Sources for Chartism: Chartist Women 3

Chartism and temperance

Source 7: ‘Address of the East London Female Total Abstinence Association’, The Northern Star, 30^th January 1842, page 1

Sisters and Countrywomen,

The age in which we live is perhaps the most remarkable and important page in the world’s history. We see multitudes anxiously searching for the fountain of knowledge. The light of the glorious sun of truth is dispelling the clouds of superstition and the mists of error, from the human mind. Almost incredible improvements are making in the arts and sciences: the bountiful Author of all good showers down his blessing, and causes the earth to bring forth abundantly; yet, strange to relate, amidst all this prosperity, at no period of time was society in a more unhappy and miserable condition. Starving people and plenteous harvests; the markets glutted with provisions, warehouses with clothing; with an industrious, hungry and naked working population. The principal causes which have produced this sad state are three in number - namely, selfishness, competition and ignorance. Our rulers have legislated, and still continue to legislate, unjustly. They derive the principal of their revenue from the necessaries of life, and the vices of the people. Parliamentary documents will prove, that the duty on malt, spirits, wine and tobacco, comprise the greater portion of this revenue. Add to this the taxes on food, &c, and it will be found that three fourths of the revenue is derived from these two sources. Our clergy preach contentment and passive obedience to the toiling and care worn hungry mechanics and labourers while a numerous standing army of red and blue-coated soldiers are ready, at the bidding of their officers, to enforce submission to arbitrary laws, with the bayonet and truncheon. The only practicable means to remedy the evil under which we labour, and renovate society, is to abandon the use of all intoxicating drinks, to become a thinking and strictly moral people, and acquire sound political knowledge. It is necessary to abstain from all strong drinks -

1st. Because the most valuable medical testimony, and individual experience, prove them to be highly injurious to health; and their certain effects are likewise to demoralise and destroy the power and energies of the mind.

2nd. It is necessary to abstain as an example to our husbands and children; for how can we expect our offspring to be sober, virtuous, and dutiful, if we do not influence them by our good conduct. Dear sisters, remember it is at the fire side, on the domestic hearth, in the social circle, at home, when the first relish for these insidious drinks is imbibed. It is the first treacherous glass of friendship, the sip from the mother’s hand that sows the seed of future drunkenness.

3rd. It is necessary to abstain, because that portion of hard-earned wages which is now squandered away at the pot house and gin palace would enable us to secure a sound and proper education for our children, in accordance with our views and feelings. We should no longer submit to our children wearing the garb of charity, and the degrading policy number badge of slavery. Only think of the working man's sons and daughters being ticketed, like prize sheep! Depend upon this fact, the charity and policy badge of national schools, is the remnant of the ancient Saxon serf’s collar. Why should our feelings be wounded by seeing the finger of scorn pointed at our children, and the sad appellation of ‘charity brat’ applied to them? A well-regulated mind disdains servility and cringing. Let us reject their Church and State offers of education for our children, which is only calculated to debase the mind, and render it subservient to class interest; let us teach our offspring to do unto others as they would others should do unto them.

4th. We can abstain from all intoxicating drinks with safety and benefit, even at those critical times when they have hitherto been considered most needful and indispensably necessary. Some of us have proved it by practical experience, therefore you may safely rely upon our testimony.

Sisters, we have hitherto been considered inferior to men in powers of intellect, and truly the want of proper education has made us appear so; but we much doubt whether this would have been the case had we possessed the same opportunities of acquiring a proper education which the other sex has enjoyed. Let us endeavour to remove this reproach, by embracing every opportunity of cultivating and improving our minds. We earnestly entreat you to this, that you might be able to impart a sound education to your offspring, and train their tender minds in the way of truth and virtue.

Be not discouraged at your want of ability and knowledge; close application and perseverance will achieve wonders. The one half of mankind acquires their knowledge under difficulties. Perhaps at a former period of time has the female character exhibited so much zeal, or displayed so much brilliancy of talent, as in the present day. The press teems with valuable writings the production of women. Remember, if we bestir ourselves in these matters, our husbands cannot keep behind for very shame; pride will stimulate them to excel us. Then how delightful will it be to see a generous strife between husband and wife, trying to excel each other in knowledge and morality.

