Ernest Charles Jones

Ernest Charles Jones (January 25, 1819 – January 26, 1869), poet, novelist, and Chartist.

Background & Conventional Early Years

Born in Berlin, he was the son of a British Army Major, equerry to the Duke of Cumberland, afterwards King of Hanover. In 1838 Jones came to England, and in 1841 published anonymously The Wood Spirit, a romantic novel. This was followed by some songs and poems. In 1844 he was called to the bar at the Middle Temple.

Chartism

In 1845 he joined the Chartist agitation, quickly becoming its most prominent figure, and vigorously carrying on the party's campaign on the platform and in the press. His speeches, in which he openly advocated physical force, led to his prosecution, and he was sentenced in 1848 to two years' imprisonment for seditious speeches. While in prison he wrote, it is said in his own blood on leaves torn from a prayer-book, The Revolt of Hindostan, an epic poem.

Upon his release from prison, he conducted a Chartist newspaper: the "Notes to The People" (1850 - 1852). He became a leading figure in the "National Charter Association" in the phase of its decline, together with his friend George Julian Harney, and helped to give the Chartist movement a clearer socialist direction. He knew Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels personally. Marx and Engels at the same time commented on the Chartist movement and Jones' work in their letters and articles. But he was almost its only public speaker; he was out of sympathy with the other leading Chartists, and soon joined the advanced Radical party.

Return to Convention

Afterwards, when the political and social agitation had died down, he returned to his practice as a barrister, which he had deserted, and also wrote largely. He produced a number of novels, including "The Maid of Warsaw", "Woman's Wrongs", and "The Painter of Florence", also some poems, "The Battle Day" (1855), "The Revolt of Hindostan" (1857), and "Corayda" (1859). Some of his lyrics, such as "The Song of the Poor", "The Song of the Day Labourers", and "The Factory Slave", were well known.

Death

He made several unsuccessful attempts to enter parliament, and was about to contest Manchester, with the certainty of being returned, when he died there. He is believed to have sacrificed a considerable fortune rather than abandon his Chartist principles. His wife was Jane Atherley; and his son, Llewellyn Atherley-Jones, K.C. (b. 1851), became a well-known barrister and Liberal member of parliament.

References

*A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature
*1911

Further reading

*Miles Taylor: "Ernest Jones, Chartism and the Romance of Politics, 1819 - 1869", Oxford University Press 2003.

External links

* [http://chartism.com/index.html Ursula Stange: Annotated Bibliography on Chartism and Ernest Charles Jones]
* [http://www.chartists.net/Where-are-they-now.htm Chartist Ancestors: Where Are They Now] includes an account of Jones's funeral
* [http://gerald-massey.org.uk/jones/index.htm Ernest Charles Jones: Chartist and Reformer] - biography & selected writings at gerald-massey.org.uk
*NRA|P15732
*worldcat id|lccn-n83-51160