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Appendix A: Local Chartist Portraits1

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Appendix A: Local Chartist Portraits1 Appendix A: Local Chartist Portraits 1 Bell, William (1815-92) Dorothy Thompson has written that William Bell of Heywood, near Rochdale, 'does not appear before 1842 [when he was arrested for sedition] or afterwards as an active or vocal Chartist', but on both counts she is incorrect. A godson of Thomas Carlyle, Bell was born near Carlyle's home of Ecclefechan in Scotland; he later settled in Salford to practise his trade as a fustian-cutter. By late 1839 Bell was regarded by the Salford Chartists as a 'young man of great talent and a very promising speaker'. In March 1840 he represented the Salford RA at a regional delegate meeting and by October he was Secretary of the Salford branch of the NCA. In April1841 he was nominated to the NCA General Council. During 1841 Bell fulfilled numerous speaking engagements and, in January 1842, he moved with his wife and three children to Godsen Lane, Heywood. By mid-1842 he had become a full-time lecturer. An active trade unionist, he represented the fustian­ cutters of Heywood at the Trades Delegates Conference in Manchester during the 1842 Plug Plot strikes; he was arrested for his part in the disturbances and subse­ quently imprisoned for six months. After his release Bell resumed lecturing as a vocation, but was eventually forced for financial reasons to take a job at the Heywood Ironworks. He remained active in Chartist politics, representing Heywood at the National Convention in December 1845. He also participated in local government in Heywood and was an active promoter of co-operatives. By mid-century he was making the transition to liberalism, becoming a stalwart of the Heywood Liberal Council and the Heywood Reform Club. Butterworth, William (1809-?) Born in Oldham, Butterworth was an operative cotton-spinner who came to promi­ nence early in 1839. A critic of local 'middle-class' Chartists, he was elected to the Executive Council of the MPU in 1839. Although he was not an advocate of social 'levelling', Butterworth stated that he was 'against one portion of society being the servants of another'. He was also noted for his opposition to the New Poor Law, the Irish Coercion Bill and the Rural Police Bill. Butterworth suffered as a result of his political involvement. He was arrested in August 1839 for sedition and conspir­ acy and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment in March 1840. Prior to impris­ onment he was unemployed 'in consequence of attending political meetings', and consequently had been living with his wife and child in one of the notorious cellars I. These {'Klrtrai.t!'. have been compiled from a multitude uf fragmentary references. Fur a full citation seeP. A. Pickering, "'The Fustian Jackets": Aspects of the Chartist Movement in Manchester and Salford to 1842', LaTrobe University, Ph.D, 1992. pp. 312-354,391--446. 189 190 Appendix A of working-class Manchester. After his release in December 1840 Butterworth was nominated for election to the NCA Executive, but was unsuccessful. Being again unable to find employment in his trade, he became a full-time Chartist lecturer in February 1841 but, following complaints that he had failed to keep engagements, he switched to Chartist news-vending in June 1841. Butterworth left Britain for North America in 1842. Described by the Inspector of Prisons as an 'ignorant and violent man', Butterworth was a strong supporter of Feargus O'Connor who included him among his 'old list' of 87 trusted Chartists published in Aprill841. Campbell, John (1810-74) Born in Ireland, Campbell was a power-loom weaver by trade who settled in Salford. Regarded as ambitious, he first came to notice late in 1838. By mid-1839 he was Secretary of the Salford RA and he represented Salford on the Council of the MPU. He was elected Secretary of the Salford NCA in August 1840. By this time he had given up weaving, commencing business as a radical newsagent in Addersly Street, Salford, and as a Chartist lecturer. For a time he lived with Abel Heywood where he learned the trade of bookselling and publishing. With the patronage of Heywood and Bronterre O'Brien, Campbell made a rapid rise through the Chartist ranks, gaining election to the NCA Executive in May 1841. He was re­ elected in June 1842, coming second in the national poll. Although his duties as full-time NCA Secretary involved frequent travel, Campbell remained active in a range of local Chartist and trade-union affairs, having retained close links to the weavers' union. O'Connor regarded Campbell as a 'man of great research' and included him in his 'old list' in 1841. Despite a reputation for forceful oratory, he owed his position to his skills as an administrator. In mid-1842 he relocated his bookselling business to Holborn, London. He returned