Chartist Ancestors
What did your family to in the revolution?

Millions signed the three great Chartist petitions of 1839 to 1848. Thousands were active in those years in the campaign to win the vote, secret ballots, and other democratic rights that we now take for granted.

Chartist Ancestors lists many of those who risked their freedom, and sometimes their lives, because of their participation in the Chartist cause. The names included on the site are drawn from newspapers, court records and books of the time, from later histories and other sources.

I would like to thank the many historians, researchers and the descendents of those associated with Chartism who have helped with this site since it was launched in 2003.

Mark Crail, Editor

How to...
Make the most of your visit to an archive or records office

Research your trade union ancestors

Find Chartist records in the National Archives

© Mark Crail

Chartist memorabilia and ephemera
NCA membership cards, medals and more

Membership of the National Charter Association was a fairly fluid concept. There was no national membership list, and some of the movement's orators handed out membership cards by the hundred to those caught up in the excitement of the moment.

Despite this, few membership cards appear to have survived. I know of only three - and one of these appears in a book of 1913 so may well have crumbled to dust since then. This necessarily small online exhibition shows how the National Charter Association's membership cards evolved over the years.

Also shown here are commemorative medals paying homage to leading figure, Feargus O'Connor, proprietor of the Northern Star and MP for Nottingham, along with a surviving example of his signature.

This all too short selection of surviving Chartist memorabilia ends with a commemorative card or possibly carte de visite of Ernest Jones, who took over the leadership of Chartism in the second half of its existence.

I would love to hear of and see other examples.

Mark Crail
Site Editor

The first card carries the names of James Leach as president and William Tillman as secretary. Because of these names, it would appear to date to 1840 or 1841. The image appears in Landmarks of Local Liberalism, compiled, illustrated and published by A Marcroft in 1913 as an Oldham Liberal Bazaar souvenir. It had been lent to the author by councillor James K Cheetham and was his grandfather's membership card. The imagery of the card could take a long time to unpick, featuring as it does symbols drawn from the French revolution and freemasonry, a religious slogan, illustrations of labour and industry, and a lion trampling a cannon.

The second card was issued on 8 January 1848 to James Cuttriss, and is reproduced here with the kind permission of Richard Heaton, his direct descendent. The card is far plainer in design, but does include the six points of the charter. At this stage, the National Charter Association was emerging from a long period of relative inactivity. Feargus O'Connor, the leading figure in the NCA, had devoted considerable time to his land plan, and it took a re-emergence of radicalism elsewhere in Europe and economic crisis in Britain to rekindle interest in Chartism. Later the same year, the NCA would present its last great petition to Parliament.

The third and final card in the series features as the logo for this website and belongs to the Site Editor. It appears not to have been issued, but has the handwritten number 15016. The names of the NCA's officers are given as: president - Philip MGrath; treasurer - Feargus O'Connor; and secretary - Thomas Wheeler. This would appear to date it to between 1843 and 1848, but it is difficult to be more specific. The card combines elements of both the others shown here, featuring many of the symbols seen on the earlier version, but also the six points. The religious slogan has gone.

Above: an example (front and back) of a medallion commemorating Feargus O'Connor's release from prison in 1841. He served 16 months in York Castle for libel.

Below: an earlier medallion of 1838 issued by the Northern Union, a forerunner of the National Charter Association. The "five great principles of radicalism" includes all but one of the Chartist six points - "payment of MPs".

Below: Feargus O'Connor's signature: sadly, snipped from the letter. And a commemorative card marking the death of Ernest Jones discovered by David Shaw, of the excellent Minor Victorian Poets website. Handwritten on the back is: “ A remarkable man, thoroughly honest man and consistent but as I think greatly mistaken in his very extreme political views. Died aged 50. 26th January 1869.”

Find out more about Chartism on this website, or browse the Chartist Ancestors Bookshop.

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Everything about Chartism and the Chartists

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