Barnsley Radicalism [O/T]

RedKestrel · Nov 3, 2017

Would ev put this in' history section.. but the'rintwun

http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/chartism/barnsley.htm

Barnsley Radicalism
In the spring and summer of 1838, delegations from the Birmingham Political Union toured Scotland and northern England to promote the Union's famous 'Petition' for parliamentary reform. On 11 June, one of the delegations addressed a large public meeting in Barnsley. The Barnsley meeting unanimously adopted the petition and resolved to form a local association on the Birmingham model. A 24-man committee, consisting mainly of linen handloom weavers, was elected to collect local signatures for the petition. In its quest for local support, the committee later issued a 4000-word manifestoaddressed to their 'fellow workmen' of Barnsley and the neighbourhood.

The working class in the northern industrial districts largely responded toChartism because of their economic plight. Unlike the men of London and Birmingham, whose pursuit for the Charter was based on noble ideals, the northern working class acted according to the dictates of the stomach. The Barnsley Manifesto itself, which dwells on working-class hunger, misery and exploitation, seems to lend credibility to this. However, radicalism was deeply embedded in Barnsley, as in many other northern townsand its driving force transcended short-term economic hardships.

The Barnsley working class had been involved in serious radical politics for a long time. Two of the signatories to the manifesto, John Vallance and Arthur Collins, took part in the Grange Moor Insurrection of 1820, a climax of post Napoleonic war radicalism in Barnsley. In the early 1830s many Barnsley working men took part in the Owenite co-operative movement, the trade union and Reform Bill agitations and the 'war of the unstamped'. Joseph Lingard, father of one of the signatories to the manifesto, was the local distributor of unstamped papers. He opened a reading room where working men not only read the illegal literature but also held political discussions. It was an experience to which some of the radicals and Chartists owed 'whatever knowledge they possessed in politics'. Local agitation for parliamentary reform was revived as early as 1835 when a local Radical Association was formed. The association worked closely with sister associations in such neighbouring towns as Leeds and Huddersfield, and with O'Connor's Radical Association in London. The local association not only held annual dinners to celebrate Henry Hunt's birthday but also petitioned for a reform of Parliament, and discussed issues such as 'taxes on knowledge', the relationship between church and state, and the New Poor Law. During 1837-8 the level of activity rose to a new pitch. In the following years Barnsley was one of Feargus O'Connor's strongholds.

The Chartist Manifesto expresses mainstream Chartist thought. It appealed to working class poverty and suffering and the authors were well versed in exploitation theory. Labour was the creator of all wealth, but most of this wealth was siphoned off by those who never worked. The latter monopolised political power, which they used to enact laws that were as partial as they were extortionate. According to this analysis, the ruling class used its monopoly of power to rob labour of the fruits of its own industry through heavy taxation. Because of its insatiable appetite for 'sumptuous revellings' and other forms of upper-class extravagance, the ruling class never ceased devising means of getting the larger share of whatever additional wealth labour produced. Thus the exploitation of the poor lay not so much in the economic processes of production, distribution and exchange, as in the political process of law making. It was, therefore, logical to argue that the exploitation of the working class would end when they gained admission into the political system. The Chartists do not seem to have questioned serious the economic system which condemned them to the status of wage earners.

By the mid-1830s the concept of the 'industrious classes', which placed both the working class and the industrial middle class on the same economic divide as the exploited producers of wealth, had completely broken down. The Barnsley Manifesto stated that 'there is no wealth but what the working class creates'. The middle class was on the side of those who exploited industry. One Barnsley Chartist once referred to the middle class as 'the aristocracy of pounds, shillings and pence', who were ready to 'starve the people and, if possible, would coin the people's hearts' blood to prolong their reign'. On the Chartist platform the relationship between property and power was defined, though not always clearly. The middle class came under attack less often for its conduct as the employers of labour than for its participation in such class legislation as the New Poor Law,

Other strands of Chartism are revealed in the document. Thomas Paine's appeal to natural rights and liberty is an important element, as is the influence of religion. The manifesto condemned the religious intolerance of the Established Church and confronted the opinions of the local religious leaders who had delivered a barrage of theological invective against the Chartist movement from their pulpits. Finally the Chartists believed that the working class was not only the source of wealth but also of power. The power of the ruling class lay only in the working-class submission to its authority. It was only by its own exertion that the working class would liberate itself. The angry language of the manifesto was aimed at arousing the Barnsley working class to the realisation of its potential strength.

My thanks to Nick Acklam, a descendant of Thomas Acklam, for this information.

Thomas Acklam, one of the Barnsley Manifesto's signatories, left Barnsley for the Chartist settlement of Lowbands in a great fanfare; it was reported by the Barnsley Chronicle. Like the vast majority of allottees he did not last long, and was reported to have argued with Fergus O'Connor. Thomas Acklam was back in Barnsley by the time of the 1851 census.

Thomas led an eventful life. He was born 1804 and moved to Barnsley from a rural parish - Cottingham - to work as a linen hand loom weaver. He appears to have been imprisoned for his Chartist activities (and may according to some reports have been trasported to Tasmania but somehow got back).

On return from Lowbands he prospered briefly as a landlord (he built a terrace called Acklam Row in Barnsley) but died poor in 1876.
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barnsley66 · Nov 3, 2017

One of my work’s colleagues ancestors was transported to Australia for taking part in the Barnsley rebellion.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_West_Riding_Revolt_of_1820

RedKestrel · Nov 3, 2017

barnsley66 said: ↑

One of my work’s colleagues ancestors was transported to Australia for taking part in the Barnsley rebellion.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_West_Riding_Revolt_of_1820
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Barnsley Rebellion .. ??

Might be one of these listed on here:

https://www.marxists.org/history/england/chartists/barnsley-manifesto.htm

Kettlewell · Nov 3, 2017

RedKestrel said: ↑

Would ev put this in' history section.. but the'rintwun

http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/chartism/barnsley.htm
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That was a fascinating read,I like many others will have never heard of this. There is so much Industrial history from the last 200 years we are never told. English history is all about Monarchs and Wars, in order to preserve the establishment and the divisions in society.
Thanks for sharing.

RedKestrel · Nov 3, 2017

Kettlewell said: ↑

That was a fascinating read,I like many others will have never heard of this. There is so much Industrial history from the last 200 years we are never told. English history is all about Monarchs and Wars, in order to preserve the establishment and the divisions in society.
Thanks for sharing.
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Completely agree.. that's all they learned us at school ..history of royal familys and wars..

dartonpete · Nov 3, 2017

Reading that, what has actually changed. Frightening really.

Barnsley Radicalism [O/T]

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