When Was The First Chartist Meeting?

The first proper Chartist meeting is usually considered to have been the great rally held in Birmingham on 6th August 1838. Radical leaders from London, the Midlands and the North met together for the first time. This rally also linked the ideas of a National Petition and a People's Charter. Those present agreed to organise a petition with signatures from all over the country calling for the implementation of the Charter.

The Northerners endorsed this programme at a large meeting on Kersal Moor, near Manchester, on 24th September. Other large rallies, reminiscent of those during the agitations of 1815-19 and 18340-32, were held up and down the country. Following the launch of the Chartist Movement in Birmingham, mass meetings were held up and down the country in the autumn of 1838 to acclaim the People's Charter and to elect representatives to attend a Convention to be held in London the following years.

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