Samuel Bamford's Passages in the Life of a Radical (1842) and Early Days (1848) are among the most important sources for the social history of the early industrial revolution and the radical movement. What is less well known is that he left behind an extensive, varied and readable collection of other writings. The diaries were written towards the end of his life (1858-1861) and include letters and journalism, both by and about Bamford, closely linked to the diary material. There is frequent reference to and argument about the early 19th-century radical movement and the Peterloo massacre, and among Bamford's contacts and correspondents were the MPs Richard Cobden and James Kay-Shuttleworth, the pioneer dialect writers Edwin Waugh and Ben Brierley, and mid-Victorian political reformers.

This book recovers the stories of two remarkable Victorian working men. Thomas Cooper and Arthur O'Neill were both imprisoned for seditious offences in 1843. The friendship they formed in Stafford Gaol lasted for fifty years. These two men wanted to be remembered as Chartist prisoners - but, talented and energetic, they also made their marks in other areas. Cooper was the author of a famous poem, The Purgatory of Suicides, and of novels; he knew well Thomas Carlyle and Charles Kingsley, and came into contact with Benjamin Disraeli and Charles Dickens. Later in life he became a lecturer in defence of Christianity. O'Neill worked with Joseph Sturge and Henry Richard for peace and international arbitration, attending a number of international peace conferences. An important contribution to Chartist studies, this book also examines in detail artisan literary activity, pacifism and Christian apologetics in Victorian Britain.

Table of contents

With an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses political history, the history of ideas, cultural history and art history, The Victorian World offers a sweeping survey of the world in the nineteenth century. This volume offers a fresh evaluation of Britain and its global presence in the years from the 1830s to the 1900s. It brings together scholars from history, literary studies, art history, historical geography, historical sociology, criminology, economics and the history of law, to explore more than 40 themes central to an understanding of the nature of Victorian society and culture, both in Britain and in the rest of the world. Organised around six core themes – the world order, economy and society, politics, knowledge and belief, and culture – The Victorian World offers thematic essays that consider the interplay of domestic and global dynamics in the formation of Victorian orthodoxies. A further section on ‘Varieties of Victorianism’ offers considerations of the production and reproduction of external versions of Victorian culture, in India, Africa, the United States, the settler colonies and Latin America. These thematic essays are supplemented by a substantial introductory essay, which offers a challenging alternative to traditional interpretations of the chronology and periodisation of the Victorian years. Lavishly illustrated, vivid and accessible, this volume is invaluable reading for all students and scholars of the nineteenth century.

This book reflects on popular politics in Britain during the turbulent period of industrialization, focusing on how political meanings were produced and sustained. It is also a spirited series of responses to the changing terrain of historical studies. It takes as its starting point the goal of defining a middle ground between E. P. Thompson’s concept of cultural materialism and the postmodern view of culture as a system of signs and codes (with emphasis on the linguistic grounding of experience). The first part of the book evaluates and critiques the work of two of the most influential proponents of the linguistic turn in British historical writing: Gareth Stedman Jones and Patrick Joyce. The second part contains four case studies: the first two treating British political culture in the age of the French Revolution, the third dealing with the role of space in historical reasoning, and the fourth assessing the role of gentleman leaders within popular movements.