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Kingstanding Together

Organisation · 1830–1834; revived 1837–1839

Birmingham Political Union

Thomas Attwood’s alliance of the middle and working classes, launched in January 1830 to win Birmingham a voice in Parliament. Its peaceful mass meetings on Newhall Hill helped force through the Reform Act of 1832.

An oil sketch of an enormous crowd filling a hollow hillside, with banners raised and speakers on a platform below.
Benjamin Robert Haydon, 1832–33. Birmingham Museums Trust via Art UK and Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

In December 1829 Thomas Attwood, Joshua Scholefield and fourteen others met at the Royal Hotel to plan “a general political union between the lower and middle classes of the people” for “an effectual reform in Parliament”. The Birmingham Political Union was launched at Beardsworth’s Repository, near the Bull Ring, in January 1830, at a meeting said to have drawn 15,000 people. Its banner read “Peace, Law, and Order”.

Reform

The Union brought together men who agreed on little else: Attwood’s currency reformers, the Benthamite lawyer Joseph Parkes and his friends, old radicals such as George Edmonds, a Roman Catholic priest and a Unitarian minister. It held its biggest meetings out of doors on Newhall Hill. On 3 October 1831 more than 100,000 people were claimed to be there; in May 1832, during the crisis known as the Days of May, about 200,000, a figure the Victoria County History thinks much exaggerated. In the same month some 500 merchants, bankers and manufacturers joined in a body. Unions on the Birmingham model were founded across the country, among them the Northern Political Union in Newcastle, started by Attwood’s brother Charles.

When the Reform Act became law on 7 June 1832, Birmingham got two MPs of its own. In December the Union’s leaders, Attwood and Scholefield, were elected unopposed.

Revival and break-up

With its aim won and trade improving, the Union faded in 1834. It was revived in May 1837, in a slump, and held its first new meeting on Newhall Hill on 19 June. Its leaders drafted the National Petition and adopted it at Holloway Head on 6 August 1838, helping to launch Chartism. But they recoiled from the physical-force Chartists who soon outnumbered them. The Birmingham delegates walked out of the Chartist Convention in March 1839, and the Union’s council met for the last time on 9 April 1839.

On the map

5 places connected with Birmingham Political Union. Tap a number for directions — some sites are private homes or gardens, so each place’s page says what you can see from the street.

11. The Royal Hotel, Temple Row — Lost, Site redeveloped22. Hen and Chickens Hotel, New Street — Lost, Site redeveloped33. Newhall Hill meeting ground — Site redeveloped44. Statue of Thomas Attwood (1859) — Relocated, At risk55. Thomas Attwood statue, Chamberlain Square — Surviving
Map © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Old map: Ordnance Survey six-inch, 1888–1913, reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (CC BY 4.0). A dashed ring means the position is approximate; a shaded ring means only the general area is known.
  1. The Royal Hotel, Temple Row — Lost, Site redeveloped · Directions to The Royal Hotel, Temple Row (opens Google Maps)
  2. Hen and Chickens Hotel, New Street — Lost, Site redeveloped · Directions to Hen and Chickens Hotel, New Street (opens Google Maps)
  3. Newhall Hill meeting ground — Site redeveloped
  4. Statue of Thomas Attwood (1859) — Relocated, At risk · Directions to Statue of Thomas Attwood (1859) (opens Google Maps)
  5. Thomas Attwood statue, Chamberlain Square — Surviving · Directions to Thomas Attwood statue, Chamberlain Square (opens Google Maps)

Open on the full map →

Key dates

  1. January 1830 — The Birmingham Political Union is launchedThomas Attwood’s union of “the lower and middle classes of the people” is launched at Beardsworth’s Repository, near the Bull Ring, before a crowd said to number 15,000. Its watchword: “Peace, Law, and Order”.
  2. 3 October 1831 — 100,000 on Newhall HillAs the Reform Bill goes before the Lords, the Political Union fills Newhall Hill with a crowd claimed at over 100,000, including 20,000 from the Black Country. The meeting passes off peacefully.
  3. 12 December 1832 — Birmingham elects its first MPsThomas Attwood and Joshua Scholefield are returned unopposed as the first two Members of Parliament for Birmingham.
  4. 7 June 1832 — The Reform Act becomes lawThe Reform Act receives the royal assent. Birmingham, which has never had an MP of its own, is given two.
  5. 16 May 1832 — Triumph on Newhall HillNews of Earl Grey’s recall reaches Birmingham at dawn. Crowds fetch Attwood from his home at Harborne and the Union meets in triumph on Newhall Hill, a scene painted by Benjamin Robert Haydon.
  6. 14 June 1839 — Attwood presents the Chartist petitionAttwood presents the National Petition, first adopted at Birmingham in August 1838, to the House of Commons with 1,280,000 signatures. On 12 July the House refuses to consider it, by 235 votes to 46.

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Sources and further reading
  1. A History of the County of Warwick, vol. 7: The City of Birmingham — Political History to 1832, pp. 270–297 — W. B. Stephens (ed.), Victoria County History, 1964
  2. A History of the County of Warwick, vol. 7: The City of Birmingham — Political History from 1832, pp. 298–317 — W. B. Stephens (ed.), Victoria County History, 1964
  3. Attwood, Thomas (1783–1856) — Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement, vol. 1 — Edward Irving Carlyle, Smith, Elder & Co., 1901
  4. Life of Thomas Attwood — C. M. Wakefield, privately printed, 1885

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