DOCSLIB.ORG

Charterville and the Landscape of Social Reform

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Charterville and the Landscape of Social Reform ANNMARIE ADAMS CHARTERVII FEAND THE LANDSCAPE OF SOCIAL REFORM oncernabout the desperateliving ership, it also enabled them to vote. The plan was conditions of industrial workers intended to reduce unemployment in the over- in Britain peaked in the 1830s and 1840s with crowded cities and at the same time offer a viable a severe economic depression and unprecedented alternativeto industrialcapitalism. housing shortages.1 Politicians, authors, and archi- Charterville and the other four Chartist estates tects, among others, used legislation, fiction, and were made possible through the establishment of buildings to illustrate viable alternatives to indus- the National Land Company. As described in a trial capitalism. Their method was to compile evi- handbill of 1847 (Fig. 1), the plan was for sub- dence on social evils and then to suggest reform scribers, mostly factory workers from industrial through an often radical reordering of the human centers, to pay weekly dues toward the purchase of and physical landscape. Embedded within this land being obtained by Feargus O'Connor, the Victorian social manifesto were numerous plans charismatic Irish leader of the movement. As the for utopian communities that offered a critique of handbill promised, the benefits, distributed by lot- existing conditions while at the same time pro- tery, included "good land," a "comfortablehouse," posing alternatives in comprehensible terms. The and a sum of money. A pile of manure was also town of Charterville, located in Oxfordshire, En- supplied at the gate to each property; individual gland, was one such community, the product of leases were for life.4 Feargus O'Connor's Chartist Land Plan of 1842. But Chartism entailed much more than the The relict landscape of Chartervilleremains today Land Plan. As historian Dorothy Thompson has as an important reminder of the difficulty of rec- illustrated, it suggested an entire alternative cul- onciling political intentions with the design of the ture. Between 1838 and 1848 working people cultural landscape. from all over Britain joined forces to end the ex- Charterville was established in 1848 as the third ploitation of wage laborers by industrialistsand to of five Chartist settlements.2It consisted of a school extend voting rights to England's nonlandowning and seventy-eight small stone cottages constructed working class. It was one of the largest mass move- on individual lots of four acres or less along a ments in modern history, with more followers than major road from Minster Lovell to Brize Norton.3 many of the groups that overthrew other Euro- The basic objective of the Chartist Land Plan pean governments in 1848.5 The People's Charter was to give working-class people access to land on of 1838, from which the movement drew its name, which they could live and grow their own food. established the official Chartist program. The Because political power was still tied to landown- group sought universal male suffrage, the aboli- 138 BUILDINGS AND REGIONS 139 am ,. _ 4_ r NATIONAL CHARTERVILLE Source Tithe Apportlonment 1851 ORO Ms d d Minster Lovell LAND COMPANY. par PIOVZIIONALLYBZOITBlZD. SHIRES?1. 68. EACH. The objectof tiis Companyis to enableWorking Men, for a triling sum, to obtain posseuiob of Land and Dwelling. upon such terms, that, by honourableand independentlabour, they ma mintain themseleesand familiesin comfortand respectability. BENEFITSASSURED. A - School ad Meetng Room B- Wesleyan Methodist Chapel The followingare the benefit whichthe Companyguarantees to its memben: C-White Hart Inn HOLDER8OFTWO SLE8-A C OIFORTAILE HOUSE,TWO IOCES OFGOOD LAD, A) ?16. HOLDERSOFTHEE 8HAEI-A 81OUE, THLEE ACES, UID ?11.IO HOLD3EROFFOUR 8gIUE8-A HOUSE, FOUR AGCES, iDL e0. LEASESFOREVER WILL BE GRABNTED TOTHE OCCUPAT8. Thiu ensuring to them the vsaue of everyimprovement they may mahe upon their allotments. The Companyaffords great tfciliLieto those memberwho have the meansof purcehing theirallotment. The eant wiJ be moderte, aa it ill be regulatedby a chargeof S per cent uponthe capitalexpended. The Companyhaving been raeledinto existencefor the benefitof the WoUtwG CLAIsst, the Rules renble the pooret to vail themelres of its adventges, u the Sha may be paid by inotalmenteu low TIlt PiClt 1 will.E. TIEULE OrTE COFANT( iOE 4.) b rA I A cuabe obained of Ms WHEELER,the Secaryc, PR v.TTHE OFFICE, 83,DEAI STREET, 80HO, LODOI, ' J hcee membernmay be enrolled,and ev infrmatin obtaied ?.r- o-f k9 feii..,,,.._,, -, i I".m . - - . - ,, __ _ _- __ _ -14 . _ _ __ , , _#-s , 0 5 10 15 20 Fig. 