Victorian Press and the Working Classes

Starting with the edition of the 13th of January 1838, the exploration in to how the Victorian press deals with the issues of the working classes will begin.  Starting so early on in the Victorian era will give a good indication as to how the working classes were perceived by the more mainstream press.  It will also show how the chartists campaign began at this time within the pages of the Northern Star.  Moving through to the 8th of January 1848 will give the papers a chance to move on to a different level.  At this point it can be considered that the newspapers will have develop their style more than in 1838.  It is also key to note that there was little unrest at this point in history within Britain.  With certain political ideologies were in place and the plight of the working classes was eased by the lifting of legislation.  The final issue of the Northern Star, or as it became known, the Star of Freedom was in June 26th 1852.  This is mapped with the downfall of Chartism.  Moving through to 1858 with an issue from the Leeds Mercury will allow me to show how it has developed on the ten-year gap that I prescribed at the beginning.  In doing this with the death of Chartism it will than be easier to see if the Mercury will produce more or even less news about the working classes.  In completing this method I will be able to exploit all of the information that was spreading around the Victorian press at this time.

Research Findings:

Having set out the criteria by which this report is going to be researched it is now possible to show the findings.  Taking the three issues in depth from each of the Leeds Mercury and the Northern Star it is now possible to compare and contrast them and to decide whether or not my hypothesis will hold firm or in fact need to be altered.

In 1838 a new newspaper became available named the Northern Star.  However there was a difference about this paper.  It was based solely on the issues and needs of the working classes.  Being the first of its type to really expand and reach all parts of the main land this was going to be a different paper.  The Northern Star being backed by the chartists a radical working class reformation pressure group gave it the radical edge when it came to it stories.  In contrast at this time the Leeds Mercury a more mainstream northern newspaper was producing for the middle classes.  Having the two alternate views it is now possible to show how the papers may vary or may not.

In the second issue of the Northern Star 13th of January 1838 the main focus of the newspaper is on the war in Canada.  The Mercury matches this as it also has information about the Canadian Civil war.  However in the Star the article is only on half a page and shows no interest in extending its views on this situation.  This shows that the interests of the working classes that they are no that bothered about the growing unrest in a country of the empire a few thousand miles away.  This viewpoint from the Star shows that the chartist opinions are being brought through in to the paper.  In comparison the Mercury places the Canadian issue on at least four pages.  This includes ‘Foreign Intelligence’, the movement of troops, and the commanders in charge of certain columns in the war in Canada.  With all of this information or ‘Intelligence’ included in the issue it is clear to see the main story is that concerning the plight of the colony.  This shows a very empirical view from the mainstream paper.

The other news included in the issue of the Star is meeting of the Leeds Working Mans Association.  However in the article the paper begins the story of how the hall which was said to fit 300 hundred people could only fit 200.  Then it precedes to tell how the meeting was about political equality for all:

“The people: May they soon enjoy those political and social rights which their utility deserves, and their birthright demands”

Mr G White member LWMA.

This was the main argument upheld by the chartists throughout their existence.  It may not seem so radical now but during the Victorian era it was unheard of for all men to have equal rights to voting.

The issue of the Mercury there was no mention of this meeting of the LWMA.  However it does include on article about the impact of the new poor law.  This indicates a slight note of sympathy on behalf of the Mercury toward a more working class story.  This article was not in the Star.

The main layouts of both papers at this time were similar.  The classifieds were at the beginning of each paper.  However they were not similar in content.  The Star had classifieds for cheap items a jobs of a lower standing.  In the Mercury the classifieds are dominated by the companies in Leeds, suggesting the Star did not have any backing on behalf of big business.  Not having the same standard of backing as the Mercury means that the Star had to rely on the chartists as their main source of finance.

Being a radical newspaper did not necessarily mean that the news issues of the Star were mainly completely that of a working class nature.  Within this issue they have the foreign news as the Mercury did.  To compare them at this point the only difference between them is that they give differing amounts of coverage to different issues.  The Canada stories in both papers were given differing amounts of space.  Other correspondence was given equally the same amount of space within the papers.

Moving on to the 8th of January 1848 the second decade of the Northern Star.  Given that it has been ten years in the development of the Star it is clear to see the consistency of this newspaper is apparent.  The layout remains the same as the classifieds appear at the beginning of this issue as the did in the other.  Even the same types of classifieds are included.  This goes for the Mercury as well.  The classifieds are the same as before, the businesses are in the Mercury and the smaller classifieds are in the Star.