Come then, sisters and countrywomen, unite with us in making a grand effort to ameliorate our condition and remove the plague spots - partial legislation and intemperance - from society. Unite with us to obtain the People’s Charter; let us form Total Abstinence Chartist Associations, without delay, in every town and village throughout the United Kingdom; nor cease agitating until our exertions are crowned with success. Let us never forget, that more than four hundred brave and honest men have been imprisoned by those very men who live on our hard earnings; and shall we still kiss the hand that is raised to destroy us? Never let it be said that we, who are the advocates of equal laws, are so dead to our own interest as to lead us to partake of those things that debase the mind and give strength to the enemy.

In conclusion, we implore you to remember the concluding words of the noble-minded Vincent’s Address on Total Abstinence, namely – ‘that no Government can long withstand the just claims of a people who have had the courage to conquer their own vices.’

We remain,

Sisters and Countrywomen,

Yours in the Cause of Universal Redemption,

THE MEMBERS OF THE EAST LONDON FEMALE TOTAL ABSTINENCE CHARTIST ASSOCIATION
Association Rooms, 166, Brick Lane

Spitalfields, London, January 25^th 1841.

Sources for Chartism: Women Chartists 2

Women and the family

Many of women’s activities within Chartism reflected their family roles. When they raised money for the cause, it was often for the families of imprisoned men. Many Chartist children were named for Chartist leaders: for lists see Chartist Ancestors. A tactic in which it was assumed that women had a special advantage was that of exclusive dealing. Some Female Chartist Associations pledged themselves to purchase only from shopkeepers with sympathy for their cause. Women also participated in the Chartist Land Plan, which aimed to ensure a plot of land for as many of its members as possible, appealing to the rural population as well as those in industrial areas. Over 1,800 women were listed as subscribers in their own right, though this was only around 4% of the whole. Many of these may have been acting on behalf of their families, hoping for a small plot of land to help the family economy, and many more would have participated through their husbands. 

Source 4: The Northern Star, 13^th March, 1841

Mr Webb: What is the child to be called?

Mrs King: James Feargus O’Connor King.

Mr Webb: Is your husband a Chartist?

Mrs King: I don’t know, but his wife is.

Mr Webb: Are you the child’s mother?

Mrs King: Yes.

Mr Webb: You had better go home and consider it again; for if the person that you are naming your child after and was to commit high treason and get hanged, what a thing it would be.

Mrs King: If that should be the case, I should then consider it an honour to have my child called after him, so that I shall never have him out of my memory so long as the child lives; for I think Feargus O’Connor a great deal honester man than those who are punishing him.

Mr Webb: Well, if you are determined to have it named after him, I must name it; but I never met such an obstinate lady as you before.

Mr Webb then registered the child by the above name.

Women and education

Chartist leaders saw women as above all the educators of their children. The commitment of mothers to the cause was essential for the creation of a changed world. It was their task to shape the character of the next generation. It could also mean of course a greater awareness of the importance of women’s own education, given their part as both mothers and as teachers in the upbringing of the young. Some Chartist men, like William Lovett, might believe that they themselves should act as the instructors of their wives, partly because of a sense that their wives were not their equals either in education or political commitment. Many leading women Chartists took up and developed this stress on education and were especially active in the organisation of Chartist cultural and social life. They founded and taught in Sunday Schools, actively backed Chartist Churches, and helped to develop temperance and teetotal Chartism. Some, like the woman who wrote in Chartist periodicals as Sophia, pointed out the conflict of interests which could arise if women pursued their own educational interests.

Source 5: W. E. Adams, Memoirs of a Social Atom, London: Hutchinson and Co., 1903, pages 163-164

Few men now living, I fancy, had an earlier introduction to Chartism than I had. My people, though there wasn't a man among them, were all Chartists, or at least all interested in the Chartist movement. If they did not keep the ‘sacred month’, it was because they thought the suspension of labour on the part of a few poor washerwomen would have no effect on the policy of the country. But they did for a time abstain from the use of excisable commodities. There were other indications of their tendencies. We had a dog called Rodney. My grandmother disliked that name because she had a curious sort of notion that Admiral Rodney, having been elevated to the peerage, had been hostile to the people. The old lady, too, was careful to explain to me that Cobbet and Cobden were two different persons - that Cobbet was the hero, and that Cobden was just a middle-class advocate. One of the pictures that I longest remember - it stood alongside samplers and stencilled drawings, and not far from a china statuette of George Washington - was a portrait of John Frost. A line at the top of the picture indicated that it belonged to a series called the Portrait Gallery of People’s Friends. Above the head was a laurel wreath, while below was a representation of Mr. Frost appealing to Justice on behalf of a group of ragged and wretched outcasts. I have been familiar with the picture since childhood, and cherish it as a memento of stirring times.

