Though it today boasts a population of only 20,000, at its peak during the 14th century, the Bohemian town of Kutna Hora was the region’s second largest city next to the relative metropolis of Prague, some fifty miles away. In the subsequent centuries, that began to change as the city’s silver deposits ran dry and the consequences of the Thirty Years War decimated its populace.
The gruesome saga of the Sedlec chapel begins in the 12th century, when Church orthodoxy scattered earth from Golgotha over their graveyard. Soon, throngs of nobility, anxious to secure burial beneath dirt culled from the site of Christ’s crucifixion, pushed the cemetery’s capacity to its limits. Burials continued abreast over the next three hundred years – through plague outbreaks and the Hussite wars - until the Church grounds grew to contain more than 40,000 graves. 
Using the remains of his countryman as his sole building material, Rint constructed four giant bells in each of the chapel’s four corners, an oversized coat of arms in tribute to Bohemia’s ruling aristocratic family, the Schwarzenbergs, and, at its center, a candle-bearing chandelier made out of every bone in the human body. Proud of his work to the last, Rist left his signature – in bone, of course – upon the steps of the chapel’s entrance.
In 1838, William Lovette of London, England wrote was to become known as the “People’s Charter” advocating rights for all British men and fairness in elections and public office. What began as a letter writing campaign became a socialist movement across the nation, culminating in the riots of July 1839.
In 1832, an Electoral Reform Act was passed in England that left a number of antiquated political and government systems in place and made it almost impossible for a regular Joe to hold elected office in England. The Chartist reforms included the ability for those without land to hold office, the institution of general nationwide elections, a salary for politicians, equally divided electoral districts as well as suffrage for all men, everywhere.
The movement attracted upper class social reformers and blue collar workers alike. It was a rebellion against the status quo and the pervading elitism in England’s highest offices. Charterism was a rallying cry for change and a step towards a modern democratic state. The first official convention in February of 1839 showed that there were two main camps of thought: peaceable change and violent change.
“Peaceably if we may, forcibly if we must.”
From the first meeting, the Chartists tested the boundaries of the law having 53 men gather in one place when the rule was no more than 50. What may seem a small thing these days was an offense against order in conservative England of 1839. Add to that the opposition to the current government and the printing of unofficial untaxed newspapers and revolution stirred heavy in the English air. The many faces of the movement left London to spread their message in the industrial north, gathering a veritable army of workers.
In fact, many people who were desperate for social change saw the Charter movement as a vehicle for a radical transformation in the way England was governed. There was talk that the ironworkers were making weapons that an army should be gathered and tyrannical politicians should be killed. The call for a general strike found more favor but not enough for a clear vote. The movement sent requests, demands and proposals to parliament but their pleas fell mostly on deaf ears and people began to vent their frustrations.
It was the 4th of July when the report of several Chartist meetings in Birmingham reached the metropolitan police. At the time, the industrial northern city of Birmingham had no police force of their own and worry had spread that the nightly meetings at an area of town known as the Bull Ring were a plot to revolt against the government. The first “riot” resulted in a clash between a few chartists and the police and the injury and arrest of a few individuals. At the end of July chartists revolted en masse and thousands marched to the Bull Ring, burned down buildings and clashed violently with police.
The result of the summer clashes was the arrest and imprisonment of several of the movement’s leaders as well as the end of the violent side of English social reform.
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In the end, all of the demands of the Charter movement came to pass, except annual general elections. Universal male suffrage didn’t come about in England until the end of World War I. The Charter movement is a part of England’s rich past often overlooked. Its social significance lies in a legacy of working men’s clubs, civic associations, unions, worker’s rights and drastic change to outdated forms of government. The Chartists demonstrated just want community activism and the desire for democracy can achieve. | |||||||||||
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To a great extent, popular culture influenced and even controlled Britain’s Empire expansion in the 19th century. Novels, magazines, toys and songs all promoted the new colonial world, publicizing it as nothing had ever been before. Children, boys especially, were targeted by the large number of colonial manufactured material. The Boys Own Paper, released 12 times a year, was extremely popular with articles about science, history, sports and crafts. Parents greatly approved of the moral tone of this paper which encouraged the use of violence especially in a historical extent.
Popular culture was not only aimed at children. With the rate of education in Britain increasing and the improvements made to the printing press, literature was suddenly available for all. Writers and intellects published their views towards the colonies and the ‘savage natives’. In a paper written by Herbert Spencer called ‘The Primitive Man’, he claimed that aggression and violence were only seen in primitive cultures as it was a survival instinct not needed in the more advanced British society. While ‘White Man’s Burden’, a poem by Rudyard Kipling, described the burden placed on the white man to civilize the ‘inferior’ races. 
