Tagged with Radicalism
Resource : Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft was a revolutionary writer who made a powerful case for educating and emancipating women. She is still regarded as one of the founders of modern British feminism.
Resource : Red Flag
Today the red flag has, predominantly, become a symbol of socialism and communism. Its European origins date back to the Middle Ages, when a red streamer flying from the mast of a warship signalled a willingness to fight to the death, with no surrender. But its radical political roots lie firmly in the Age of Revolution.
Resource : French Guillotine Blade
The guillotine is best known as a method of executing those condemned to death during the French Revolution. Although it delivered a grisly end – by slicing off its victim’s head, death by guillotine was quick and humane. During the ‘Reign of Terror’ in France, as many as 40,000 people were executed by ‘Madame Guillotine’.
Resource : Napoleon’s Hat
This hat was worn by the French Emperor Napoleon when he commanded the French Army at the Battle of Waterloo. The hat was a vital part of the image of a hard-working, down-to-earth leader that Napoleon tried to create. His profile was instantly recognisable to French soldiers, most of whom were devoted to him. The red, white and blue cockade, pinned to the hat, is a symbol of the French Revolution.
Resource : Olympe de Gouges
Olympe de Gouges was a radical feminist and one of the first people to fight for equal rights for women. She campaigned against violence and oppression and spoke out against slavery. But despite her pacifist views, her radical ideas eventually led to her death, at the guillotine, in revolutionary France.
Resource : Search is on to trace the descendants of Peterloo veterans
February 19, 2019 - Richard Moss
This photograph of 11 men and women shows the Failsworth Veterans of the Peterloo Massacre at a Great Reform Demonstration in Failsworth, Lancashire (now Greater Manchester) on September 27 1884. A good 65 years after the event, these ageing Victorian veterans were by then in their eighties, but they offered a tangible link with an […]
Resource : Silhouette of Thomas Muir
Thomas Muir was a radical, who campaigned for political reform in Scotland. He was eventually accused of sedition and transported to Australia, following one of the most notorious and controversial trials in Scottish history. He became known as the father of Scottish democracy and one of Scotland’s five ‘political martyrs’.
Resource : William Godwin
The writer, William Godwin is perhaps not the most famous but was one of the most influential British radicals and political philosophers of the Age of Revolution. He was married to the revolutionary feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft, and was the father of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley. He established the Juvenile Library and had a powerful influence on the Romantic poets, including William Wordsworth and his son-in-law Percy Shelley.
Resource : Theobald Wolfe Tone
Wolfe Tone was a founder of the United Irishmen and a leading figure in the fight for Irish independence from British rule. In 1798, Tone led the United Irishmen in a major uprising, hoping to begin a nationalist and republican revolution in Ireland with the support of French troops.
Resource : Skelmanthorpe Flag
The 1800s saw a series of protests and uprisings in Britain, as people campaigned against slavery, unjust taxes and laws imposed by the government and in support of fair wages, the right to vote and to have their voices heard in parliament. Protest flags, posters and banners carrying radical slogans were a popular way for campaigners to get their message across at marches and rallies, and to cooperate without endangering individuals. The Skelmanthorpe flag was created in secret, in Huddersfield, initially to honour the victims of what became known as the Peterloo Massacre, in 1819.
