Chartist Drama

263 Pages·2020·3.632 MB·English

by  Gregory Vargo

Chartist drama
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Chartist drama
EDITED BY GREGORY VARGO
Manchester University Press
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Copyright © Gregory Vargo 2020
The right of Gregory Vargo to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published by Manchester University Press
Altrincham Street, Manchester M1 7JA
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 5261 4206 1 hardback
First published 2020
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-
party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such
websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Cover credit: Detail from Kenneth Budd’s Chartist Mural, a mosaic representing the 1839 uprising in the
centre of Newport, South Wales, UK. Phil Rees / Alamy Stock Photo.
Cover design: Abbey Akanbi, Manchester University Press
Typeset by
Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire
In memory of my father, Albert Vargo
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Contents
List of figures page viii
List of tables ix
Acknowledgements x
A note on the texts xiii
Introduction 1
1 Wat Tyler (1794/1817) – Robert Southey 50
2 John Frost (1841) – John Watkins 87
3 The Trial of Robert Emmet (1841) 159
4 St John’s Eve (1848) – Ernest Jones 181
Appendix 1: Chartist dramatic performances 227
Appendix 2: Newport sonnets 236
Appendix 3: Passages omitted in Cleave’s trial version as they appear in
Cleave’s source, The Life, Trial and Conversations of Robert Emmet, Esq.,
Leader of the Irish Insurrection of 1803 241
Appendix 4: Advertising placard for a performance of The Trial of Robert
Emmett, Esq. 248
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Figures
1.1 ‘Scenes from Southey’s “Wat Tyler”’, Cleave’s Penny Gazette of
Variety and Amusement, 10 March 1838, p. 1, British Library page 55
2.1 Title page of John Watkins’s John Frost: A Chartist Play in Five
Acts (London: n.p., 1841), Columbia University Rare Book and
Manuscript Library, Seligman Collection 94
3.1 Frontispiece and title page of Memoir of Robert Emmett and the Irish
Insurrection of 1803; with the Trial of Emmett for High Treason, his
Memorable Speech, &c. (London: Cleave, n.d.), Columbia University
Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Seligman Collection 164
4.1 First page of Ernest Jones’s St John’s Eve in the Labourer (1848),
Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Seligman
Collection 187
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Tables
0.1 Plays known to be performed multiple times page 11
0.2 Chartist performances’ fundraising beneficiaries (when indicated) 13
0.3 London and Manchester theatres with Chartist benefit performances 15
0.4 Chartist performances identified by year 22
0.5 Chartist dramatic performances by locality (in localities with two or
more performances) 32
5.1 Chartist dramatic performances 228
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