Today marks the birth of radical Chartist Henry Vincent .Vincent, was the eldest son of Thomas Vincent , a
goldsmith, who was born on 10th May 1813 at 145 High
Holborn, London. When the family business failed in 1821, the Vincents
moved to Hull. Henry received little schooling, though he was an avid
reader. In 1828, he was apprenticed to a printer. During this
apprenticeship, his early interest in radical politics, taking note of the agitation and revolution taking place in France, and influenced by the work of Thomas Paine, which would lead him into activism with his election as vice-president of a local Paineite
discussion group and as a member of the Hull Political Union. Upon the
completion of his apprenticeship in 1833, Vincent’s uncle helped him
obtain a position at Spottiswoode’s, the king’s printers, in London.
In
1836, Vincent became involved with a dispute at Spottiswoode’s and left
the firm with about sixty other employees. About this time his mother
inherited an independent income, which freed Vincent of family
responsibilities (his father had died in 1829, leaving a widow and six
children). Vincent started getting more heavily involved in radical circles and in
1836 joined the London Working Men’s Association.
He became a very
successful lecturer and travelled extensively promoting the People’s
Charter.The Charter demanded the reform of parliament, At this time very few people were qualified to vote, around one in twenty of the population of England and Wales, voting was done in public and votes were often bought, Chartists demanded votes for all men over the age of 21 ( some wanted votes for women, but it was felt that this would make the movement a laughing stock) and annual elections to ensure that MP's were instantly answerable to their constituents. They also wanted the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies redrawn so that each seat would have an equal population. To allow anyone, whatever their background to become an MP, they demanded the end of the law which said that an MP has a large amount of land and MP's were to be paid. Secret voting was asked for to ensure that people could bot be victimised for their favoured candidate, and to prevent votes being bought.
In
December 1838, Vincent contributed to the Chartist cause through
the founding of a weekly newspaper, The Western Vindicator based in Bath.'Chartism was the result of increasing class consciousness in the working class, as this extract from a leaflet issued by the South Wales Chartists in 1839 shows: 'The wealth producer is made the slave to the possessors of wealth that he has laboured to create; power is transferred from labour to capital and the producer sinks into a mere instrument to be used as needed, and thrown aside as soon as a more efficient one is presented.'
Chartism is often dismissed as only being about reform of the polling system, but it was much, much more. Workers thought that when the Charter was law their lives would be transformed for the better. They believed that 'children would no longer labour... men and women would only work for six hours a day... the distinctions between rich and poor would be swept away.' After the government turned down the mass petition for the Charter, leaders like John Frost and Henry Vincent called for 'physical force' to obtain the Charter, amounting to political revolution. Parliament’s refusal to listen to their concerns led to increased working class anger. erupting and South Wales would become the storm centre of this discontent.
Vincent was sent to Wales by the London Chartists as a ‘paid missionary’, to
spread support for the People’s Charter and during the spring of 1839
he addressed mass meetings across Monmouthshire. His
lecturing and writing activities were brought to an abrupt halt though after his arrest in May, 1839.The
warrant from the Newport magistrates charged him with having
participated in ‘a riotous assemblage’ held in that town on 19th April
1839. He was taken to Bow Street, charged, and committed to Monmouth
gaol to stand trial at the ensuing assizes. So great was the rage felt outside the court that the mayor was obliged to read the Riot Act. His trial took place on 2nd August 1839 before Sir Edward Hall Alderson,
baron of the exchequer. Sergeant Thomas Noon Talfourd conducted the case
for the crown, and John Arthur Roebuck that for the defence. Roebuck
showed clearly from the admissions of the chief witnesses for the
prosecution that Vincent had told the people to disperse quietly and to
keep the peace. The full text of what Vincent wrote, and his own account of what he said that day in Newport, can be found in an
article from the Western Vindicator now published on the vision of Britain website.
Vincent, neverthless was found guilty and sentenced to
twelve months’ imprisonment. He applied for the use of books
and writing materials but was refused all but religious books. On
9th August 1839, Lord Brougham brought Vincent’s case to the attention
of the House of Lords. Vincent,though only found guilty of a misdemeanour on
one count only, was treated as a felon. The intense feeling in South Wales at the time about
Vincent’s treatment in prison would help glavanise the Chartist cause which would result in the rising that would follow in Newport..
