Title

The Belle-alliance, or the female reformers of Blackburn!!!

Description

By 1819, there was a growing dissatisfaction amongst female radicals towards the apathy of male reformers and their political advocacy. Building upon the political domesticity of 1817 and 1818, by 1819 there was a rise in female radical led movements. There was a greater demand for women’s inclusion in working class radical movements, and thus an increased visibility in the public sphere and popular politics. The growing collectivism of women's activism in 1819 is marked. In George Cruikshank’s 1819 ‘The Belle-alliance, or the female reformers of Blackburn!!!’ print, one of the females on the platforms claims "we swear to instil into the minds of our children, a deep rooted abhorrence of all civil or religious government like the present!!" represented a fear of female tyranny. In June 1819, The Blackburn Female Reforms announced a public statement that drew upon the legacy of the radical female reformers of 1817. In their claims of ‘the feelings of a mother, when she beholds her naked children and hears their inoffensive cries of hunger and approaching death’, they embodied the ideas of political domesticity.

In rooting their political activism in their positions as mothers, they were attempting to navigate between emphasising their archetypal duties, but also protests against existing hierarchal structures. They were critiqued for their vocalised speech, which is quite literally apparent in the 'mass platform' they employed. Though they attempted to assert their submissiveness in the roles as wives and mothers, the politicisation of their campaigns ultimately continued to be attacked. In the 12th July 1819 edition of the Leeds intelligencer, The Blackburn Female Reformers were attacked following a mass reform meeting at Blackburn. The female reformers asked the chairman, Mr J.Knight to read their address. It contained a passage declaring 'the avowed determination, of instilling into the minds of their offspring a deep-rooted abhorrence of Tyranny, come in what shape it may; whether under the mask of civil or religious government ...' in a demand for universal suffrage. Cruikshank’s satire depicts them in a burlesque line-up towards the chairman, as they mount the stage, to present the cap of liberty, and an address to the meeting, “pledged themselves to instil into the of their children, a hatred of (what they are pleased to call) civil and religious tyranny!”. The fear of how women would be educating their children to challenge existing patriarchal structures garnered significant anxiety, as the future of the role of women in society came under speculation.

What is more striking, however, is that the cartoon is reacting to an emerging phenomenon of women's political organisations. While there were women associated with the movement for the Reformation of Manners and in the Anti-Slavery campaigns, participation in these was largely restricted to well-off members of society. What was new to the late 1810s, was the emergence of more popular and working class movements among women.,

Contributor

Amal Malik

Creator

George Cruikshank

Date

1819

Language

eng

Subject

gender

groups

satire

women

Spatial Coverage

England

Temporal Coverage

1819