The Chartist Movement was begun in London, but taken up eagerly and pioneered in
Manchester. Chartists wanted universal suffrage for all men, secret ballots and
annual elections. Political reform was in the air and the people of Manchester
and the numerous spinning and weaving towns surrounding it, were at the vanguard
of the movement.
A Chartist meeting was held at Kersal Moor in September 1838, despite the
Peterloo Massacre, and a second at the same site in May 1839. Another was held
at the Griffin Inn in Great Ancoats Street in July 1840, and 6 other meetings in
Lancashire in 1841. The Chartist Movement dominated British politics in the
1840s, and Manchester had been the flashpoint for the chain reaction which it
caused, and for the eventual political reforms which were brought about through
the constant efforts of its supporters.
It affected the Smith line through the destruction/burning of parish records in Staffordshire.