On the morning of 4th November 1839, large
crowds, estimated variously at from eight thousand to twenty thousand,
marched towards Newport,intending to rescue Vincent from prison and seize the town. They believed that his release would signal a large-scale insurrection throughout the country. However they came into collision with the
military and when John Frost and the marchers arrived in Newport they
discovered that the authorities had made more arrests and were holding
several Chartists in the Westgate Hotel. The Chartists marched to the
hotel and began chanting "surrender our prisoners". Twenty-eight
soldiers had been placed inside the Westgate Hotel and when the order
was given they began firing into the crowd, ending in a bloodbath with 30 dead.
Afterwards approximately 200 Chartists were arrested for their involvement in the
march. The three principal leaders, John Frost, Zephaniah Williams, and
William Jones, were found guilty of high treason and sentenced to be
hung, drawn and quartered. Although their sentences were later reduced
to transportation for life following a national outcry, they were the
last people to be sentenced to this punishment in England and Wales. Courageous men who were all prepared to fight for the cause of Chartism and the that of of the working class.
https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/remembering-chartist-leaders-found.htmlIn March 1840, Vincent was tried a second time at
Monmouth for ‘having conspired together with John Frost to subvert the
constituted authorities, and alter by force the constitution of the
country’. A second count charged the men with having uttered seditious
language. Again Sergeant Talfourd conducted the prosecution. Vincent
having been dissatisfied with Roebuck’s conduct of the defence at his
first trial, now decided to defend himself. He did so with such skill
and persuasion that the Monmouthshire jury, while finding both prisoners
guilty, recommended clemency for him. He was sentenced to twelve
months’ imprisonment. Talfourd was so impressed by Vincent’s defence
that he indicated his regrets at having undertaken the case for the
prosecution and became involved in the efforts to obtain better
conditions for Vincent.
After his release Vincent married Lucy Chappell,
daughter of John Cleave, at the register office, St Luke’s, Chelsea, on
27th February 1841. They settled in Bath, where Vincent resumed
lecturing and publishing The Vindicator until it ceased publication in 1842, and continued to spread the Chartist cause throughout the country, while joining the National Charter Association..In
July 1841, he stood as a radical candidate for Banbury in the first of
what was to be a long list of unsuccessful attempts to gain a
parliamentary seat.
His ideas became more moderate, concentrating ore on moral reform than of class conflict, though his ultimate political aim of universal suffrage did not waver, He joined groups linked with the Temperance movement and teetotal political societies, which condemned the social evils of drink. Because of his now more moderate approach , previous close allies of his in the Chartist movement disagreed with him over his watering down of the physical force message of Chartism and the distraction of the Temperance message. In 1842, Vincent helped set yp the Complete Suffrage Union that had similar aims to the Chartist movement and though still a member of the National Charter Association, he was no longer the envied spirited orator of old, and some of his old friendships and bonds were now broken, some Chartists, broke ranks with him, because they did not support his allegiance tothe Complete Suffrage union, some heckled him and branded him a traitor.
Despite these setbacks Vincent continued to hold and develop his progressive views and was invited to speak on long tours of America in 1866, 1867 and again in 1875 and 1876.His wider travels would stimulate his interests in world politics and working conditions.He became stoutly anti-war, seeing war as a means of domestic oppression orchestrated by oppressive governments.In 1848, he lectured for the Peace Society Anti-slavery too became his focus at this stage and he lectured on a number of social and historical questions. In these later years he also spoke out in favour of
popular education, free trade, and religious tolerance. Vincent’s own religious sympathies were
with the Society of Friends, though he was never formally received into
membership. In addition to his public lectures, Vincent frequently
conducted services on Sundays in free church chapels as a lay preacher.
Vincent died on 29 December 1878 and is buried at Abney Park Cemetary in Stoke Newington..
By 1918, most of the Chartist demands had been met, and women over the age of 30 were also entitled to vote. Ten years later all women over the age of 21 could vote.But the Chartists had wanted all their demands at once, this after all is what had made them Chartists in the first place, and the important demand for annual elections still has not been gained. Only a reduction in the term of parliament from seven years to five was passed.But Chartists and men like Henry Vincent helped spread socialism and the events in Newport are now rightly celebrated each year as a symbolic step towards winning some democratic rights, leaving us with a tremendous legacy that serves to inspire and educate all those who wish to change the world.
