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A Chartist Chronology

1829	May	The British Association for Promoting Co-operative Knowledge was founded in London
	December	The Birmingham Political Union was founded
1830	September	Richard Oastler became involved in the Factory question in the West Riding of Yorkshire
1831	March	The Metropolitan Trades Union was founded
	May	The National Union of the Working Classes was set up. Its meetings were held at the Rotunda in London
1832	June	The Reform Bill became law
	December	The first General Election was held, under the new legislation
1833	August	Althorp's Factory Act was passed
1834	February	The Grand National Consolidated Trade Union was founded.
	March	The Tolpuddle Martyrs were prosecuted
	July	The Poor Law Amendment Act was passed
	August	The GNCTU was dissolved
1835	September	The Municipal Corporations Act was passed
1836	April	The start of the financial crisis
	May	The newspaper duty was reduced and ended the "War of the Unstamped"
	June	The London Working Men's Association was founded
1837	January	The East London Democratic Association was founded The Poor Law Commissioners started to implement the legislation in the north of England
	February	The LWMA held its first public meeting
	March	Birmingham petitions on 'industrial distress' There were also widespread complaints of distress from towns like Manchester, Nottingham, the West Riding and Scotland (see map)
	April	The Glasgow cotton spinners went on strike
	May	The Birmingham Political Union was revived by Attwood
	May-June	Conferences were held between MPs and the LWMA about parliamentary reform
	July	General Election. Many radical MPs were defeated
	November	The Northern Star appeared for the first time
1838	May	The East London Democratic Association changed its name to the London Democratic Association The People's Charter was published in London and then in Birmingham The Glasgow rally took place
	June	The Great Northern Union was founded in Leeds and the Northern Political Union was set up in Newcastle
	August	Birmingham rally
	Late summer and autumn	Members of the General Convention were elected
	September	The Manchester Anti-Corn-Law Association was founded
	December	Carlton Hill 'moral force' resolutions were passed in Edinburgh
1839	February	The General Convention of the Industrious Classes met in London
	March	The Anti-Corn-Law League was established as a national organisation
	May	The Chartist Convention moved to Birmingham The Rebecca Riots began in Wales
	July	The Bull Ring Riots took place in Birmingham. Chartist leaders were arrested and the Convention returned to London. The House of Commons rejected the first National Petition by 235 votes to 46 and the Chartists began to discuss 'ulterior measures'
	August	The Bank Rate was raised to 5%
	Summer	Many Chartists were arrested and subsequently imprisoned
	September	The Convention was disbanded
	November	The Newport Rising.
1840	January	The Sheffield Rising. Samuel Holberry was imprisoned
	April	The Northern Political Union was reorganised in Newcastle.
	Winter/Spring	Widespread arrest of Chartists
	July	Chartist conference in Manchester. The National Charter Association was founded
	Autumn	Attempts were made to create a Chartist-Radical Alliance in Leeds
1841	April	Lovett founded the National Association of the United Kingdom for Promoting the Political and Social Improvement of the People. Feargus O'Connor took up the land question as a 'remedy for national poverty'
	August	A general election was held and was a Tory victory. Peel became Prime Minister
	November	Joseph Sturge took up the suffrage question
1842	April	The Complete Suffrage Union Conference was held in Birmingham The Chartist Convention met in London
	May	The House of Commons rejected the second Chartist petition by 287 votes to 49
	July	The economic recession reached it lowest point. There were wage cuts and increasing unemployment
	August-September	The Plug Plots (see map)
	December	A conference of Chartist and Complete Suffrage representatives met in Birmingham. The Complete Suffrage Union collapsed
1843	March	Feargus O'Connor and other Chartists went on trial. They were acquitted on the main charges
	September	The Chartist Convention met in Birmingham and the proposal of Land Reform was accepted. The Chartist Executive moved to London
1844	April	The Chartist Convention met in Manchester
	August	The 'Northampton Debate' between Feargus O'Connor and Richard Cobden.
	November	The Northern Star became the Northern Star and National Trades Journal and its headquarters were moved to London
	December	The Rochdale Pioneers opened their Toad Lane store
1845	April	The Chartist Convention was held in London Feargus O'Connor launched the Chartist Land Co-operative Society
	May	The rules of the Land Society were published
	September	The Society of Fraternal Democrats was founded
	December	The Manchester conference on the Land Plan was held
1846	June	The Corn Laws were repealed Peel resigned from office and the Whigs under Lord John Russell formed a government
	December	The Birmingham conference on the Land Plan was held
1847	April	Financial crisis
	May	The Ten Hours (Fielden's) Factory Act was passed O'Connorville was opened
	July	A general election was held and resulted in a Whig victory. Lord John Russell became Prime Minister and Feargus O'Connor was elected as MP for Nottingham. George Julian Harney stood unsuccessfully against Palmerston at Tiverton and Ernest Jones contested Halifax
	August	The Lowbands conference was held on the Land Plan
	Autumn/Winter	Increasing unemployment
1848	February	Revolution in France Marx and Engels published the Communist Manifesto
	April	A Chartist Convention met in London and organised the meeting at Kennington Common which began the presentation of the third petition. This was laughed out of the Commons.
	May	The Chartist National Assembly was summoned
	May-July	Widespread provincial Chartist disturbances, large scale arrests and imprisonment of Chartist leaders
1849	June	A reform motion was introduced to parliament and was supported by O'Connor and Joseph Hume. It was defeated by 286 votes to 82
1850	January	Bronterre O'Brien launched the National Reform League. This led to open battle between Harney and O'Connor which culminated in the victory of Harney and the Fraternal Democrats on the Chartist executive
	March	The O'Connorites launched the National Charter League
1855	August	Death of Feargus O'Connor
1858	February	The last National Chartist Convention

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Last modified 4 March, 2016

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