Source 6: Letter from ‘M’, English Chartist Circular, 1, number 25, 1841, page 102

It is a great truth that women hold in their hands the character, and consequently, the destiny of a nation. What they are themselves, such are their children. The influences which surround the first six years of the child determine its character for life. Interest or habit may afterwards induce an individual to act differently, but such actions will not be natural: the first six years has given the bias, and be it for good or evil, it is never eradicated. How culpable then are those who neglect the education of our first teachers. No nation ever appreciated the influence of the mother so much as did the Romans in the days of their greatness. We are told by Quintillian that as “soon as the child was born, he was not given in charge to an hired nurse, to live with her in some pitiful hole, that served her for lodgings, but was brought up in the lap and bosom of the mother who reckoned it among her chief commendations to keep the house, and attend on the children. Some ancient matron was pitched on out of the neighbours whose life and manners rendered her worthy of that office to whose care the children of every family were committed; before whom it was reckoned the most heinous thing in the world to speak an ill word, or do an ill action. Nor had she an eye only to their instruction and the business that they were to follow, but with an equal modesty and gravity, she regulated their divertissements and recreations. Thus Cornelia, Aurelia, and Attica, mothers to the Gracchi, Julius Caesar, and Augustus, are represented to have undertaken the offices of governess, and to have employed themselves in the education of noblemen’s children. The strictness and severity of such an institution had this very good design - that the mind, by being thus preserved in its premature innocence and integrity, and not debauched by ill custom, or ill example, might apply itself with the greatest willingness to liberal arts, and embrace them with all its powers and faculties” that, whether it was particularly inclined either to the profession of arms, or to the understanding of the law, or to the practice of eloquence, it might make that its only business, and greedily drink in the whole knowledge of the favourite study. “Now if the women of England had the knowledge the Roman matrons possessed, they might, if they came forward, win the charter sooner than the men” but have they? Is it not notorious that the wives of the working classes, take them as a body, are with the finest capacities, lost in ignorance. If the great body of the men are not much better in this particular, what is to be expected of the women who have fewer opportunities of improving themselves? What follows from this? Why that before they can come forward to aid us in a great political struggle, they must first be taught what they are to struggle for, and what kind of assistance is expected from them. This brings me to the plan I wish to propose: The wives and daughters of the Chartists must be made to understand their political and social rights; they must be made chartists of if we would have those over whom they have had an influence true and strong in the cause they have adopted. Now what method would be best of imparting to them the requisite instruction? Few, very few, venture to our rooms to hear us lecture, and unless; we have opportunities of instructing them they can never become intelligent converts to our cause. What then is to be done? I propose that the leader, the lecturer, or the council of every town in which there is a chartist branch, to select from the ladies who take an interest in the cause, a certain number who they may deem the most capable of imparting instruction, and after examining these ladies as to their capacity to teach, and knowledge of the principles they solicit them to go in their name to the wives, sisters and daughters, of chartists in given districts, with political pamphlets, chartist tracts and ENGLISH CHARTIST CIRCULARS; these publications to be lent to those who can read, and read and explained to those who cannot read. Their first object must be to gain their affections; next, to rouse their self esteem or sense of moral dignity; and lastly, by arguments, illustrations and catechisms, familiarly to inculcate the principles. I have always observed that women make the best preparatory teachers. This may be one reason why the Methodists and other religious bodies, sanction their enthusiastic female members in visiting the houses of their poorer brethren for the purpose of giving religious instruction. Be this as it may, the idea is excellent, and the practice is crowned with success. What has been turned to so good an account in the religious world may be equally capable in the political, if judiciously managed. I therefore throw the suggestion out to those who have it in their power to test its utility.

Bath, June 23, 1841. M. M - n.