Aging in Modernity and its Impact on Social Class Anonymous College

'We and our families are pining and in misery, and want, and starvation! We demand a fair day's wages for a fair day's work! We are the slaves of capital - we demand protection to our labour. We are political serfs – and we demand to be free.’ (Arnott)

The above extract, taken from a poster advertising the Chartist political movement of 1848, can be considered an exemplification of public feeling surrounding the evolution of capital and industry within the nineteenth century. This era, within which Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell published – in installments – Cranford (1851-53), was one characterized by the rise of political movements such as Chartism, which sought to combat political corruption, and advocate for democracy in an industrial society. John Saville notes in his comprehensive study of Chartism that during the mid-nineteenth century, the movement was experiencing increasing levels of support in communities in the North of England in particular. This would have included communities such as that area which Gaskell’s titular Cranford was a fictional representation of – Knutsford. Similarly to this, Gaskell’s Drumble corresponds with Manchester, which was, at the time, in fact home to the national headquarters of the Chartism...