William Edward Kilburn
1848, 10 April
The Chartist Meeting on Kennington Common, 10 April 1848

Wood engraving, from a daguerreotype
9 x 7 in.
 
Archive Farms
The Patrick Montgomery Collection, Object No. 2020.407
 
Illustrated London News, April 15, 1848, p. 242
 
This is reported to be the first wood engraving made from a daguerreotype and used in a newspaper. The original daguerreotype can be seen here: APRIL 10, 1848 . For a detailed analysis of the creation of this image, visit: William Kilburn's 1848 Chartist Daguerreotypes
 
The Chartist meeting was held at Kennington Common on 10th April 1848. It was the last time the Chartists attempted to present a petition to Parliament. Fearing an attempted revolution, the Government prepared immensely for the meeting and filled London with 85,000 special constables, as well as putting 8,000 soldiers on alert. Although there were probably upwards of 20,000 (perhaps as many as 50,000) people present, the meeting was a peaceful one. As the crowd dispersed Feargus O'Connor and the Chartist Executive delivered the petition to Parliament in a series of coaches. O'Connor claimed the petition had 5,700,000 signatures, but when the clerks in the House of Commons examined it, they found it to feature less than two million names. These included a number of falsely-signed names, such as those of Queen Victoria, Sir Robert Peel and The Duke of Wellington, which only served to discredit the petition further. Despite the huge amount of legitimate signatures, Parliament did not take the petition seriously and it was rejected.
 
LL/112662