The British 1848: The Chartist protest on Kennington Common on 13th March 1848

The British 1848. The protest on Kennington Common on 13^th March 1848

The start of the British 1848 is often taken to be the Chartist demonstration on Kennington Common on Monday 10^th April 1848. It was not exactly the failure that traditional historians have suggested it was but that is for another post.

The British 1848 had got underway in earnest after the news of the French Revolution and the departure of the King had been received via telegraph on 25^th February.

The subsequent banned rally in Trafalgar Square on 6^th March 1848 was not an official Chartist event but Chartists were involved and after heavy handed police intervention there were several days of disturbances in the West End and the City of London.

https://kmflett.wordpress.com/2018/03/10/the-start-of-the-british-1848-6-8th-march-central-london/

The Chartists were busy with welcoming the French events, a delegation was despatched to Paris, and in holding meetings to determine how these events could be used to spark further mobilisation for political change and the vote in Britain. The first outcome of that was April 10^th.

In between however there was a further less well-known event in Camberwell.  David Goodway covers it in a couple of pages of his authoritative book on London Chartism 1838-48.

On 13^th March GWM Reynolds who had convened the Trafalgar Square meeting on 6^th March called another for Kennington Common. On this occasion there was official Chartist involvement. Fearing  a re-run of the events of the week before, troops were placed on standby the Government. In addition 3,881 police were mobilised including 80 mounted officers and 100 in plain clothes.

400 t0 500 protesters gathered and on the signal of a raised pole at noon most departed via back  routes and lanes to Bowyer Lane, Camberwell. Here using staves and sticks a range of small shops were broken into and looted, including 3 shoemakers, a tailors, a baker and some general stores.

Goodway notes that the whole episode lasted just an hour and that mounted police made 9 arrests at the time. This rose to 25 later as some looters were recognised by local people. All those arrested were brought to trial in April and sentenced to terms of transportation or imprisonment.

Interestingly as Goodway again notes while it might be thought that this was the work of an underclass in reality all those arrested worked at trades. They were however overwhelmingly young, the youngest being 13 and the oldest 29.

No report of the day or the trials was carried in the Northern Star.

It is arguable that Camberwell on 13^th March represented a direction not then taken by those inspired by the French February as the Chartists successfully put their political mark on matters on 10^th April.