In 1838, only one in seven men could vote. Not women. Not workers. Not the poor.
So ordinary people wrote a charter. Six demands. The right to vote. Secret ballots. Pay for MPs.
They collected 1.2 million signatures. Parliament rejected it.
They collected 3.3 million signatures. Parliament rejected it.
The government arrested their leaders. Transported them to Australia. Soldiers opened fire on a march in Newport. Twenty-two killed.
They collected 5.7 million signatures. Parliament rejected it.
Three petitions. Ten million signatures. Three rejections.
They didn't stop. Over sixty years, five of the six demands became law. Working men got the vote. Secret ballots. MPs paid.
Every time you vote, that's them. Ordinary people who refused to be ignored.
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Time is running out to visit the Lord Ashcroft Gallery. Do try and go before it closes permanently at the end of this month.
These are times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sun-shine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country: but he that stands it now, deserves the thanks of man and woman. Thomas Paine, ''The Crisis'' 1776
King Arthur. (Myth or reality?)
King Alfred.
Hereward the Wake.
Eadric the Wild.
Robert the Bruce.
Robin Hood. (Myth or reality?)
Watt Tyler.
Owain Glyndwr.
John Lilburne.
Richard Overton.
The Levellers.