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Biography |
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| 1790s | Organised several trades unions under the guise of benefit societies |
| 1794 | Joined London Corresponding Society; soon elected to General Committee, and on one of the committees defending radicals accused of treason. |
| 1804 | Designed improved musket lock - offered £10,000 for it. |
| 1808 | Joined Committee of Friends of Parliamentary Reform in Middlesex. |
| 1812-29 | Long term campaign to abolish Sinking Fund. |
| 1813-15 | Campaigned for improved conditions for lunatics. Supported abortive London Lunatic Asylum project; successfully blocked parliamentary bill that would have benefited doctors, not patients. |
| 1813 | Committee member, British and Foreign School Association. |
| 1814 | Helped bring about repeal of Elizabethan restrictive Statute of Apprentices. |
| 1815 | Evidence-gatherer for Select Committee on Mendicity in the Metropolis |
| 1816 | Sat on Committees on the police. |
| 1816-19 | Part of Westminster "Committee of Public Safety". |
| 1817-27 | Worked on research to (unsuccessfully) prove that annual parliaments and universal manhood suffrage were ancient practices of the Anglo-Saxons. |
| 1818-22 | Attempted to unravel government accounts. |
| 1820 | Drafted address and resolutions for meeting to support Queen Caroline. |
| 1820's | Letters and articles against corn law. |
| 1820s | Launched London Mechanic's Institute to promote adult education. Helped to found London University. |
| 1822 | Wrote a series of articles campaigning for the abolition of libel laws. |
| 1824 | Secured repeal of restrictions on butchers under Cutting and Flaying Act |
| 1824 | Drafted new trades unions law. |
| 1824 | Drafted Bill for repeal of Combination Acts. |
| 1825 | Unsuccessful attempt to do above for tanners. |
| 1825 | Worked with Hobhouse to secure an Act of Parliament to restrict children's working hours in the cotton mills. |
| 1825 | Involved in curtailing gaming in joint-stock companies. |
| 1825 | Organised campaign against renewal of oppressive Combination Acts. |
| 1826 | Managed radical's Westminster General Election campaign. |
| 1826 | Assisted linen drapers to combine; advised Birmingham silversmiths in strike action. |
| 1827 | Assisted seamen's union in unsuccessful action to abolish press gangs. |
| 1829 | Supported Henry Wilson's project to rehabilitate juvenile delinquents by apprenticing them to the colonies. |
| 1830 | Important role in getting hackney carriage law reformed. |
| 1832 | Successful campaign for Anatomy Bill |
| 1832 | Further campaigning for better deal for working children. |
| 1834-8 | Assisted London Working Man's Association. |
| 1834 | Assisted block coopers in their strike. |
| 1834 | Assisted cotton spinners. |
| 1835 | Editor of "Corporation Reformer", a newspaper supporting the Municipal Corporations Bill. |
| 1836 | Gave assistance to John Fowler of Sheffield to set up steel journeyman's union. |
| 1838 | Became involved in Chartism. |
| 1838 | Organised defence of trades unions against legislation proposed by Daniel O'Connell |
| 1839/40 | Gave considerable time to prevent execution of men involved in Monmouth uprising. |
| 1839 | Sought government for Thaddeus Connellan, an Irish educationalist. |
| 1840 | Helped set up Metropolitan Anti-Corn-Law Association. |
| 1840s | Helped Chartist prisoners. |
| 1842 | Member of Radical Club's "Committee of Agitation for Peoples Charter". |
| 1842 | Set up Metropolitan Parliamentary Reform Association. |
| 1849 | Treasurer, Newspaper Stamp Abolition Committee (from 1851, Association for the Repeal of Taxes on Knowledge). |
All the information here is taken from Francis Place 1771-1854 by Dudley Miles. The list is not in any way intended to paint a full picture of Francis Place's involvement in activities, but to provide a flavour of the scope of his interests and capabilities.
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Last modified
12 January, 2016
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