John Frost
John Frost 1784 – 1877.
Raised in Newport, John Frost was a successful businessman. He was Mayor of Newport and a J.P. but came into conflict with the legal establishment and land owners. He campaigned for universal suffrage and became a Chartist leader in South Wales. He was sentenced to be hanged and quartered for his role in the Newport Rising in 1839 but his sentence was later commuted to transportation. After being pardoned he returned from Tasmania and continued campaigning until his death.
John Frost by W.Clerk: published by F.F. Glover. Lithograph, 1840.
NPG D42204 Copyright National Portrait Gallery, London.
One of a set of five images of leading Chartists chosen by the historian Dorothy Thompson, in whose memory they are published.
Dorothy Thompson
Dorothy Katharine Gane Thompson. Historian. 1923 -2011.
Dorothy was an immensely influential historian of Chartism, the first mass working class movement. She was helping us with images of Chartism at the time of her untimely death. When asked to name her favourite five Chartists she replied, in no particular order; Feargus O’Connor, John Frost, Ernest Jones, William Cuffay and James ‘Bronterre’ O’Brien.
Our thanks to Kate Thompson for the photograph of Dorothy.
http://www.breviarystuff.org.uk/dorothy-thompson-the-chartists/
Dorothy and E.P. Thompson
A memorial lecture was deleivered in 2012 by Shelia Rowbotham and is available as a pamphlet from Past Pixels.
Further activities are planned in 202. Contact us on mail@pastpixels.co.uk