1. Handbillissued by the National LandCompany in chains To Brnze 1847. (CourtesyOxoniensia and KateTiller) Norton Fig. 2. Siteplan of Chartervilleas it existed in 1851. tion of property qualifications for members of Par- (CourtesyOxoniensia and KateTiller) liament, the payment of members, equal electoral districts, and annual parliaments. At the heart of Chartism lay the belief that access to political the inevitable failure of the movement. power provided the only chance to reform indus- O'Connor purchased three hundred acres of trial society. land near Witney in June 1847 at a cost of more Although the political platform of Chartism ap- than ten thousand pounds sterling.6 The choice of pears radical, the architectural manifestations of site was unfortunate; there was no rail connection the Land Plan at Charterville were surprisingly or nearby market, and the soil was poor. In addi- conservative, reflecting an idyllic image of rural tion, the land was on high terrain, making water life and glorifying the individual. Productive labor difficult to obtain. Three wells supplied the entire occupied a central place in the plan of the Chartist estate. As historian Kate Tiller has said, "Just as cottage, but the site planning and exterior design the Chartists believed in access to the land as a of the buildings recalled times when workers en- God-given right, so their water-supply appropri- joyed little power. The architectureof Charterville ately came direct[ly] from heaven."7 reveals conservative aspects of Chartism that illus- The plan of Charterville (Fig. 2) was laid out trate, perhaps more clearly than other documents, by O'Connor and company director Christopher 140 PERSPECTIVES IN VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE, IV Doyle.8 They located most of the cottages along the main road from Minster Lovell to Brize Nor- ton; similar lots were defined on two minor, per- pendicular streets. The school and eighteen houses were located on Upper Crescent, in the north, while Bushey Ground on the south was a cul-de- sac. Charterville was immediately popular despite the problems of isolation, limited land, and poor farming conditions. Workers inhabited the cot- tages within fourteen months.9 In the design of Charterville, O'Connor postu- lated a return to a completely agrarian society. He intended tenants to raise their own food and pro- vided no facilities for trade or communal labor. O'Connor warned in his book, A Practical Work on the Management of Small Farms, of the "igno- rant landlords . induced by as ignorant writers to adopt the large farm system." He insisted that two hundred acres farmed by one man would nev- er be as productive as fifty men working on plots of four acres each because of the distances involved in carrying manure and drawing produce. 0 There was much debate over whether four acres could support a family, particularly as many of the in- Fig. 3. O'Connor'splan for a cottage, publishedin 1847. LeedsUni- habitants had no previous farming experience. 1 NorthernStar, February 13, (Courtesy versityLibrary) A diagram of a Charterville cottage published by O'Connor in 1847 shows a three-room house with a row of service spaces in the rear (Fig. 3). A courtyard behind the main block of the house was places-"vulnerable, open, and occupied.'13 surrounded by outbuildings for animals and stor- The prominent position of the kitchen in the age. The plan presented clear functional zoning: cottage plan was consistent with the Chartist em- three main living spaces faced the street, less polite phasis on self-sufficient productive labor. In What domestic labor took place behind this zone, and May Be Done with Three Acres of Land, O'Con- the back of the building housed large-scale agri- nor had promised a weekly yield of 14 pounds of cultural labor. In the front, the large, central kitch- bacon, 1.5 stones of flour, 4.5 stones of potatoes, en stepped out from the main block of the house. 20 duck eggs, 2 pounds of honey, and a further The flanking rooms, intended as bedroom and income of 44 pounds sterling "aftera consumption sitting room, were accorded secondary positions and the best of good living."14 He believed that but were equal relative to the kitchen. Paneled this could be achieved with 157 days' labor. The doors separatedthese three interconnected rooms, large Chartist kitchen became the space where ten- each with its own fireplace. Entry to the house was ants processed the fruits of the land and presum- directly into the kitchen without a vestibule space ably realized the joys of family life and labor. or porch.12 Like Henry Glassie's kitchens of Bal- The builder of the Chartist cottage supplied the lymenone, the kitchens of Chartervillewere