This playlist offers an introduction to Chartism, including the Newport Rising of 1939, the first Trade Unions, and a range of other topics related to workers and working-class rights in nineteenth-century Britain. It features a range of dramatized primary sources and presenter-led videos that are particularly helpful for Part 3 of AQA’s Power and the People module, and the c. 1800-2014 topic of OCR’s Power: Monarchy and Democracy.
Additional Resources
Free online course
The Citizens project at Royal Holloway produced a free online course ‘Peterloo to the Pankhursts: Radicalism and Reform in the 19th Century’, which you can access on Future Learn. This course is for anyone with an interest in political and social history, including the history of British Parliament, trade unionism and the labour movement.
The Chartist movement
For a detailed summary of the Chartist movement, and digitised primary sources, see the British Library website. For more detail on the parliamentary aspect of the Chartist movement, see the Living Heritage pages of the UK Parliament website. Our Chartist Heritage has a collection of lyrics from Chartist songs. The National Archives have an interactive learning resource on ‘Powers, Politics & Protest’ resource with student activities, featuring a section on Chartism.
Welsh Chartism
The People’s Collection Wales has a collection of resources on Welsh Chartism. These include printable handouts such as timelines and glossaries, primary sources, and images. For more on Welsh Chartism, Parliament’s Living Heritage pages have a section on the Newport Rising of 1839.
Workers' rights
The People’s History Museum provides learning resources on workers’ rights, including content on the Match Girls’ Strike of 1888 and the Grunwick Strike of 1976-1978. This includes a blog post on Jayaben Desai, leader of the Grunwick Strike. The British Library website includes a video of Amrit Wilson talking about her experience meeting the Grunwick strikers. Striking Women is an educational site about migration, women, and work.
Trade Unions
In celebration of its 150th birthday, the TUC collated stories of trade unions stories, including the Tolpuddle Martyrs and the 1889 Dockworker’s Strike. Parliament’s Living Heritage pages also have a section on equal pay disputes in the twentieth century. The Working
Class Movement Library website has detailed information on working-class life, workers’ organisations and trade disputes. The Citizens Project blog has posts on relevant topics.
