Chartism in Nottingham

four of the six points of the Charter—manhood suffrage, vote by ballot, annual parliaments, and abolition of property qualifications for membership of Parliament—received the support of the Nottingham Working Men’s Association as the political measures most likely to lead to the abolition of poverty. Such political reform was presented to the local working classes as ‘the means by which they could furnish their houses, clothe their backs, and educate their children.’ ¹ The most active members of the local Chartist organisation from the movement’s early years were James Sweet, a newsagent and hairdresser who kept a shop in Goose Gate, James Woodhouse, framework knitter, and John Barratt, lace maker, though at the outset the Committee also included William Burden, a lace maker, a tailor named Cornelius Fowkes and two framework knitters, Benjamin Humphries and George Woodward. ² Shortly after the first meeting Jonathan Barber, another framework knitter, and the Rev. George Harrison, a preacher from Calverton, became leading figures in the local movement, likewise James Sowter, a cordwainer. Later, Henry Mott a currier, William Hemm a mechanic, and David Heath a solicitor’s clerk were numbered among the loyal and active Chartist core. From the outset the Chartist cause attracted support from outside the working classes. When in November, 1838 a petition was sent to the Mayor, requesting that a Chartist meeting should be permitted on the Forest, those who had signed included persons from a wide social spectrum: silversmith and surgeon, baker and bookseller, stonemason and shoemaker, corn dealer and clerk, policeman and medical practitioner, victualler and coffee house keeper, dyer and draper, needlemaker and grocer, hosier, manufacturer, gentleman, and newspaper proprietor. ³ But only one of these petitioners appears later as an active Chartist connected with the Nottingham organization.