Annual Luddite Memorial Lecture
Dr Mike Sanders
Revolutionary Sermons, Democratic Chapels and Rebellious Hymnals: Religion in the Chartist Movement
Monday 30 April, 7.30pm, Brontë Lecture Theatre (BG05)
THIS IS A FREE EVENT – ALL WELCOME
Huddersfield Local History Society and the University of Huddersfield History present the fifth in a series of annual lectures focusing on aspects of the history of radicalism in the Huddersfield district.
The 2018 Luddite Memorial Lecture will be given by Dr Mike Sanders, Senior Lecturer in Nineteenth Century Writing at the University of Manchester. In his lecture Dr Sanders will explore the role which religious ideas played in the Chartist struggle for basic democratic rights and consider why religion was important to the Chartist movement and the ways in which Chartism challenged conventional Victorian religious ideas.
Dr Sanders explains: "From the Luddite prisoners singing hymns on the scaffold prior to their execution through to the production of Chartist Hymn Books, it is clear that religion played an important role in the development of working-class radicalism in the first half of the nineteenth century. I'm interested in finding out why this should be so."
In his Huddersfield lecture Dr Sanders will be looking at the "revolutionary sermons" of the 'Chartist' preacher, the Reverend Joseph Rayner Stephens, the ideas contained in the only surviving Chartist hymnal - the 'National Chartist Hymn Book' - and the role of Chartist and Democratic Chapels within the Chartist movement.
Dr Sanders has published widely on Victorian poetry and nineteenth century working-class radicalism – his book The Poetry of Chartism: Aesthetics, Politics, History was published by Cambridge University Press in 2009. In addition to his current research on the role of religion within the Chartist movement, he has also lectured on the links between Chartist poetry and Bob Marley, Charles Dickens and the Jam as well as William Blake and the Kinks.
Cyril Pearce, Chair of the Huddersfield Local History Society, welcomes Dr Sanders’ emphasis on the link between Chartism and religion: "As we approach this, the fifth annual Luddite Memorial Lecture, jointly sponsored by Huddersfield Local History Society and the University of Huddersfield, it is worth reminding ourselves that the original intention of the lectures was, not simply to re-visit the local Luddite story, but to take a thoughtful look at the origins and growth of the radical thinking and radical politics in 19th Century Britain to which Huddersfield’s Luddites made such a dramatic contribution. One inescapable element in that radical tradition, from the Civil War to early twentieth century, was the link between religious belief and political action. That connection is evident in the history of radicalism in our part of the West Riding and it is what this year’s lecturer, Dr Michael Sanders of Manchester University, has chosen to talk about."
The lecture will be introduced by historian Professor Tim Thornton, the University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, who welcomes the way in which this annual lecture series is continuing to develop. He says: "I am delighted that once again the excellent partnership between Huddersfield Local History Society and the University is bringing a distinguished lecturer to deliver the Annual Luddite Lecture. It is good to see religion and radical writing added to the list of important themes previously covered by the lectures."
If you want to find out more about Chartism and religion then do come along to Dr Sanders’ lecture on 30 April.
THIS IS A FREE EVENT – ALL WELCOME