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showing 294 library results for '1856'

William Cuffay : the life & times of a Chartist leader /Martin Hoyles. "William Cuffay (1788-1870) was one of the leaders of Chartism, which was the largest political movement ever seen in Britain. His grandfather was an African slave and his father was a West Indian slave, from St Kitts, who managed to gain his freedom and settle in Chatham, Kent. Cuffay trained as a tailor and moved to London where, in 1834, he was involved in the tailors' strike for shorter hours. In 1839 he joined the Chartist movement and soon became well known for his oratory and sense of humour. At the final mass demonstration for the Charter on Kennington Common on 10 April 1848, he protested strongly at the decision to call off the march to the House of Commons to present the petition. He called the national leadership a set of cowardly humbugs. In August 1848 Cuffay became involved in a secret revolutionary committee which was planning an uprising in London. He was arrested, tried and convicted, on the evidence of two police spies, of levying war against the Queen. He was sentenced to transportation for life in Tasmania. In Hobart he carried on working as a tailor and remained actively involved in Tasmanian politics for twenty years. His wife was able to join him in 1853 and he was granted a free pardon in 1856. In 1870 he died a pauper in the workhouse. William Cuffay's reputation during the Chartist years was immense, yet he was subsequently forgotten for over 130 years. This book aims to set him in his historical context and restore him to his rightful place as one of the key figures in British history."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 322.44094109034
Promotion or the bottom of the river : the blue and gray naval careers of Alexander F. Warley, South Carolinian /John M. Stickney. "South Carolinian Alexander F. Warley (1823-1895) was an exceptional naval officer who enjoyed a robust life of far-flung adventures at sea during several dramatic periods in American maritime history. Warley's career began in the 1840s, when he served as a midshipman on Old Ironsides and later took part in the Mexican War. His military exploits reached their zenith when he commanded the CSS Manassas - the first ironclad ship to engage in combat - at New Orleans in October 1861. John M. Stickney's richly detailed biography of Warley as an officer first in the United States Navy and later in the Confederate navy offers a representative example of America's professional military class during the nineteenth century. An ambitious youth of little means, Warley secured an appointment as a midshipman at the age of seventeen through the influence of John C. Calhoun. Over the next two decades of maritime adventures, Warley faced four courts-martial, combat and capture in the Mexican War, and the challenges of rising in the ranks. After South Carolina seceded in December 1860, Warley joined the newly formed Confederate navy and gained recognition for his service at New Orleans, commanding the Manassas until the Confederate defeat there in 1862. Warley's career in the Confederate navy ended with his command of the CSS Albemarle and its destruction at Plymouth, North Carolina. With vivid details and rich narration, Stickney portrays one young man's struggle for glory and success in a divided nation. Using ships logs and naval records, Stickney unravels Warley's naval career and explores the Civil War naval actions that unfolded in New Orleans, Charleston, Galveston, Savannah, and Plymouth during this critical time in American history, revealing the pluck and fortitude of a previously unknown combatant."--Provided by the publisher. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92WARLEY