1st Edition

Chartism, Commemoration and the Cult of the Radical Hero

By Matthew Roberts Copyright 2020
    250 Pages
    by Routledge

    250 Pages
    by Routledge

    Chartism, the British mass movement for democratic and social rights in the 1830s and 1840s, was profoundly shaped by the radical tradition from which it emerged. Yet, little attention has been paid to how Chartists saw themselves in relation to this diverse radical tradition or to the ways in which they invented their own tradition. Paine, Cobbett and other ‘founding fathers’, dead and alive, were used and in some cases abused by Chartists in their own attempts to invent a radical tradition. By drawing on new and exciting work in the fields of visual and material culture; cultures of heroism, memory and commemoration; critical heritage studies; and the history of political thought, this book explores the complex cultural work that radical heroes were made to perform.

    List of tables and figures



    Acknowledgments



    Abbreviations





    Introduction





    Part 1: Chartism and the Radical Tradition









    1. Inventing the Radical Tradition








    2. Unfurling the Radical Tradition: the Visual and Material Culture of Chartism






    3.  





    4. History, Memory and the Rituals of Pantheonism








    5. Using and Abusing the Radical Tradition






    6.  



      Part 2: The Cult of the Radical Hero/Villain







    7. The Chartists and Mister Thomas Paine








    8. Forging the Radical Tradition: Chartism, Currency and Cobbett






    9.  





    10. Richard Oastler and the Chartists








    11. Daniel O’Connell, Chartism and the Atlantic World






    Conclusion





    Selected Bibliography





    Index

    Biography



    Matthew Roberts is Reader in Modern British History at Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK.