Liberty or death : the story of Thomas Hardy, shoemaker, and John Cartwright, landowner, in the early struggles for parliamentary democracy / Ray Hemmings.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hemmings, Ray.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Radicalism--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Radicalism.

Cartwright, John, 1740-1824.

Cartwright, John.

Hardy, Thomas, 1752-1832.

Hardy, Thomas.

History.

Great Britain--Politics and government--1789-1820.

Great Britain.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

vii, 184 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Other Title:

Subtitle on cover: Early struggles for parliamentary democracy

Place of Publication:

London : Lawrence and Wishart, 2000.

Summary:

Liberty or Death chronicles the movement for parliamentary reform in the latter part of the 18th century. It is a history seen through the eyes of two very different reformers. Thomas Hardy, a Scottish shoemaker who moved to London in 1792 and founded the London Corresponding Society -- a political society for working men; and John Cartwright, who came from the landed gentry and founded the Society for Constitutional Information -- whose members were educated and from the middle and upper classes.

These two met only once and the author traces their interweaving activities against a dramatic background of political, social and economic change. Caught as they were between the American War of Independence and the French Revolution, the campaigns for parliamentary reform were viewed as dangerously subversive. Viewed through two very different sets of eyes. Ray Hemmings gives us a fascinating perspective on a radical period of British history.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 178-179) and index.

ISBN:

0853159076

OCLC:

46370521