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This is a great place to tell your story and give people more insight into who you are, what you do, and why it’s all about you.

Glossary

Cap of Liberty- French republican and democratic headwear and iconic symbol, adopted by some British campaigners. An odious symbol of revolution to their critics.

 

Petitions - often used in the 18th and 19th centuries as an alternative form of representation in parliament by those without the vote. Anti-slavery campaigners presented 13,000.

 

Riot Act - 1714 law allowing local authorities to declare any group of 12 or more people to be unlawfully assembled and order them to disperse or face action.

Rotten boroughs - usually little-populated constituencies, often treated by landowners and lords as their property. Old Sarum in Wiltshire had no resident voters but two MPs until 1832.

This is a great place to tell your story and give people more insight into who you are, what you do, and why it’s all about you.

Newspapers and magazines

London and national: 

Morning Chronicle (1769-1865), liberal, gave first writing job to Charles Dickens.

Morning Post (1772-1937), originally Whig but conservative by Regency period, merged with Daily Telegraph in 1930s.

The Times - first published 1785, editor in 1819 Thomas Barnes, supported 1832 Reform Act. Online archive (£)

The Black Dwarf (1817-1824), radical weekly magazine, edited by Thomas Jonathan Wooler. Sold 12,000 at its peak.

Manchester and North-West England

Manchester Observer (1818-21) - radical paper that invited Henry Hunt to speak at Peterloo meeting, closed after repeated prosecutions. University of Manchester Archive (free).

Other areas

Dublin Evening Post (1732-1875) - available in British Newspaper Archive (£)

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