Again the Star portrays the international stories of importance.  The American- Mexican war dominates the headlines within the Star. Being the major international developments of the time show how keen the Star is not to leave out these types of issues from its pages.  Being so keen has also got them out on their own, as there is very little about then events in America.  The Star has shown that it can compete with the Mercury when it comes to foreign reporting.  However the scope that the Mercury has is far greater than the Star.  The stories from Ireland and France in the Mercury do not even appear in the Star.  This indicates that the Star still has far to go to match the Mercury.

In this issue of the Star the articles now include those from the chartists themselves.  The article is about the fact the chartists do not have a town hose in London its self.  Rather it has been based solely in the North and Midlands.  With the Northern Star now being published in the capitol shows the chartists need to be in London.  This indicates again the influence of the chartists over the Star.

The move to London of the Star has allowed its readership to grow.  With this growth in readership it is clear that they can reach a great deal more people.  The British and political news is now more effective for the Star.  The ideologies of the chartist views are now being aired to the rest of Britain.  The introduction the ten-hour act is news for debate in the Star.  The introduction of such an act was a point of celebration amongst the working classes.  This new act reduced the working day down to ten hours.  In doing this the article states that the mill owners had opted to challenge the decision of parliament through legal action.  The inclusion of the discontent of the mill owners shows that the Star did show both sides of the argument.

In the Mercury again there is an article referring to the armed forces.  A letter from the Duke of Wellington to Sir John Burgoyne states the nature of military spending at this time.  In the article it states that the spending on the army at the time was £780 million compared to the nation debt of £508 million.  This shows that the Mercury was concerned with the well being of the country.  Having spent all this money on the army and navy the government in the opinion of lord Wellington was detrimental to the survival of the country.

In the 1848 issue of the Star features also included were the timetables of meetings of trade unions.  This is another key point as ion to the radical stance of the Star.  However at this point there was little unrest amongst the working classes as the Corn Law had been lifted and the laissez faire economics of Robert Peel were in full flow.  At this time the chartist movement was starting to come to an end with the rejection of its second petition being thrown out.

Moving forward to the last edition of the Northern Star now called the Star of Freedom on the 26th of June 1852.  Being the last edition meant that even though the newspaper may have believed the chartist would continue they did not.  The end of the Star came with the last march of the chartists.  With the final petition of the chartists being rejected for the amount of forged names on the petition the end of the Star also came about.

However this edition has the hallmarks of a modern paper.  The classifieds are not to be seen at the very beginning rather; the stories make it on to the front page.  This can be one of two things, either the Star has decided to change its format, or they have no more people interested in advertising in their classified section.  The latter being the more believable.  If this is the case it was not only the government that was sensing the end of the chartists.  The people that had stood by the Star have now gone have been left solely in the hands of the chartists.

The Stars main article in this issue came from a Mr G White.  As a previous writer in the first edition studied for this report Mr White shows the level of commitment the readers must have had.  His article is on the free trade system employed by Peel.  His grievance is that the employers are increasing their wealth without passing anything extra on to the workers.  This still shows the radical standpoint of the Star of Freedom.  A standpoint, which had never deserted them.

In the corresponding issue of the Mercury there were not many stories of note and the format had stayed the same.  In light of this I followed my ten-year cycle to the first of May 1858.  In doing this I came across a story relating back to the previous issues of the colony found in the two previous encounters.  British forces captured a province in India called Jansi.  The Mercury ran this story under a large heading of 4500 Killed.  This indicates that the Mercury as always in a very empirical tone defends the actions of the British against the rebels.  It also runs a similar story to that of the Indian one.  In China the capture of Canton has caused much unrest amongst the Chinese and the western powers.  Showing again the views of the world.

Then issue also has political views about the Liberals and their lack of cohesion at the time.  News of train crash.  Importantly news on a meeting of the mechanics institute.  It gives details of the events of the meeting; this again shows that a mainstream newspaper can concern itself with the working classes.

Conclusion:

It is clear to see that the Mercury did not wholly deject from printing stories of interest of the working classes.  They ran a number of stories throughout the Victorian era.  However it is fair to say that the Northern star did more for the working classes than the Mercury.  The Star included the times of the meetings for the trade unions and more.  The Mercury by 1858 had included the motions of meetings by the trade unions so it does indicate that the Mercury was coming round to the idea that the part of the readership was coming from the working classes.  In light of this it is wise to change the view of my hypothesis:

The mainstream press did not initially represent the working classes as well as the more radical newspapers did such as the Northern Star, however as time progressed they were soon given the recognition they deserved.

 

     

        

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

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