A rebel hymn book from the 1800s has been turned into a CD by veteran protest singer Garth Hewitt.
The recording was made after University of Manchester academic Dr
Mike Sanders discovered what is believed to be the only surviving copy
of a Chartist hymn book in Todmorden public library.
The Chartist movement was made up of workers who pressed for
political reform between 1839 and 1848, with an emphasis on peaceful
persuasion.
Their primary concern was with democracy and workers' rights and
their six-point charter demanded: equal electoral districts, abolition
of the property qualifications for MPs, universal manhood suffrage, vote
by secret ballot, the payment of MPs, and annual parliaments. Only the
last demand was not adopted.
The Chartists were heavily influenced by dissenting Christianity and
Dr Sanders recalls a 1839 Whitsuntide mass-meeting, when the Chartist
Abrams Henson criticised those priests who "preached Christ and a crust,
passive obedience and non-resistance. Let the people keep from those
churches and chapels. Let them go to those men who preached Christ and a
full belly, Christ and a well-clothed back - Christ and a good house to
live in - Christ and Universal Suffrage."
Chartist meetings were held across the nation and according to Dr
Sanders, the hymn books were designed in an attempt to produce a
standard hymn book for the movement, as a Chartist forerunner of 'Hymns
Ancient and Modern'.
While Chartist historians know of two earlier attempts to produce a
hymn book for the whole movement - Cooper's 'Shakespearean Chartist Hymn
Book' and Hobson's 'Hymns for Worship' - there had been no references
to the Todmorden collection.
Dr Sanders published his findings from two years of research into the
hymn book in the Victorian Studies journal earlier this year. He said
the South Lancashire Delegate Meeting almost certainly compiled the tiny
165-year-old pamphlet.
The Chartist hymns differed from the traditional church hymns of the
time in their focus on ending injustice in the world and liberating
people from the bondages of child labour and slavery.
Now Hewitt has brought the Todmorden hymns to life in a new 12-track recording called Liberty is Near!.
Two of the tracks borrow the tunes from popular hymns, Amazing Grace
and Rock of Ages, while the other 10 are original compositions.
Hewitt said: "When Mike Sanders sent me the words of the songbook I
was struck by how passionate the hymns are and how poetic, and I wanted
to put some tunes to them, as we only had the words, so they could be
sung again and hopefully brought alive in a new way and for a new
generation.
"I think they are interesting politically and I think they are also
interesting for the church community to see the way that social justice
and a theology come together in these songs with great power.
"I felt we could learn something from them that might help us include
songs of justice in our own hymns today. As I recorded these songs from
1845 they came alive to me and I kept seeing a remarkable relevance to
our own society.
"Mike Sanders has described Chartist theology as a forerunner of liberation theology – I can sense that even as I sing them."
Dr Sanders said: "This fragile pamphlet is an amazing find and opens
up a whole new understanding of Chartism - which as a movement in many
ways shaped the Britain we know today.
"It's very rare – even the British Library doesn't have a copy. And now it's been transformed into an album.
"I can't imagine many pieces of research ending up as a CD of
contemporary songs,so I was surprised and delighted when Garth
approached me.
"What is so fascinating is that hymn-singing was not the best known
feature of Chartism. This is why this attempt to produce an equivalent
to Hymns Ancient and Modern is significant.
"It's a great album. And as it seems a concern for social justice is
being recovered by many Christian Churches, I would have thought these
hymns would resonate with those communities."
Liberty is Near! is available from www.garthhewitt.org or www.kevinmayhew.com