Authors: Jo Baker
Despite massive popular support, the Chartist movement came to an end in 1854 without securing any of the aims set out in the Charter. Government repression of the movement had been harsh. The Chartists suffered mass arrests, show trials, transportation and imprisonment with hard labour. Submission of the Petition to Parliament was met with stonewalling: signatures were dismissed as either fakes, or as women’s, both of which were considered equally valueless. Following the rejection of their petitions, the various factions within the Chartist movement found it difficult to agree on what strategy to adopt, and these internal tensions contributed to the movement’s decline. Although the Chartists didn’t see their goals achieved, their ideas eventually
triumphed: their main demands (with the exception of annual parliaments) now form the basis of our democratic system.
Though Robert Moore is a fictional creation, his biography and experiences owe a great deal to two real characters: Robert Gammage, Chartist leader and the author of
History of the Chartist Movement
, and Robert Marsden, a handloom weaver, autodidact and key member of the Preston Chartists.
Key to the writing of this novel was an encounter with R. G. Gammage’s
History of the Chartist Movement
. This uncovered to me a dark period in history of which I had been almost entirely ignorant. As a member of the Chartist movement himself, Gammage gives an account of its inception, struggles, and eventual dissolution that is compellingly vivid and intriguingly partial.
A number of other books have been helpful to the writing of this story, in particular William Graham’s 1891 publication
Socialism New and Old
, Josephine Kamm’s
Hope Deferred: Girls’ Education in English History
, J. E. King’s
Richard Marsden and the Preston Chartists
, Jonathan Rose’s excellent
The Intellectual
Life of the English Working Class
, and E. P. Thompson’s
The Making of the English Working Class
.
I’m extremely grateful to Dr. Mike Sanders for his invaluable insight into the Chartist movement and the events of 1842. His patience and erudition in answering my many queries, and his generosity in allowing me access to his own ongoing research, are greatly appreciated. Thanks are also due to Valerie Baker, Robert Baker, and Daragh and Daniel Carville, who have all helped in their various and much-valued ways. A good deal of the early work on this book was undertaken at the St. John Cavalier Centre for Creativity in Valetta, Malta; my thanks are due to the staff there, and to the British Council and Arts Council of Northern Ireland for funding my stay.
Very grateful thanks are due to Laura Barber for her care and extraordinary editorial insight in bringing the book to completion. And finally, to Clare Alexander: thank you.