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Kennington Common 1848: 100,000 Chartists assemble
Socialist historian KEITH FLETT looks at an enormous but messy day south of the Thames for England’s early working-class movement
HISTORIC: A daguerrotype, an early form of photograph, captured on the Chartists on Kennington Common, April 1848
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MAT COWARD looks back at a protest 105 years ago this month, whose reporting by the media bears uncomfortable similarities with demos today
ON April 10 1848 the Chartists held a rally to demand the vote for working men on Kennington Common, London. It was the first demonstration in the world to be photographed, and the original picture is held in the King’s Collection at Windsor.
With much of the rest of Europe in turmoil, this gives an indication of how seriously the ruling class took the threat of a revolutionary outbreak. The Queen departed for the Isle of Wight and troops and special constables were mobilised to protect key buildings and deal with any Chartist challenge to power.
The efforts of the state on April 10 1848 are relatively well documented. The Chartist tactics for the demonstration have received less attention.
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