Thirty soldiers and a few armed special constables were holed up on 4th November 1839 in the Westgate Hotel in Newport, South Wales. They might have expected to face overwhelming odds, because about five thousand Chartists were marching to Newport. The British weather took a hand. Torrential rain drenched the marchers. Most arrived late, soaked, and exhausted. By then the battle was over. Twenty Chartists lay dead, and many more were wounded after a gunfight which lasted just under half an hour.
The Chartists demanded the vote for all men over the age of twenty-one. At the time only around one in five adult males were eligible to vote. Earlier in the year a petition had been presented to Parliament with one and a quarter million signatures. Parliament rejected it. Three years after the Newport Rising a petition with three million signatures was presented. Parliament rejected that too. It took until 1918 for five of the six Chartist demands to be accepted. The Representation of the People Act 1918 extended voting rights to all men over the age of twenty-one and women over the age of thirty who met certain minimum property holding requirements. Women could also then be elected into Parliament. It was not until 1928 that British women were given the same voting rights as men.
At present I am grappling with the rights of French nobility in the early 17th century. Marie de Medici is ruling as regent for her son, Louis XIII, and the Princes of the Blood are vying for power. Yes, book five of the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures is underway. I’ve completed the first three scenes, and I’m finally gaining momentum. The rights of women was the theme of The Suggested Assassin, in which Maria became very angry at Salic Law, or Satanic Law as she put it. Cardinal Richelieu is yet to make an appearance in Book 5, but he will.
If you’ve read Called to Account and were worried that Sir Anthony might be past it, fear not! He’s only four years older than me, and still has a few tricks up his sleeve. It’s been interesting to write about the Chartists today. I’m wondering when the Standen clan might set foot on English soil again. We shall see.