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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Enjoyed the great collection of ceramics at the Fitzwilliam Museum on a recent visit to Cambridge. Couldn’t find any Chartist or Peterloo stuff, but liked this of Marat very much not in his bathtub

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

A great day - and really good to meet you.

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Looking forward to Chartism Day today

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#Chartism #C19th #History The London Chartist Daniel William Ruffy, better known as Ruffy Ridley, was born #OnThisDay 14 September 1805. His incredible story is one of 42 told in my book Chartist Lives www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G3Q7PR7Y

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

If you’re thinking about coming to Chartism Day, please register as soon as you can so we can organise catering etc. #Chartism #C19th #History www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1988912117...

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

If you were involuntarily leaving England for a new life in Australia in the 19th century, this is where you would have boarded ship. Millbank, between Vauxhall Bridge and Tate Britain.

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Dorothy Thompson, John Savile and the making of Chartist studies; Fraternal dining, 1844-47; Class and Chartism - who owns the poetic voice? This and lots more at #ChartismDay. Register for a ticket today at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/chartism-d...

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Chartism Day is three weeks today. Have you got your ticket yet? Click below… #Chartism #SocialHistory #C19th www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/chartism-d...

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Join us for Chartism Day 🗺️ Friends Meeting House, Warwick 🗓️ 19 September 2026 🎟️ Tickets and info from this link… www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/chartism-d...

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Radical publisher Henry Hetherington, a leading light in the London Working Men’s Association, died of cholera #OnThisDay 23 August 1849. His story is one of 42 told in Chartist Lives #Chartism #C19th #History www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G3Q7PR7Y

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

*Time to register* Chartism Day 2026, Warwick, Saturday 19 September All welcome www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/chartism-d...

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

“Anglo Saxon Christians” reburied in the churchyard at Banstead, Surrey in the 1990s. I gather from a local archaeologist who worked on the dig that there was little if any evidence they were Christians, but the vicar at the time decided they ought to be.

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Chartism Day 2026 is looking good. Check out the programme and get your ticket. Once they’re gone, they’re gone… www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/chartism-d...

Conference programme for Chartism Day. Downloadable accessible PDF via the link.

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

G W M Reynolds, journalist, author of penny dreadful fiction and Chartist, born #OnThisDay 23 July 1814.

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Without Feargus O’Connor, there would almost certainly have been no great radical Chartist movement. Born #OnThisDay 18 July 1794, his is one of 42 stories told in Chartist Lives www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G3Q7PR7Y

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Of course, the real problem is that Ed Miliband is such a net zero extremist

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Henry Clubb - Chartist, vegetarian, pacifist, anti-slavery veteran of the American civil war, founder of utopian communities - was born #OnThisDay 21 June 1827. His is one of 42 stories told in Chartist Lives www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G3Q7PR7Y

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Well, that was interesting. Bought at auction a one-page poem handwritten by the Chartist Ernest Jones in the 1840s. It was coming from Germany. First attempt to deliver, it was turned back by UK Customs! Obviously very dangerous stuff, nineteenth century poetry. #Chartism #19thC

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Can anyone help identify the address? It is likely to be a London address of the late 1840s/early 1850s. #handwriting

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Royal assent to the Reform Act #OnThisDay 7 June 1832 gave some northern towns representation in Parliament for the first time. The Act’s limitation of the franchise to the middle classes and the Whig government’s refusal to go further led in part to the emergence of Chartism later in the decade.

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

#Chartism #C19th “Come forth in your MAJESTIC MYRIADS”.Thousands of Chartists gather on Kersal Moor near Manchester #OnThisDay 25 May 1839. The bill poster advertising the “grand moral demonstration” is amazing!

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

#C19th #Chartism William Hill, the first editor of the Northern Star newspaper, died #OnThisDay 17 May 1867. His somewhat controversial story is one of 42 told in Chartist Lives (now in paperback, hardback and kindle) www.amazon.co.uk/Chartist-Liv...

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Visited Athelhampton House near Dorchester today. Wonderful Tudor mansion and gardens that I was previously unaware of. No pictures allowed inside, which is a shame, but the gardens (and River Piddle) are very photogenic.

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

#Chartism #C19th #History The great Chartist orator Henry Vincent was born #OnThisDay 10 May 1813. His story is told in my book Chartist Lives www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G3Q7PR7Y

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

#Chartism The Second Petition for the People’s Charter, with 3,317,702 signatures, was taken to Parliament in procession #OnThisDay 2 May 1842 www.chartistancestors.co.uk/presenting-t...

