The
Northern Star and Leeds General Advertiser was a
chartistChartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century between 1838 and 1850. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838, which stipulated the six main aims of the movement as:...
newspaper published in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
between 1837 and 1852.
Feargus O'ConnorFeargus Edward O'Connor was an Irish Chartist leader and advocate of the Land Plan.- Background :Feargus O'Connor was born into a prominent Irish Protestant family, the son of Irish Nationalist politician Roger O'Connor...
, the
LeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. The historic core at the heart of Leeds in 2001 had an estimated subdivision population of 443,247, whilst the entire city, that includes the urban and suburban areas incorporated into the city in 1974, had an estimated...
representative of the
London Working Men's AssociationThe London Working Men's Association was an organization established in London in 1838. It was one of the foundations of Chartism. The founders were William Lovett, Francis Place and Henry Hetherington. They appealed to skilled workers rather than the mass of unskilled factory labourers...
(LWMA) decided to establish a weekly newspaper in
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the British Isles. Because of its great size, functions were increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have been subject to periodic reform. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as...
representing his radical views in 1837. He chose the name "Northern Star" in tribute to the newspaper of the Society of United Irishmen which was suppressed by the military in
BelfastBelfast is the capital of and the largest city in Northern Ireland, a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It is the seat of devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly. It is the largest urban area in the province of Ulster, and the second largest city on the island of...
in 1797.
The
Northern Star and Leeds General Advertiser was a
chartistChartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century between 1838 and 1850. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838, which stipulated the six main aims of the movement as:...
newspaper published in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
between 1837 and 1852.
Foundation
Feargus O'ConnorFeargus Edward O'Connor was an Irish Chartist leader and advocate of the Land Plan.- Background :Feargus O'Connor was born into a prominent Irish Protestant family, the son of Irish Nationalist politician Roger O'Connor...
, the
LeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. The historic core at the heart of Leeds in 2001 had an estimated subdivision population of 443,247, whilst the entire city, that includes the urban and suburban areas incorporated into the city in 1974, had an estimated...
representative of the
London Working Men's AssociationThe London Working Men's Association was an organization established in London in 1838. It was one of the foundations of Chartism. The founders were William Lovett, Francis Place and Henry Hetherington. They appealed to skilled workers rather than the mass of unskilled factory labourers...
(LWMA) decided to establish a weekly newspaper in
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the British Isles. Because of its great size, functions were increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have been subject to periodic reform. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as...
representing his radical views in 1837. He chose the name "Northern Star" in tribute to the newspaper of the Society of United Irishmen which was suppressed by the military in
BelfastBelfast is the capital of and the largest city in Northern Ireland, a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It is the seat of devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly. It is the largest urban area in the province of Ulster, and the second largest city on the island of...
in 1797. Meetings were held in Leeds,
BradfordBradford is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
,
HalifaxHalifax is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England, with an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece Hall...
,
Huddersfield Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city.Huddersfield is near the confluence of the River Colne and the River Holme...
and
HullKingston upon Hull , almost invariably referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located 25 miles from the North Sea on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary...
, resulting in £690 being raised for the foundation of the
Northern Star, which was first published on 18 November 1837.
The Newspaper
The newspaper paid a
stamp dutyStamp duty is a form of tax that is levied on documents. Historically, this included the majority of legal documents such as; cheques, receipts, military commissions, marriage licences, land transactions etc. A physical stamp had to be attached to or impressed upon the document to denote that...
of 4d., despite O'Connor's protests that the tax restricted free speech. The
Northern Star reported on
chartistChartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century between 1838 and 1850. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838, which stipulated the six main aims of the movement as:...
meetings throughout Britain and its' letters page was host to lively debates on parliamentary reform. The paper led a campaign in support of skilled workers who suffered economically due to the introduction of new technology (notably the handloom weavers). By September 1838 it had a circulation of 10,000, and by summer 1839 this had increased to 50,000, allowing O'Connor to make a personal profit of £13,000 by the end of the year.
O'Connor used the paper to suggest militancy and the use of violence to achieve reform, in contrast to the arguments of
William LovettWilliam Lovett was a British activist and an important leader of the political movement Chartism. One of the leading London-based Artisan Radicals of his generation, Lovett believed that political rights could be garnered through political pressure and non-violent agitation.- Early Activism:As a...
and
Henry HetheringtonHenry Hetherington was a leading British Chartist.- Early years :Henry Hetherington was the son of a London tailor, John Hetherington , and was born on 17 June 1792, at 16 Compton Street, Soho, London...
. This stance resulted in O'Connor being imprisoned for 18 months in March 1840 for publishing seditious libels, but the
Northern Star continued to sell well, outstripping the 6,000 copies a week sold of Lovett's
The Charter with a circulation of 48,000.
In 1845 O'Connor used the
Northern Star to launch his
Land Plan (the
National Land CompanyThe National Land Company was founded as the Chartist Cooperative Land Company in 1845 by the chartist Feargus O'Connor to help working class people satisfy the landholding requirement to gain a vote in county seats.-Chartism:...
), and became so inolved in the scheme that he appointed
George Julian HarneyGeorge Julian Harney was a 19th century English political activist, journalist, and Chartist leader. He was also associated with Marxism, socialism, and universal suffrage.-Early life:...
in his place as editor of the paper. Harney increasingly used the paper to advocate his socialist philosophy, publishing articles by
Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a Germanphilosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism...
and
Friedrich EngelsFriedrich Engels was a German social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of communist theory, alongside Karl Marx. Together they produced The Communist Manifesto in 1848...
. O'Connor disapproved, accusing Harney and his supporters of being "Socialists first and Chartists second". In 1848 O'Connor forced Harney to resign and resumed editing the
Northern Star.
Sales of the paper declined as the interest in the Chartist movement fell, with weekly circulation being only 1,200 by the end of 1851. O'Connor was losing interest in the campaign and sold the
Northern Star to Harney in April 1852, who merged it with the
Friend of the people to form the
Star of Freedom. However, this paper survived only until December of the same year.
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