Radical Politicians and Poets in Early Victorian Britain the Voices of Six Chartist Leaders

Examines the careers of six Chartist leaders: George White, George Binns, Robert Peddie, Charles Clarke, Thomas Clark and Samuel Kydd. These men came from different regions and represented contrasting approaches and strands within the Chartist movement. Both Peddie and Binns were poets and songwriters, and the work they produced and audiences they reached are important subjects investigated here. The stories of Clark and Kydd are recovered. This book says much that is new about such topics as the work of Chartist missionaries, the events of 1842 and 1848, the Chartist response to the Anti-Corn Law League, the Complete Suffrage Union and the National Parliamentary and Financial Reform Association, the Land Plan, Chartist prison experiences, and later careers of the Chartists.