Papers for the People: A Study of the Chartist Press (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Papers for the People: A Study of the Chartist Press Larry K. Uffelman (bio) Joan Allen and Owen R. Ashton, eds., Papers for the People: A Study of the Chartist Press (London: Chartists Studies Series No. 7, Merlin Press, 2005), pp. xi + 225, £15.15. A collection of essays in a series dealing with Chartist newspapers, this volume consists of articles on various aspects of the subject and seeks to open new perspectives on the Chartist press from its early beginnings to "its more diverse manifestation in the late 1850s" (xii). Each of these well-focused, well-written, and informative essays concerns Chartist newspapers published between 1837 and 1859. Furthermore, the collection includes essays on the Chartist press in Wales, Ireland, and the Antipodes, as well as on the more usual English and Scottish papers. In short, the collection attempts to accomplish two basic goals: (1) to include newspapers not ordinarily noticed, and (2) to open new approaches to the study of Chartist publications. The following articles appear after a summary introduction: Aled Jones, "Chartism and Print Culture in Britain, 1830-1855"; Malcolm Chase, "Building Identity, Building Circulation: Engraved Portraiture and the Northern Star"; Owen R. Ashton, "The Western Vindicator and Early Chartism"; W. Hamish Fraser, "The Chartist Press in Scotland"; Glenn Airey, "Feargus O'Connor, Ernest Jones and The Labourer" ; Michael Huggins, "Democracy or Nationalism? The Problems of the [End Page 267] Chartist Press in Ireland"; Edward Royle, "The Cause of the People, the People's Charter Union and 'Moral Force' Chartism in 1848"; Joan Allen, "'Resurrecting Jerusalem': The Late Chartist Press in the North-East of England, 1852-1859"; and Paul A. Pickering, "'Mercenary Scribblers' and 'Polluted Quills': The Chartist Press in Australia and New Zealand." These studies are pleasantly even in quality and should be of interest to students of both press history and Chartism. Four in particular stand out to me. First, Malcolm Chase's essay emphasizes the ways in which the Northern Star rejected graphic satire, but instead used graphic culture to declare itself "serious," "respectable," and "free from frivolity." He argues that the expansion of graphic culture benefitted Chartism, and that the portraits published in the newspaper's pages project a strong attachment to the "gentleman leader"; in fact, he suggests that the very format of the newspaper became symbolic and projected "gravitas." This emphasis on the use of available space to communicate "meaning" through graphic design is fascinating. After all, among the things a newspaper is is column inches arranged according to a communicative vision, a design with a message of its own. Second, Owen R. Ashton's study of the Western Vindicator is interesting because of the connections it makes between Henry Vincent's early missionary activity in South Wales and the establishment of the Vindicator as a journalistic force in South Wales and the West Country. Like many papers of the time, the Vindicator was read aloud by those who could read to those who couldn't, and it was, in fact, printed in fonts designed for oral reading. Ashton's essay, like Chase's, suggests that the newspaper's physical appearance-its design right down to the font it's printed in-carried a "meaning" of its own that was in line with the Chartist "mission": increased literacy among the working classes. Third, Edward Royle's essay on the Cause of the People is a fascinating study of a paper that generally has been overlooked, largely because it doesn't fit what Royle describes as "the narrative of mainstream Chartism" constructed by historians. Likewise, he says, the current focus on Feargus O'Conner and the Northern Star has obscurred the importance of the Cause of the People. Yet as a newspaper emphasizing moral force instead of physical force, this publication deserves more serious attention. Fourth, Paul Pickering's on the Chartist press in Australia and New Zealand, like Royle's essay noted above, strikes a note sounded in Allen [End Page 268] and Ashton's introduction: to wit, the need to include Chartist publications not often treated or even well known. Several of these publications appeared in Australia and New Zealand. Thus, Pickering identifies as the purpose of...