public kitchen with a store-cupboard, range, and dresser, BUILDINGS AND REGIONS 141 intending the space for more than cooking and designsfor many ruralhouses employing classical eating.15 Larger than the sitting room, the Char- language,but in his housesthe style was used as a tist kitchen probably acted as the primary space way of expressingthe plan on the exterior. As for family interaction and for entertaining visitors. George Hersey has explained, Loudon saw the Access to other parts of the household came only houseas a kind of "informationalappliance," and through the kitchen, and thus the space served as a he matchedspecific meanings to elementsof build- central circulation area mediating between private ings, suggestingthat windows, doors, chimneys, and public spaces, much like the central passage in and porchesacted as "signifiers,"communicating other house forms.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A History of Community Asset Ownership
    A history of community asset ownership by Steve Wyler I would like to thank the Development Trusts Association Board for allowing me to take a research sabbatical in 2007 and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for financial assistance and encouragement. Steve Wyler Steve has been Director of the Development Trusts Association since 2000. The Development Trusts Association is a fast growing UK-wide movement, bringing together over 450 community-led organisations, which use self-help, social enterprise, and community asset ownership to bring about long-term social, economic and environmental renewal, and transform their communities for good. Over the last twenty years Steve has worked for voluntary and community agencies as well as independent grant-makers, including working with homeless agencies during the 1990s; running the Homeless Network, co-ordinating the Rough Sleepers Initiative and setting up Off the Streets and into Work. Recently Steve has been a member of various government advisory groups on social enterprise, community assets, and the third sector. Steve is vice-Chair of the Coalition for Social Enterprise, Board member of the Adventure Capital Fund, and Board member of The Glass House community design service. © Steve Wyler, Development Trusts Association August 2009 with Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Introduction In the last few years community ownership of land and buildings has become, alongside social enterprise, a hot topic across the political spectrum, evidenced by manifesto promises, government reports and White Papers, enabling legislation, regulation and guidance, new investment funds, community right to buy legislation in Scotland, a review by the Welsh Assembly and an Asset Transfer Unit for England.
    [Show full text]
  • 'The Five Year Experiment': the Incumbered Estates Court
    ‘THE FIVE YEAR EXPERIMENT’: THE INCUMBERED ESTATES COURT, 1849-54. by JACQUELINE ANN CROWLEY THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF PHD DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY, NATIONAL UNIVERISTY OF IRELAND, MAYNOOTH HEAD OF DEPARTMENT: DR JACINTA PRUNTY SUPERVISORS OF RESEARCH: PROFESSOR TERENCE DOOLEY PROFESSOR RAYMOND GILLESPIE FEBRUARY 2017. CONTENTS PAGE Acknowledgements i Abbreviations iii List of figures iv Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Legislation and revolution 23 Chapter 2 Law and advances 78 Chapter 3 Business of revolution 105 Chapter 4 Problems of revolution 149 Chapter 5 Unintended revolution 190 Chapter 6 Exporting the revolution 230 Conclusion 269 Appendix 278 Bibliography 296 Acknowledgements This work is the result of the extraordinary support and kindness of a great number of people. Firstly, I would like to thank Dr Jacinta Prunty, head of the Department of History at Maynooth University for her encouragement in the later stages of this study. I would also like to thank Professor Marian Lyons, former head of Department, for her encouragement at the beginning and her continued support throughout. I owe the greatest debt of gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Raymond Gillespie and Professor Terence Dooley. It has been a privilege to have the guidance and critique of two such extraordinary historians. I would like to thank the following people for their assistance and support in writing this thesis: Catherine Bergin, Pamela Coleman, Phil Condron, Fearghal Duffy, Ann Donoghue, Fergal Donoghue, Eugene Dunne, Richard Fitzpatrick, Darren Fox, Colin Harte, Catherine Heslin, Aoife Holohan, Anthony Hughes, Graham Kay, Frank Kenny, Adrian Kirwan, Paula & Ger Lalor, Niall Mulvihille, Catherine Murphy, Julia O’Brien, Larry O’Brien and my colleagues at JPII library.