to Manchester in August 1842 as a delegate to the National Conference that took place during the Plug Plot riots, and he was later arrested for his involvement. He was found guilty at his trial in March 1843, but he was not called for sentence. Campbell was accused late in 1842 of 'gross and plain jobbing' as a result of high expenses in the NCA accounts. Although he vigorously denied the charges, he resigned as NCA Secretary in December 1842 and, with his wife, 'piked his bones off' to North America in May 1843. Campbell established himself as newsagent-cum-bookseller in Philadelphia and continued to be active in politics for the remainder of his life, including vocal support of the Confederacy during the Civil War. He was author of An Examination of the Com and Provision Laws (Manchester, 1841); A Theory of Equality: or the Way to make Man act Honestly (Philadelphia, 1848); Negro Mania (Philadelphia, 1851 ). Cartledge, James (dates unknown) By the early 1840s Cartledge had resided in Manchester for about twenty years. During that time he had worked in a factory, as a 'Methodist' preacher, a school master, as purveyor and Secretary of the Hulme and Brown Street Chartist co­ operatives, and a Chartist lecturer. In 1843 he was described as a one-armed man, possibly the result of a factory accident. Cartledge was first mentioned in the Chartist press early in 1840 as a member of the Brown Street branch and in Appendix A: Local Chartist Portraits 191 October of that year became their representative at South Lancashire Delegate meetings. By this time he had earned a reputation as a 'zealous and sincere' advo­ cate, a standing reflected in his election as Secretary of the South Lancashire Chartist Council, and nomination as a candidate for the NCA Executive in late 1840. Although unsuccessful in the election in June 1841 he was included among O'Connor's 'old list'. At this time he was also nominated by the Brown Street branch to the NCA General Council. Cartledge was an advocate of the 'productive powers of the land', a vehement opponent of the standing army, and a staunch tee­ totaller, appending his name to the London Chartist declaration calling on Chartists to take the pledge. In July 1842 he resigned as South Lancashire Secretary to move to the Potteries; he was back a month later representing Mossley at the National Convention at the height of the Plug Plot disturbances, and in September he was arrested for sedition during the strike. No doubt under pressure, he subsequently co-operated with the authorities giving evidence against other Chartists for which a nolle prosequi was entered to his benefit. Branded a 'traitor' and a 'Government pal', Cartledge continued to uphold Chartist opinions. His name has been ignored by Chartist historians, with the exception of Gammage, in whose index he is immortalised as 'informer'. Cartledge was married but apparently had no children; after the trials he appears to have resided unmolested in Upper Hanley in the Potteries until at least 1846. Cooper, James Renshaw (dates unknown) Cooper was born in Barton-upon-Irwell near Manchester during the second decade of the nineteenth century. With his brother Robert he was raised in a radical and free­ thought household which was exemplified when he was expelled from Sunday School in the aftermath of Peterloo for wearing a radical White Hat. By the late 1830s Cooper had established a radical publishing and bookselling business in Bridge Street, Manchester, which still operated into the 1860s. An active Owenite and Chartist, he was a popular lecturer in both movements. In April1840 he was arrested and charged with publishing 'blasphemous and profane publications', but it is unclear whether he was ever brought to trial. Cooper was a strong advocate of freedom of the press and of co-operation. He was an active member of the HMC and was nominated to the NCA General Council in July 1842 by the Carpenters' Hall branch. Cooper continued to be active in the secularist movement and as a Chartist lecturer specialising in lec­ tures on co-operation and the Chartist Land Plan. After 1848 he advocated an alliance with the middle class. By the end of the 1850s he was an active member of the Manchester Universal Suffrage Association, and a vice-president of the Lancashire Reformers' Union, a successor organisation to the ACLL. He was Secretary of the Manchester Working Men's Parliamentary Reform Association during the 1860s. Curran, Edward (1799-?) Born in Ireland, Curran settled in Manchester about 1818 to practise his trade as a hand-loom silk-weaver. He was present at Peterloo in 1819, and by the time of the Reform Bill crisis he had become a prominent activist. In 1831 he was founding Chairman of the Manchester Operative Political Union, and in July of that year he was a Manchester delegate to the National Union of the Working Classes in London.
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