History and Today

As part of my British Library Labs project, I'm mapping all the pubs and other venues in London where Chartists used to meet. This often involves me searching for their exact locations, using the excellent http://pubshistory.com/LondonPubs site. I've got to 110 venues so far in London, just from the 1841-2 advertisements and reports in the Northern Star . I also try to find out if the pubs are still there (rough estimate is that 10% of them are still in business, using the same name or similar). Here are a couple I've found which have interesting later histories: The Sugar Loaf, 187 Hanbury Street, Mile End = Chartist meetings in 1842; anarchist meetings in the 1880s: http://pubshistory.com/LondonPubs/MileEnd/SugarLoaf.shtml https://libcom.org/history/street-where-god-did-not-strike-down-feigenbaum The Horns Tavern, 1 Crucifix Lane (already scary!), Bermondsey = Chartist meetings in 1842; haunted pub in the 1960s (now a Thai restaurant): http://pubshistor...

Just added! Prof Ian Haywood of Roehampton University will speak at the 'Follow the Chartists round London' event at the British Library on 21 September. He'll be talking about 'the monster meeting'. Book your free place here - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/following-the-chartists-around-london-tickets-17917954083

Political Meetings Mapper, British Library Labs, update. On 21 September, we're taking a tour of some of the Chartist meeting sites near the British Library. Here's some of the costumes, skilfully made by Costume Creations of Wales  bonnets and aprons. I have caps and waistcoats for the men too! There are still some places available. It's free, with lunch at the British Library. book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/following-the-chartists-around-london-tickets-17917954083 I need a male volunteer to pretend to be a Chartist too, so let me know if you're interested in reading a couple of speeches out from the newspapers. Here are some of the maps of London sites I'm making for the event: As I said in my British Library Labs blog, I'm surprised how widely the sites were distributed across London. Also, there are some continuities with the London Corresponding Society meeting sites in the 1790s, which I'm still exploring. The essen...

I'm drawing up a list of all the modules about 18th and 19thC reform, popular protest, radicalism and labour history taught at British universities. Here's what I've found so far; if you know of any others, do comment and let me know. University of Hertfordshire, 6HUM1102, [my module, of course], Popular Protest, Riot and Reform in Britain, 1760-1848, http://katrinanavickas.weebly.com/popular-protest.html,  and its companion module, 6HUM0399, The Politics of Parliamentary Reform, 1760-1832, http://katrinanavickas.weebly.com/parliamentary-reform.html University of Southampton, ‘HIST2065 Aristocracy to democracy? Political change in 19th century Britain’, http://www.southampton.ac.uk/humanities/undergraduate/modules/hist2065_aristocracy_to_democracy_political_change_in_19c_britain.page University of Newcastle, ‘HIS3279 : Popular Politics and Reform in Britain, 1811-1850’, http://www.ncl.ac.uk/undergraduate/modules/module/HIS3279 University of Portsmouth, ‘In...

Come and join me for a tour of some Chartist pubs near the British Library on 21 September! Free, with lunch at the BL, some talks, tour, and ending at a historic pub. Book here now! =  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/following-the-chartists-around-london-tickets-17917954083  I now have some costumes, thanks to Costume Creations of North Wales. female costumes I have ordered some male costumes, and I still need a male actor to read out some speeches from the Northern Star. Let me know if you'd be interested in doing this. I'm also considering making a Chartist banner to carry with us on the day.