Women Chartists in Scotland

This page briefly outlines the political activities in which Chartist women took part, examines the extent of Female Chartist Associations in Scotland, and lists women known to have participated in Scottish Chartism.

Women played a significant part in Chartism. The Chartist movement was renowned for its social life, and within the family there was much over which women had control – for example, in the way children were cared for and brought up – which helped to define the politics of Chartism. However, women were also highly visible as activists within the public sphere, at least in the early years of Chartism, in Scotland as in England and Wales.

There are few histories of the Chartist movement in Scotland; histories of women’s involvement in Chartism are fewer still, and it is only in recent years that historians have paid any attention to this topic in general Chartist histories. Nevertheless, there were at least 23 Female Chartist Associations in Scotland at one time or another between 1838 and 1852 (see map), and this undoubtedly understates women’s involvement as membership of the National Charter Association, set up in 1840, was open to men and women alike.

In addition to setting up and running these organisations, women:
* collected money for Chartist causes and organisations;
* signed and collected signatures for petitions both on directly Chartist concerns and on wider issues, for example in opposition to the New Poor Law;
* organised and attended social events which combined entertainment and political speeches;
* attended meetings either as individuals or as delegations from female suffrage organisations, and were often asked to make presentations to famous speakers;
* were found in the pews of Chartist churches;
* took part in strikes;
* were involved in rioting, for example during the general strike of 1842 and following the Bradford rising of 1848;
* joined the Chartist Land Company as individuals; and
* contributed to the Chartist press (one of the most noteworthy contributors to the Red Republican being Helen Macfarlane, who provided the first English translation of the Communist Manifesto) and in a handful of known cases became Chartist lecturers.

Many, of course, signed the great national Chartist petitions. Although there is no authoritative record of the number of women signing the first petition in 1839, in Ashton-under-Lyne, Carlisle and Wednesdbury, the proportion was as high as 20%.

Little is known specifically about Scottish Female Chartist Associations, but Jutta Schwarzkopf in her book on Women in the Chartist Movement (St Martin’s Press, 1991) outlines what is known of the organisation of such associations more generally.

FCAs had a committee consisting of a president, chairwoman (a term used by Chartists), secretary and treasurer. They held weekly meetings, sometimes at a member’s house or Chartist meeting rooms, to enrol members, discuss national and local issues and activities, and to pass resolutions.

Additionally, general meetings were held, sometimes jointly with the Working Men’s Association, which were open to non-members and where the tenets of Chartism could be explained and guest speakers heard. FCAs routinely took part in Chartist demonstrations with their own banners.

Some FCAs could be substantial organisations. A group of female radicals founded at Kirriemuir was reported by the True Scotsman newspaper (22 December, 1838) to have 330 members, while the FCA at Hawick had 168 (True Scotsman, 9 March, 1839).

If it is difficult to find information on women’s activities collectively in Scottish Chartism, then finding out about individual Chartist women can be harder still. All too often, newspapers reported male speakers (and even chairs) at female Chartist association events but failed to name a single woman. Where women are named, a first name is seldom recorded – making it difficult to confirm their identity from other sources or to be sure whether a “Mrs Smith” speaking at two events is the same individual.

Even so, a substantial start on the work of identifying women Chartists in Scotland has been made by Sue John. The results of her trawl through newspapers and other sources are shown in the table below.

Find out more about Women in Chartism and Women Chartists.

NB. All the entries here are also included in the Chartist Ancestors Databank.

Women Chartists in Scotland

This table was compiled by Sue John, and is reproduced here with her kind permission. Email Sue John.