| Chartism (Age 16+) | |
| Chartism
as a 'knife and fork question' - Rayner Stephens' view, 1838
Chartism was no political movement where the main question was getting the ballot… This question of Universal Suffrage was a knife and fork question after all; this question was a bread and cheese question, and if any man asked him what he meant by Universal Suffrage, he would answer that every working man in the land had the right to have a good coat to his back, a comfortable abode in which to shelter himself and his family, a good dinner on his table, and no more work than was necessary for keeping him in health, and as much wages for that life which a reasonable man could desire.Report of a speech by Rev J R Stephens to a Chartist gathering at Kersal Moor, near Manchester, from the Northern Star newspaper, 19 September 1838. The Rev
Joseph Rayner Stephens was a Methodist preacher and, although a leading
figure in early northern Chartism, he was politically a supporter of the
Tories. His involvement with Chartism developed initially from his opposition
to the operation of the New Poor Law of 1834 which he regarded as inhumane.
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