the Industrial Revolution impact the lives of Bradford's weavers?
-The Industrial Revolution brought power looms that replaced handlooms, leading to mass unemployment, wage cuts, and the loss of skilled artisan work. Weavers felt they had become slaves to the machines, and their economic prosperity declined significantly.
What role did Parliament play in exacerbating the suffering of the working class during the early Industrial Revolution?
-Parliament was seen as responsible for the high price of bread, passing laws that penalized poverty, and enforcing harsh conditions in workhouses, all of which increased the suffering of the working class.
What was the Great Reform Act of 1832, and why did it cause anger among the working class?
-The Great Reform Act of 1832 made Parliament more representative by giving MPs to new industrial towns and doubling the number of voters. However, it mainly benefited the middle class and excluded the working class, leading to anger and the rise of the Chartist movement.
What were the main demands of the Chartist movement as outlined in the Great Charter?
-The Chartist movement's Great Charter demanded votes for all men, secret ballots, regular parliaments, and payment for MPs—fundamental democratic rights that are now taken for granted.
How did Parliament react to the Great Charter presented by the Chartists in 1839?
-When the Great Charter was presented to Parliament in 1839, it was dismissed and laughed out of Parliament, leading to increased frustration and the consideration of more forceful methods by the Chartists.
Why did the anticipated revolution by the Chartists in 1839 never materialize?
-The anticipated revolution never materialized because the Chartist movement was infiltrated by police informers. When riots broke out, they were quickly suppressed by the authorities, and many Chartists were arrested and sentenced to hard labor.
How does the British response to the Chartist movement compare to revolutionary events in France during the same period?
-Unlike France, which experienced multiple revolutions in the 19th century, Britain did not have a full-blown revolution. Although the Chartists mobilized and rioted, these uprisings were quickly crushed by the authorities.
What was the significance of the last Chartist meeting on Kennington Common in 1848?
-The last Chartist meeting on Kennington Common in 1848 symbolized the decline of the movement. The event was poorly attended, with more spectators than demonstrators, and the police prevented them from marching on Parliament, signaling the end of the Chartist struggle.
Outlines
🏭 The Struggle for Democracy: The Chartist Uprisings
This paragraph delves into the historical backdrop of the Chartist movement, which emerged as a response to the dire socio-economic conditions faced by the working class in industrial Britain during the late 1830s. It discusses the transformation of skilled weavers into machine-tenders due to the Industrial Revolution, leading to unemployment and wage cuts. The paragraph highlights the anger and desperation that fueled the Chartist risings, an almost revolutionary wave demanding political change and universal suffrage. The Great Reform Act of 1832 is critiqued for its failure to address the needs of the working class, instead reinforcing the power of the propertied elite. The narrative is set against the backdrop of the Bradford Moors, where men prepared for an uprising, symbolizing the intensity of the struggle for the vote.
🗳️ The Chartist Movement: From Petition to Rebellion
This paragraph continues the narrative of the Chartist movement, focusing on its evolution from a peaceful petitioning phase to one of potential rebellion. It details the Great Charter, which listed the demands of the Chartists for democratic reforms such as universal suffrage, secret ballots, and the payment of MPs. The dismissive response of Parliament to these demands led to a shift in the movement's tactics, with workers preparing for a revolution that they believed was imminent. The paragraph also contrasts the British experience with the more violent French revolutions, questioning the perceived British passivity. It describes the police and military readiness to suppress any uprising, the infiltration of the Chartist movement by informers, and the eventual failure of the Chartists to incite a revolution, culminating in a disappointing demonstration in 1848.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Bradford Moors
💡Chartist Movement
💡Industrial Revolution
💡Great Reform Act of 1832
💡Weavers
💡Universal Suffrage
💡Power Looms
💡Workhouse
💡Kennington Common
💡Police Informers
💡Revolution
Highlights
The Bradford Moors, northeast of Manchester, were the site of a significant event in the struggle for voting rights in 1839.
In the winter of 1839, thousands of men, exhausted from work in the mills, assembled on the moors with homemade pikes, preparing for an anticipated uprising.
The story of the Chartist risings represents a pivotal moment of anger and the closest the UK came to a revolution in the late 1830s.
The workers were primarily weavers whose livelihoods were disrupted by the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of power looms.
The power looms led to unemployment and wage cuts, significantly impacting the working class and contributing to widespread suffering.
The Great Reform Act of 1832, while increasing the number of voters, was seen as hypocritical and did not address the needs of the working class.
The Chartist movement emerged from the disappointment with the Reform Act, advocating for democratic reforms such as universal suffrage and secret ballots.
The Chartists' petition, known as the Great Charter, listed demands that are now considered fundamental to democracy but were initially dismissed by Parliament.
The movement's shift towards more forceful tactics was met with police informers and a swift response from authorities, crushing the potential for revolution.
Despite the Chartist movement's failure to achieve its goals, it laid the groundwork for future democratic reforms in Britain.
The contrast between the violent French revolutions and the more subdued British response to similar social issues is highlighted.
The final Chartist gathering in 1848 was a somber event, indicative of the movement's decline and the public's despair.
The transcript provides a detailed account of the social and economic conditions that fueled the Chartist movement.
The role of Parliament in exacerbating the suffering of the working class through legislation and economic policies is critiqued.
The narrative explores the impact of industrialization on skilled workers and the societal shifts that occurred as a result.
The transcript examines the reasons behind the failure of the Chartist uprising and the resilience of the British establishment.
The historical significance of the Chartist movement in the broader context of British political history is discussed.