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

#Chartism #C19th Is this really George Julian Harney? It’s such a bizarre portrait. The suggestion is that it was taken during his years in the United States, and the inscription on the back seems to show that it was sent to Jane Cowen, daughter of the Newcastle radical MP Joseph Cowen. It’s on eBay

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Chartist Lives is currently for sale on eBay at more than £14. So this is a reminder that you can get more #Chartism in your life (and who doesn’t need that) for just £9.99 from the link below 👇 www.amazon.co.uk/Chartist-Liv...

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Now that’s a reading room. Victoria State #Library, Melbourne

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

This in the old parliament house in Canberra - now the museum of Australian democracy.

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Australia’s old and new parliaments in Canberra (green for the lower house, red for the senate). The original 1920s building has some lovely art deco features, but its modern replacement is just beautiful in its clean lines and Australian colours and materials.

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Australia’s last mounted postie

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

So you’re in the Australian outback, 400km from the nearest seaport and you stop for a cold drink. What do you expect to find? A 90m long submarine, of course!

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Eureka Stockade, 1854: Australia’s only armed uprising. The Ballarat Reform League Charter drawn up largely by English Chartists and Irish Confederates made the same political demands as the People’s Charter #Chartism #C19th #History

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Astonishingly clear view of the stars in rural Australia this evening. Only needed a phone to take these.

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Chartist Lives - now out in hardback, paperback and ebook formats. #Chartism #C19th #BritishHistory 🗃️ www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G3Q7PR7Y

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

If you ever wondered what the radical lawyer Henry Brougham, Whig Lord Chancellor at the time of the 1832 Reform Act, looked like, here’s his death mask, now on display at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Memorial to the first English settlers to arrive in what became Hobart Town, between October 1803 and the end of 1804. The Palawa people had already been there for 40,000 years, but were forced off their lands, hunted, killed and exiled.

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

‘Footsteps’. Statues at Franklin Wharf, Hobart, commemorating the 13,000 women transported to Van Diemen’s Land, and the 2,000 children they brought with them, 1803-53 #C19th

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Port Arthur penal colony. Transported Newport Chartist John Frost served for a time as clerk in the commandant’s office. Young Ireland leader William Smith O’Brian later lived in the house shown here.

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Some lovely old buildings in Castlemaine, Vic, today #Australia

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Commemoration of the Red Ribbon Rebellion in the Australian goldfields. Lots of Chartist involvement. The flag, first flown in 1853, now hangs in Bendigo Trades Hall (just round the corner from the stones). Could be the only surviving Chartist banner anywhere in the world! #Chartism #C19th #History

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Called in at Bendigo Trades Hall (Victoria, Australia) and got a very friendly welcome from folks there. Great trade union history in the town dating back to gold rush days in the 1850s. #tradeunions #tradeunionhistory

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

George Julian Harney, among the first and last of the Chartists, editor of the Northern Star and Red Republican, was born #OnThisDay 17 February 1817. His story is told in Chartist Lives www.amazon.co.uk/Chartist-Liv...

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Owenite socialist, Chartist land plan smallholder, Northern Star reporter and mutual insurance pioneer Thomas Martin Wheeler died #OnThisDay Monday 16 February 1862. His story is told in Chartist Lives www.amazon.co.uk/Chartist-Liv...

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

#ChartismDay #CallForPapers #CfP Do you have research to share that touches on Chartism? Our call for papers sets out the sort of thing that might make the programme. Get in touch if you are interested. sslh.org.uk/2026/02/12/c...

List of topics:
* Radicalism and Political Reform
• Class and Chartism
• Women's Participation in Chartism
• Chartist Leaders and Activists
• The Chartist Press
• Chartism and Material Culture
• Associational Life in the Age of the Chartists
• Radical Agrarianism and the Land Plan
• International Perspectives
• Local and Regional Approaches
• The New Poor Law (1834) and the Chartist Agenda
• Biographical Studies

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Cue blockbuster movie trailer voice-over: This Valentine’s Day… None of the greatest love stories ever told… But don’t let that deter you… www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0G3Q7PR7Y

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Great to see Pretenders to the Throne of God download itself this morning. Really enjoyed earlier books in this series and have been looking forward to @aptshadow.bsky.social latest for a long time. Fantastic cover, too.

Book cover: Pret3enders to the Throne of God by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

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Mark Crail @markcrail.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Nice statue of Sylvia Townsend Warner and cat on South Street. Wasn’t there last time I was in Dorchester.

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