    [Show full text]
  • Kennington 1848: Another Look (PDF 2.45MB)
    Another Look Another Look The Kennington Chartist Project was initiated in 2018 by local residents, to celebrate the legacy of the 1848 Chartist rally on Kennington Common. The first volume of Kennington 1848 is called Our Story. In that book, we gave an introduction to what happened in Kennington in 1848, and an account of our project in 2018. This second volume of Kennington 1848 is called Another Look. Here, we explore in greater depth the people and place that contributed to this significant event. The Kennington Chartist Project is supported by the Friends of Kennington Park, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and the Lipman-Miliband Trust. Contents Title: Kennington 1848: Another Look Author: Kennington Chartist Project How many were in the Crowd? page 10 Publication date: 2019 by Dave Steele Publisher: Independent Publishing Network 1 ISBN: 978-1-78972-278-9 Distributor: Friends of Kennington Park Please direct all enquiries to: [email protected] Who was there? 19 by Vic Clarke © Creative Commons 2 (Attribution-NonCommercial- ShareAlike 4.0 International) Supported by the Who was William Cuffay? 23 National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Lipman-Miliband Trust 3 by S I Martin Chartist Women and the Vote 29 4 by Marietta Crichton Stuart Kennington Common, Protest and Public Space 34 5 by Katrina Navickas Back to the Land 41 6 Findings of the Kennington Chartist Project research group by Marietta Crichton Stuart Further reading 46 Acknowledgements 47 How many were in the Crowd? figures are always contentious (there is no consensus about attendance How many were in the Crowd? at the 2003 Stop the War demonstration in London or the 2017 Trump by Dave Steele inauguration in Washington).
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter One Approaches to Chartist Political Culture
    Chapter One Approaches to Chartist Political Culture The subject of 'political culture' now has a wide currency in many academic disciplines.' It would be impossible to go over all the understandings that have evolved in various fields, but it is necessary to consider some of the different approaches that have been used in Chartist and other pertinent scholarship. Whilst the `social' and 'political' character of the movement has been much debated of late, little reflection has been given to changing perceptions of 'Chartist culture' over the past twenty-five years or so. Historians have certainly recognised the importance of the `movement culture' created under the auspices of the National Charter Association, the first independent working-class political party.' This understanding of culture as a range of independent or oppositional social, religious, educational, temperance and co-operative activities, however, sits rather uneasily with the basic precept of the linguistic turn — that culture is essentially synonymous with the entire range of ways political meanings were made. This chapter thus critically examines some of the quite divergent ways Chartist historians have deployed concepts of 'culture' and 'political culture' in their research. In various discussions of Chartist historiography, much has been made of the commonsensical materialism sometimes apparent in earlier interpretations.' One the 1 For an overview of some approaches see J. Street, 'Political culture — from civic culture to mass culture', British Journal of Political Science, 4 (1994), pp. 95-113 and (more generally) J.B. Thompson, Ideology and modern culture (Cambridge, 1990), particularly ch. 3. Compare Jones, Chartism and the Chartists, ch. 1; J.
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • And National * Trades' Journal
    j ¦ .v _ - ... r NATIONAL LAXD CONFERENCE, SNIG'S END, GLOUCESTERSHIRE. Mi'. Bostock tlien moved :—" That, in the "opinion ot this Conference, (he National Land Suheme can bo made . (From our own Jlqwfter.J reproductive." Seconded by Mr. MonaAX. The Annual Conference of Delegates from •This question save riso to a very lengthened dis- all parts of the country, of the members of cussion , m which Mr. Mvndat and otlwr delegates al " took part, as to whether jSte - ^Nation Land Company, was " held thi> land would relproduce a- this week at Sni 's End. The rental, and support tho allottees g proceedings Messrs. Gilbert, 'Wheblbr eommenced on Monday. Great interest tho, and Clklaxd, sere- j ftt* ™ 1*?'1 f allottees. admitting was occasioned, not only in. fto neighbourhood, thatfhi the landI wouldn clearl^y yield them an indepen- "but throughout the surrounding districts, and dence, although , at first, they were obliged to en- * dure great hardships, which - during the sittings of each day the School- rendered it necessary AND that thejr should ask tho patience of the company for room wasmost inconveniently crowded NATIONAL . , TRADES' many JOURNAL. ,t short time longer. who could not obtain admittance pressing ^ , Mr. O'Coxxor replied. He contended that they1 -against the windows and thus effectuall HQ wa Directors) could net control , to y cir- VOL. ffl . 616. LONDON, SATDRftlfr AJUST g (thfi the seasons ; and cumscribing thejentilation^ much the dis- 2_^ ftliT ggfew as tcr the capability of two or three acres of lahd ¦ anrvnt 4a tnA AniMiAMM Xl_—. —.. 1 i-l *? • . -;¦ _ - _ .