Transcripts
northeast of Manchester lie the Bradford
Moors a rugged majestic landscape
menacing almost 20 years on from
Peterloo out on the moors the story of
the struggle for the vote took an ugly
turn
the year was 1839
it was winter we don't know the exact
date but we're told that thousands of
men assembled up here on the moors
exhausted after a hard day's work in the
mills the grime of the factory still on
their faces and they carried home made
pikes long wooden staves with iron
spikes on the end and all through the
night by torchlight they prepared for
the uprising that they sense would begin
any day
what follows is the story of the
Chartist risings an outpouring of anger
that swept industrial Britain in the
late 1830s and the closest this country
ever came to a full-blown revolution
this is Queen Street in Burnley the last
mill you can visit in Britain to see
textile looms like these powered by a
functioning steam engine what's this
place got to do with nighttime
gatherings on the Bradford Moors well
the fact is most of the men plotting
revolution on the Moors that night were
weavers they made cloth for a living and
it's impossible to understand their
anger without understanding the fabric
of their lives and how much their lives
had changed for the worse in these years
of Industrial Revolution
once the Bradford Weaver's were
well-respected craftsman they'd worked
on handlooms powered by their muscle and
this was skilled work well-paid work but
with improvements in technology with the
development of water power and steam
power machines were introduced that
replaced the old handlooms production
went through the ceiling and the bosses
made a fortune but for Bradford's
weavers these power looms spell disaster
the days of the skilled artisan were
over now the machines did all the work
the workers merely service them and they
felt their become slaves to the Machine
even more damaging these new power looms
could do the job of for workers and that
meant either wage cuts or massive
unemployment thousands were thrown out
of work and the prosperity of Bradford's
working-class ground to a halt
it's hard to get a handle on the scale
of the suffering experienced by so many
people in those early decades of the
Industrial Revolution a trade depression
failing harvests the high price of bread
they all combined to create a misery
unique even in those grim days and what
made it worse it seemed as if the
powers-that-be were actually trying to
stoke up this suffering
it was Parliament that fixed the price
of bread
it was Parliament that passed laws that
seemed to turn poverty itself into a
crime if you were actually starving you
could be sent to the workhouse parents
were separated from children husbands
from wives all were forced to work for
starvation rations hardly surprising
then that the suffering masses turned
not just to their employers and their
landlords but to Parliament as the cause
of their distress and their hope for
comfort
well here I am outside the Palace of
Westminster the seat of parliament since
the 13th century and if you like the
focus of this entire story and as I've
explained Parliament in the early
industrial period was unrepresentative
of any but a small fraction of the
population basically just a land owning
elite but in the 1830s two dramatic
events shook Westminster the first was a
massive fire that destroyed almost the
entire building not important to our
story but a symbol that change could
occur even here and the second was a
piece of legislation a law pushed
through Parliament and it's vital to
understand this act if we're to
understand the anger that rippled across
Britain in the late 1830s and this
crucial piece of legislation was the
great Reform Act of 1832
now you read old-fashioned history books
of 19th century Britain and you'll find
the great Reform Act hailed as a triumph
a milestone on the onward march to
democracy and it's true certainly it
made Parliament more representative it
gave MPs to the new industrial towns it
doubled the number of voters and yet it
caused such anger why what to be honest
I don't think it was a great Reform Act
at all I think it was a nasty
small-minded hypocritical little Reform
Act because and here's the point the MPs
that passed this act they weren't
interested in increasing democracy in
this country they were trying to block
democracy they thought if we give the
vote to a few more people all of whom
like us have property if we get the vote
to cozy middle-class folk to
industrialist to factory owners to
bankers to shopkeepers then they'll help
us keep the vote out of the hands of
everyone else the rabble the swine
--is-- multitude 1832 was the moment in
British history when the propertied
classes in the countryside and the
property classes in the towns joined
forces closing ranks against the poor
the labourers in the countryside and the
workers in the towns
the Reform Act was met with celebration
amongst the middle classes those with
the tidy sum of 10 pounds a year who now
could vote but the act confirmed to the
workers their powerlessness and out of
that disappointment was born a new
political movement the Chartist movement
the greatest expression yet of the
people's demand for political change it
began peacefully signatures were
collected for a petition the Great
Charter it listed their demands votes
for all secret ballots regular
Parliament's payment of MPs or rights we
take now for granted the building blocks
of our democracy but when the Charter
was brought to Westminster in 1839 it
was laughed out of Parliament
and so the tide began to turn and a new
slogan was heard here in the mills and
the factories peaceably if we can
forcibly if we must there were rumors of
muskets stock pile and a local
blacksmiths mass producing weapons and
from about October 1839 we read these
first tantalizing accounts from police
records of workers at the end of the
factory day foot slugging it up onto the
moors there to drill for the revolution
that must now surely come but it never
did
it's strange you know in France there
were revolutions not just in 1789 but in
1830 in 1848 in 1870 all that violent
upheaval but here the revolution never
came
some historians reflecting on that
contrast between France and Britain have
concluded maybe we Brits were just too
quiet to uncomplaining was that how it
was well I don't think so the thousands
of men who mobilized up here on the
moors were hardly quiet and
uncomplaining but when that bubbling
anger spilled into actual confrontation
in Newport in Sheffield in Bradford
these riots were crushed almost before
they'd begun the fact is that the
Chartist movement was riddled with
police informers police spies and when
the riots began the authorities were
ready the militias moved in arrests were
made the chata sneeze were broken with
years of hard labor in prison
the last time the Chartists met was on
Kennington common in London on a rainy
day in 1848 it was all rather sad there
were apparently more spectators than
demonstrators the police barred the
Chartists from marching on Parliament
and the demonstrators all went home I
think at that moment they must have
despaired of the vote would never be won
but it was in the most unlikely way
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