Chartists, Rebels & Radicals - Dr Neil Pye and Constantin Torve
6:00pm - 7:30pm /
Wednesday 29th April 2026
/ Venue: GFlex Central Teaching Laboratory
Type: Lecture /
Category: Department
- Viola Segeroth
- Admission: FREE but registration requested at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1985517033897
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Public talk exploring the lasting impact of 19th century popular protest, and the lessons to be learned from it in our time.
The 19th century was a period of profound social and political transformation across the British Isles and the wider empire. Rapid population growth, economic change, and industrialisation unsettled established social relations and brought new groups into the sphere of politics.
Agricultural labourers, small tenants, artisans, and industrial workers increasingly challenged the political monopoly of a wealthy and educated elite, demanding the abolition of unjust laws, a fairer distribution of resources, and a more representative political system.
Two of the most important popular movements to emerge from these conditions were Irish agrarian agitation and British Chartism. Although they developed in different social and economic contexts, both reflected the growing politicisation of the lower orders and the emergence of mass politics in the nineteenth century. In Ireland, rural protest movements mobilised against rack-rents, tithes, and evictions, often drawing on older traditions of collective resistance and moral economy. In Britain, Chartism organised working people around a national programme of political reform, centred on the People’s Charter and its demand for expanded political rights. The legacies of these movements continue to shape British, Irish, and even Australian politics to this day.
The 19th century was a period of profound social and political transformation across the British Isles and the wider empire. Rapid population growth, economic change, and industrialisation unsettled established social relations and brought new groups into the sphere of politics.
Agricultural labourers, small tenants, artisans, and industrial workers increasingly challenged the political monopoly of a wealthy and educated elite, demanding the abolition of unjust laws, a fairer distribution of resources, and a more representative political system.
Two of the most important popular movements to emerge from these conditions were Irish agrarian agitation and British Chartism. Although they developed in different social and economic contexts, both reflected the growing politicisation of the lower orders and the emergence of mass politics in the nineteenth century. In Ireland, rural protest movements mobilised against rack-rents, tithes, and evictions, often drawing on older traditions of collective resistance and moral economy. In Britain, Chartism organised working people around a national programme of political reform, centred on the People’s Charter and its demand for expanded political rights. The legacies of these movements continue to shape British, Irish, and even Australian politics to this day.