Liberty or Death: The Story of Thomas Hardy, Shoemaker, and John Cartwright, Landowner, in the Early Struggles for Parliamantary Democracy - Softcover

Hemmings, Ray

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0853159076 ISBN 13: 9780853159070

Publisher: Lawrence & Wishart Ltd, 2000

Synopsis

Liberty or Death chronicles the dramas of the struggle for parliamentary reform in the latter half of the eighteenth century. It focuses on the lives of two very different political reformers, and through them highlights the contrasting attitudes to reform in the different layers of society.

Thomas Hardy a Scottish shoemaker in 1792 founded the London Corresponding Society, the first political organisation for working men. In contrast, John Cartwright, a member of the landed gentry, drew support for his Society for Constitutional Information from the educated middle classes and the aristocracy.

Although the two men met only once, their stories are interlinked through their support for a widening of voting rights, and the opposition they encountered.

Campaigning as they were against the tumultuous political and social background of the American War of Independence and the French Revolution, their views were regarded as dangerously subversive. In 1794 charges of treason were brought against both societies and Hemmings documents the proceedings of these trials, including that of Hardy himself.

Drawing on a wide range of contemporary sources, Hemmings brings to lightthe actions and attitudes of eighteenth century political reformers, giving us an absorbing narrativeof a radical period of British history.

About this title

About the Author:

Ray Hemmings was Senior Lecturer in Mathematical Education at Leicester University until 1982. Upon retiring he has devoted himself to his long-standing interest in history, and now writes full time. His other publications include a biography of A.S.Neill, Fifty Years of Freedom (Allen & Unwin, 1972).

Review:

"a well written and...outstanding book which illuminates a little-known period of English history" Brian Simon, Professor Emeritus of the University of Leicester; "I thought it very well done. The account of Thomas Hardy's trial is the best I have ever read." John Saville, Professor Emeritus in Economic History at the University of Hull"

About this edition

• Publisher: Lawrence & Wishart Ltd
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0853159076
• ISBN 13: 9780853159070
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192