    [Show full text]
  • Feargus O'connor: Chartist Demagogue
    University of Nebraska at Omaha DigitalCommons@UNO Student Work 6-1-1959 Feargus O'Connor: Chartist demagogue James M. MacTiernan University of Nebraska at Omaha Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork Recommended Citation MacTiernan, James M., "Feargus O'Connor: Chartist demagogue" (1959). Student Work. 389. https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork/389 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UNO. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Work by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. mmmn o'wmmt m&mtm wmomm A 3 ftesis Presented to *Bim Faculty of the Department of History Dnlrersity of Omaha la Partial m fillrneat of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in History hy James MacTleman Jtme 1959 UMI Number: EP73027 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI EP73027 Published by ProQuest LLC (2015). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 - 1346 I wish to express my appreciation for the valuable as- si stance rendered by those co-operating with this study.
    [Show full text]
  • LON D01\') Chapters
    Really Useful Knowledge and the Politics of Radical Education with reference to the working- class press 1848-1870 Keith Flett Submitted for Phd examination September 2002 LON D01\') Chapters Introduction 1848: Political Protest and the communication of radical ideas The Chartist Meetings of 1848: Discussing and Acting on radical ideas and strategies The impact of the experience of defeat in 1848 on radical ideas The Battle of Ideas 1848-1851: Location, Influences, Results The Breaking and Making of radical education and ideas in the late 1850s Beyond Chartism: Radical Education and Radical Politics in the later 1850s Really Useful Knowledge and the 1870 Education Act. The politics of radical education in the 1860s. Conclusion Abstract This work looks at independent working class radical education in England from the year of revolutions, 1848 to the passage of the 1870 Education Act. It takes as its starting point Richard Johnson's analysis of really useful knowledge. Differing, however, from Johnson, it argues that radical ideas and radical working-class education and schools, far from disappearing after 1848, in fact flourished. It takes as its main source the often overlooked pages of the late Chartist and radical working-class press and focuses on the detail of radical meetings and events and the ideas that informed them. After an introductory chapter which firmly situates the research in its theoretical, historical and particularly chronological context, the following three chapters consider the events of 1848 and how these influenced working-class ideas and education. The experience of radicals in the period after 1848 is then considered, when support for Chartism declined but Chartist ideas moved further to the left.
    [Show full text]
  • Volume 04 Number 02
    CAKE AND COCKHORSE Banbury Historical Society 2s. 6d. Winter 1968 BANBURY HISTORICAL SOCIETY President: Chairman: G. J . Fothergill, M .A. 102 Bath Road, Banbury Hon. Secretary: Hon. Asst. Treasurer: Hon. Treasurer: J.S.W. Gibson, F.S.A., Dr. G.E. Gardam, A.W.Pain, A.L.A., Humber House. 11 Denbigh Close, c/o Borough Library, Bloxham, Broughton Road, Marlborough Road, Banbury Banbury Banbury (Tel: Bloxham 332) (Tel: Banbury 2841) (Tel: Banbury 2282) Hon. Editor " Cake & Cockhorse" B.S.Trinder, 90 Bretch Hill, Banbury Hon. Research Adviser Hon. Archaeological Adviser E.R.C. Brinkworth, M. A. , F.R. Hist. S. J.H.Fearon, B. Sc. Com mitt ee Members R.K.Bigwood. J.F.Carter, F. Willey, B.A. *.*. .*..*.***. The Society was founded in 1957 to encourage interest in the history of the town of Banbury and neighbouring parts of Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. The Magazine "Cake & Cockhorse" is issued to members four times a year. This includes illustrated articles based on original local historical research, as well as recording the Society's activities. Publications include "Old Banbury - a short popular history" by E.R. C.Brinkworth (2nd edition), "New Light on Banoury's Crosses" , "Roman Banburyshire" and'Banbury's Poor in 1850", all 3/6d, and a pamphlet "History of Banbury Cross", 6d. A Christmas card has been a popular annual production. The Society also publishes an annual records volume. These have included "Oxfordshire Clock- makers, 1400- 1850" ; "South Newington Churchwardens' Accounts, 1553- 1684" ; "Banbury Marriage Register, 1558-1837" (3 parts) and "Baptism and Burial Register, 1558-1653".
