Francis Place - Moral-force Chartist and Old Age

Moral-force Chartist and Old Age

Having lost much of his money in 1833 in bad investments, Place had to move from Charing Cross to Brompton Square, and lost his regular contact with the Reformist middle-class. However, he remained politically active, working against the stamp tax and involving himself in the London Working Men's Association, within which in 1838 he and William Lovett drafted the document that would become the People's Charter. It then became evident that many Chartists were willing to use violent means, and when Feargus O'Connor replaced Lovett as the effective leader of the movement, Place ceased to be involved in Chartist activities. On rescinding his involvement with the Chartists, he became involved in the movement to repeal the Corn Laws.

For the next two decades he wrote his autobiography and organised the immense collection he had made: notes, pamphlets, newspapers and letters. In 1851 he separated from his wife and on 1 January 1854 died in the home of his two unmarried daughters in Hammersmith.

Read more about this topic:  Francis Place

Famous quotes containing the word age:

    My flowery and green age was passing away, and I feeling a chill in
    the fires had been wasting my heart, for I was drawing near the
    hillside above the grave.
    Petrarch (1304–1374)