Browse Collections (36 total)
The Mysteries of London
In its entirety, The Mysteries of London is likely the longest Victorian novel and one of the best selling ones as well. The British Library states,…
Friend of the People
As George Holyoake explained in the "preliminary words" of the first issue of the Friend of the People (December 7, 1850), the journal was the…
Operative
Advocating for universal representation, the Operative billed itself as "Established by the Working Classes for the Defence of the Rights of Labour."…
Select Drama Reviews
We include a selection of drama reviews (taken at present from two Chartist periodicals, theCharterand theNorthern Star) to draw attention to an…
Wise Saws and Modern Instances
A two-volume collection of short stories largely written when Cooper was in Stafford Goal for speeches made during the ‘Plug Plot’ riots of 1842.…
Charter
Described byWarwick as "an organ of the London Working Men's Association," theCharter proclaimed in its masthead that it was "established by the…
National Vindicator
The successor to theWestern Vindicator,begun after Harney's release from gaol, theNational Vindicatorwas published in Bath and sought to reach readers…
Bronterre's National Reformer
One of Bronterre O'Brien's ephemeral journals, theNational Reformerpromulgated O'Brien's "insurrectionary and socialistic" politics (Oxford Dictionary…
Poor Man's Guardian and Repealer's Friend
A 1d. weekly, this paper survived only three months.Called itself "A Weekly Journal of Politics, Literature and Moral Science" and included the motto…
Western Vindicator
TheWestern Vindicator was published in Bristol and intended for, according to its masthead, Chartist readers in "Bristol, Bath, Trowbridge, Bradford,…
Ashton Chronicle
Although the paper's editor J.R. Stephens broke publicly with the Chartists after his imprisonment in 1839, his journal almost a decade later…
Red Republican
The journal's striking masthead and Jacobin motto, "Liberty , Equality, Fraternity," signaled theRed Republican's ultra-radical politics. Helen…
Labourer: a Monthly Magazine of Politics, Literature, Poetry
A rich source of Chartist fiction and poetry. Includes a number of articles and stories in support of the Chartist Land Plan. Jones likely wrote much…
National Association Gazette: the Rights of Man and the Rights of Woman
Organ of the National Association for promoting the Political and Social Improvement of the People.
London News
Jones begins the London News as the People's Paper began to end its relatively long run. Can be considered Post-Chartist but Jones is still agitating…
London Mercury
Pre-Chartist but includes contributions by Bronterre O'Brien and is described by the Warwick Guide to Labour Periodicals as follows: "Agitates for…
Life Boat; A Miscellany of Politics and Literature
Subtitled "A Weekly Political Pamphlet," it sold for 2 pence. William Hill had been the Editor of the Northern Star and had fallen out with Feargus…
True Scotsman
The True Scotsman grew out of John Fraser's Edinburgh Monthly Democrat and Total Abstinence Advocate and retained a certain emphasis on temperance…
Star of Freedom
The last gasp of the great Chartist organ the Northern Star, the Star of Freedom began after George Julian Harney purchased the former paper (for…
Penny Times
One of four weeklies attempted by Ernest Jones between 1858 and 1860, the Penny Times was likely the shortest lived. Although an ad promised it would…
Northern Tribune: A Periodical for the People
A 5d. stamped monthly (a weekly from December 1854), the Northern Tribune appeared later than most Chartist periodicals but advocated suffrage reform…
Northern Liberator
A stamped weekly costing 4 1/2d. and based in Newcastle, the Liberator was one of the first and one of the longest running Chartist papers. It…
Glasgow Sentinel
Described in the Warwick Guide to British Labour Periodicals as "the main working-class newspaper in Scotland." Our listings for the Sentinel are…
Evening Star
London daily; 2d. The Warwick Guide to Labour Periodicals reports that it "Contained original reports of Chartism in the provinces and extracts from…
Democrat and Labour Advocate: the Rights of Labour
A late Chartist paper, it begins its run with the following: "In the midst of the mass of cheap publications which are continually put forth by…
Cabinet
A late Chartist paper, it "Supported manhood suffrage, reported on the Chartist movement, [and] advocated a New Reform Movement" (Warwick)
British Statesman: a Journal Devoted to the Interests of the People
Began as an anti-Corn Law but when Bronterre O'Brien became the editor in June 1842, he made the paper more explicitly Chartist
People's Paper
5d. weekly paper with a circulation of less than 3,000. In his biography of Jones, The Life of Ernest Jones, Frederick Leary says, "Nearly every…
Notes to the People
A Weekly periodical. Serializes two significant Chartist novels written by Jones, De Brassier and Woman's Wrongs.
Northern Star
A 4½d. weekly, the Star was the unofficial paper of the Chartist movement. It sold 43,000 copies a week at its peak in 1839 and consistently around…
Cooper's Journal; or, Unfettered Thinker and Plain Speaker of Truth, Freedom, and Progress
Weekly, one-penny periodical. Cooper's "To the Young Men of the Working Classes" are particularly interesting in relation to the fiction that he would…
National Instructor
Weekly, one-penny periodical, "conducted by" Feargus O'Connor and others.
In the opening "Address," the editors state, "That there may be no…
National: A Library for the People
Illustrated, 16-page weekly periodical. Nicely described in the DNCJ as follows: "Linton's National represented an important attempt to offset the…
McDouall's Chartist and Republican Journal
Agitates for the trades to support Chartism; it continued asMcDouall's Chartist Journal and Trade Advocate
Chartist Circular
A Weekly, halfpenny newspaper that had a circulation of 22,500 in its first year. The Circular is an important resource for Scottish Chartism, but…