If you are reading this, then you probably have at least some interest in Chartism. But to what extent does that mark you out as unusual?
When researchers from Heritage in Action (Herian) stopped 110 people outside the Westgate Hotel in
Among the one in three that had, only one in five (or just eight people in all) claimed to know what the Chartist cause was all about. (The full results can be seen here in a Powerpoint presentation.)
Intriguingly, half those that claimed to have heard of Chartism could name John Frost, the former mayor of
Focus groups organised by the locally based Herian in Newport and Merthyr to get a more rounded picture found that people tended to think of local history as something that had happened within the past 50 to 100 years.
Few in either focus group knew much about Chartism, and younger people in particular were put off by the idea of "industrial" heritage – a word which meant little to them and was seen as boring.
The idea of the vote also did relatively little to inspire. What captured the imagination was the unity of the marchers, and the violent aspects of the protest. Words such as "riot", "rebellion" and "revolution" pushed more buttons than "democracy".
Perhaps astonishingly, "democracy" was thought to be "too political".
The research has been used to help shape the Chartist Weekend events in
