Editing Chartism (section)

==Beginnings==
[[Image:ChartistRiot.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Chartists' riots]]
[[Image: The national convention. As it met on Monday the 4th of February, 1839, at the British Coffee House ca. 1839 LCCN2004669356.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|The national convention, meeting on Monday 4 February 1839, at the [[British Coffee House]]]]
Chartism was launched in 1838 by a series of large-scale meetings in Birmingham, Glasgow and the north of England. A huge mass meeting was held on [[Kersal Moor]] near [[Salford, Greater Manchester|Salford]], [[Lancashire]], on 24 September 1838 with speakers from all over the country. Speaking in favour of manhood suffrage, [[Joseph Rayner Stephens]] declared that Chartism was a "knife and fork, a bread and cheese question".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/chartism.html |website=VictorianWeb.org |title=Chartism |last=Bloy |first=Marjie |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219044548/http://www.victorianweb.org/history/chartism.html |archive-date=2008-02-19 |url-status=dead |access-date=2008-02-07}}</ref> These words indicate the importance of economic factors in the launch of Chartism. If, as the movement came together, there were different priorities amongst local leaders, the Charter and the Star soon created a national, and largely united, campaign of national protest. John Bates, an activist, recalled:

{{blockquote|There were [radical] associations all over the county, but there was a great lack of cohesion. One wanted the ballot, another manhood suffrage and so on&nbsp;... The radicals were without unity of aim and method, and there was but little hope of accomplishing anything. When, however, the People's Charter was drawn up&nbsp;... clearly defining the urgent demands of the working class, we felt we had a real bond of union; and so transformed our Radical Association into local Chartist centres&nbsp;...<ref name=Thompson1984/>{{rp|60}}}}

The movement organised a National Convention in London in early 1839 to facilitate the presentation of the first petition. Delegates used the term MC, Member of Convention, to identify themselves; the convention undoubtedly saw itself as an alternative parliament.<ref name=Charlton1997>Charlton, John, ''The Chartists: The First National Workers' Movement'' (1997)</ref>{{rp|19}} In June 1839, the petition, signed by 1.3 million working people, was presented to the House of Commons, but MPs voted, by a large majority, not to hear the petitioners. At the Convention, there was talk of a general [[Strike action|strike]] or "sacred month". In the West Riding of Yorkshire and [[Chartism in Wales|in south Wales]], anger went even deeper, and underground preparations for a rising were undoubtedly made.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

===Newport Rising===
{{main|Newport Rising}}
[[File: Dramatisation of the trial of the Chartists at Shire Hall, Monmouth, including background information 1 of 7.ogv|thumb|Dramatisation of the trial of the Chartists at [[Shire Hall, Monmouth]], including background information]]
Several outbreaks of violence ensued, leading to arrests and trials. One of the leaders of the movement, [[John Frost (Chartist)|John Frost]], on trial for treason, claimed in his defence that he had toured his territory of industrial Wales urging people not to break the law, although he was himself guilty of using language that some might interpret as a call to arms. [[William Price (physician)|William Price]] of [[Llantrisant]]—more of a maverick than a mainstream Chartist—described Frost as putting "a sword in my hand and a rope around my neck".<ref>David Williams, ''John Frost: a study in Chartism'' (1969) p 193</ref>

Unsurprisingly, there are no surviving letters outlining plans for insurrection, but Chartists had undoubtedly started organising physical force. By early autumn men were being drilled and armed in south Wales and the West Riding. Secret cells were set up, covert meetings were held in the Chartist Caves at [[Llangynidr]] and weapons were manufactured as the Chartists armed themselves. Behind closed doors and in pub back rooms, plans were drawn up for a mass protest.{{Citation needed|date = December 2015}}

On the night of 3–4 November 1839 Frost led several thousand marchers through South Wales to the [[Westgate Hotel]], [[Newport, Wales|Newport]], [[Monmouthshire (historic)|Monmouthshire]], where there was a confrontation. It seems that Frost and other local leaders were expecting to seize the town and trigger a national uprising. The result of the Newport Rising was a disaster for Chartism. The hotel was occupied by armed soldiers. A brief, violent, and bloody battle ensued. Shots were fired by both sides, although most contemporaries agree that the soldiers holding the building had vastly superior firepower. The Chartists were forced to retreat in disarray: more than twenty were killed, at least another fifty wounded.{{Citation needed|date = December 2015}}

Testimonies exist from contemporaries, such as the Yorkshire Chartist Ben Wilson, that Newport was to have been the signal for a national uprising. Despite this significant setback the movement remained remarkably buoyant and remained so until late 1842. The majority of Chartists recognised the charismatic leadership of [[Feargus O'Connor]], who was representative of a significant Irish working-class contribution to the movement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=O'Higgins |first=Rachel |date=1961 |title=The Irish Influence in the Chartist Movement |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/650138 |journal=Past & Present |issue=20 |pages=83–96 |issn=0031-2746}}</ref> O'Connor concentrated on petitioning for Frost, Williams and [[William Jones (Chartist)|William Jones]] to be pardoned. However, groups in Sheffield and Bradford planned further militant action.<ref name=Chase2007/>{{rp|135–138, 152–157}}

[[Samuel Holberry]] led an abortive rising in Sheffield on 12 January, and on 26 January Robert Peddie attempted similar action in Bradford. In both Sheffield and Bradford spies had kept magistrates aware of the conspirators' plans, and these attempted risings were easily quashed. Frost and two other Newport leaders, Jones and Williams, were [[penal transportation|transported]]. Holberry and Peddie received long prison sentences with hard labour; Holberry died in prison and became a Chartist martyr.<ref name=Chase2007/>{{rp|135–138, 152–157}}