On a national basis the following are recognized as influential;
Major John Cartwright – He was advocating four out of six points in the Charter as early as 1776.
Charles James Fox – He advocated all six points of the Charter.
In a pamphlet, published in 1832, the People’s Charter made its first appearance. This was an abstract from The Rights of Nations.
The London Working Mens’ Association was formed in 1837.
At a local level the following twenty eight point chronology proves useful in understanding the build up of influences that helped to form the Chartist movement in North Staffordshire and its leaders.
1757, 1783 and 1800. Outbreaks of food rioting.
Early 1790’s. Josiah Wedgwood supports Universal Suffrage.
Early 1790’s. Thomas Paine’s works in widespread distribution almost everywhere.
- Property owners in Newcastle form a semi-military defence force.
1812, May. Prime Minister Spencer Percival assassinated. Greeted with joy in the streets of the Potteries.
- A Newcastle delegate to a Lancashire meeting of revolutionaries claims that several thousand in his district are armed and sworn in.
- Radical Reform interest revives. Two political missionaries visit from London.
1817, Jan. Three thousand people attend the Potteries first open air reform meeting in Burslem. Watched by Lord Lieutenant, magistrates and troops. The radical organisation the Hamden Club is banned.
- Reading rooms established in Hanley.
1819, Nov. William Ridgway, Master Potter, chairs a meeting calling for reform and the ballot. Notably, he does not call for Universal Suffrage.
- Several employers give men time off with pay to attend a meeting and defeat a motion calling for support and loyalty to the government.
- The first Combination Acts repealed. The first Potters Union formed.
1824, Dec to 1825, Jul. A wave of strikes grips the area. Potters, colliers, carpenters, barbers!
- Potters Union collapses.
1830, Nov. National Association For Protection Of Labour visits the area.
- National Union of Operative Potters formed.
1831, Apr. Miners join the National Association For Protection Of Labour.
- Potters and colliers uneasy. In May it takes four days for troops to restore order during a miners strike.
1832, Dec. Parliamentary Elections following the great Reform Bill. The local radical candidate, George Miles Mason, comes bottom of the poll. Riots in Hanley follow. He had been warned that to have Joseph Capper as a speaker on his platform would turn all property owners against him. And so it did.
1833, Autumn. Robert Owen visits the area. The Potters Union now has eight thousand members, six thousand of them in North Staffordshire.
- Owen’s Grand National Consolidated Trade Union collapses, but the Potters continue. Owen falls from favour in North Staffordshire because of his religious beliefs.
1834, Jun to Dec. A Potters Co-Operative forms in Burslem. First co-operative in the area.
1834-5. A miners’ strike wins a twenty five percent pay increase.
- The Potters are prominent in the agitation on behalf of the Tolpuddle Martyrs.
1836-7. The Potters start a strike, known as the Great Strike, which lasts five months. Ends in utter defeat and destruction of the Union, January 1837.
- Joseph Capper, at a meeting, asks “Where are the principles of men, who twenty years ago, read The Black Dwarf”. The Black Dwarf was a radical publication from the 1820s.
1837, Jul. Joseph Capper is a member of the Liberal Committee for the Parliamentary Elections. William Ridgeway is on the same platform.
Following Tory wins again, rioting follows. This time in Longton.
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