    [Show full text]
  • Great Dodford and the Later History of the Chartist Land Scheme )1 Ii, by P
    ,t~L i /! ,i Great Dodford and the Later History of the Chartist Land Scheme )1 ii, By P. SEARBY "And yet again the scene is changed, 'Location Day' arrives, O'Connor's boys come settling here Like bees from busy hives. ! The gay procession wends its way, The waggons and the gigs, 3 'Fergus and Freedom' flaunts aloft, ! 'Less parsons and more pigs'. Sing of the land they bought and let, Sing of the poor man's share, Sing of allotments fair for each, Sing of the acres square. Sing of the ring of axe and spade, Sing of the fields they dug, Sing of the muddy roads they made, Sing of the homes so snug.'u t I HE most significant development in the Chartist movement in the !/ i I84O'S was Fergus O'Connor's land plan, to settle members of the T working class on plots of two, three, or four acres. On a four-acre plot, O'Connor claimed, a settler could by careful spade cultivation grow enough ii to make £ ioo a year profit, after feeding his family and paying rent, tithe, and i- taxes. In May 1845 the Chartist Co-operative Land Society (later called the National Land Company) was set up to carry out O'Connor's plan. His vision of a life of rural comfort, health, and independence appealed so widely that within a few years the company had about 7o,ooo members, each buying shares of £I 6s. in instalments of as little as IS. Plots were allocated to the members by ballot; the purchase of two shares entitled a member to com- pete in the ballot for a two-acre plot; three or four shares were necessary to compete for plots of three or four acres.
    [Show full text]
  • Charterville and the Chartist Land Company
    Charterville and the Chartist Land Company By KATE TILLER SUMMARY Charteroille lies in the parish of Minster Lovell, OxJordshire. A settlemenl of 78 coUages on small-holdings, with a school-house and meeting-room, il was built in 1847-IJ as the Ihird offtve Chartist umd Plan eslales. This account describes the cTtation oj Charlemille and ils subsequent history. The significance of the Land Plan in unifying or fragmenting late Chartism is discussed, as is the theorelical and practical basis of the scheme and the nature of ils widespread aUraclion for working people. The experience of the Chartisl allouees at Charleroille is examined. Although their presence was very short-lived, the opportunilies subsequenlly afforded to local agricullural workers by the Charttroille allotments art found to have made a lasting and distinctivt mark on Minrltr Lovell and su"ounding areas of West Oxfordshire. ' ... the system of large-scale production in industry was advancing at a rapid ratc. The workers were separated from capital, and depended on their wages alone. Out of this separation grew all those new institutions in urban life, the trade union, the friendly society, and the co-operative store. These movements, however, were not allowed to develop without opposition, and on these occasions the urban workers turned longing eyes to what they regarded as the ideal conditions ofself-supponing independence on the soil. One of these aberrations resulted in the Charterville colony of small holdings at Minster Lovell'. A. W. Ashby: Allolmenls and Small Holdings in Oxfordshire (1917), p. 110 'One of these abberations', then, is the verdict of a not unsympathetic observer, A.
    [Show full text]
  • LONDON, •" ¦¦«• V ,» Pbh * Or Ment ; Acd Tha , Hen , English — - ' SATURDAY*W-** Novembervi-Uillulllv ^L27 J 184710*T
    O n .1 Heredi tary bondsmen , know ye not, ¦ be free, himself must strike the blew V fi vfbo woald ship, by the very persona who so'bun 'ed and revi'/d him. But , above nil , and brfore ail , do n ot l<->ruet COUNTRYMEN IN ENGLAND. Tl to MY that you have forty thousand brothers and sisters , with a stake in the hedge (1 mean tho members of the Lind Company ), Fri cts, Cousra niEN, and Exiles, who will rall y round you, and as- TR- sist yon in the holy work , and whoso petitions must i One of a persecu ted race now addresses yon , and will be, attended to by the aristocrati c portion of rtns e you to exertion in behalf of your fath er- Minirte r vrtio laid claim to office upon that House. a * The Then, friends , let us commence operations for&. nas once more 10 086 c0 r bM«h affecti°n'the has^"^ *° P ? ' with , and follow out the instructions of the ' Execu- JSj& as a remedy for Irish grievances : and the ' Let nota city, town , village, or hamlet in the bb Exchequer tive. ^^ jj cdlor of tauntingly boasted kingdom, neglect to seud a petition numerous ly ^ Commons pr ove to those miscalled our repre- uVthe House of , that no more relief is AND NATIONAL signed . Let us H TRADES' we are in earnest—that wo are re- Ireland , and this announcement was JOURNAL. sentatives , that £ent but be ^ to within the walls of Parlia - ' v° ^ith a view give stability and buoyancy to aolved to be re presented de VOL- XI .
    [Show full text]