Robert Gammage (Chartist)

Robert George Gammage (ca. 1820 – 7 January 1888) was a leading figure in Chartism in the 1830s and 1840s. He was also the author of the first history of the movement.

Robert George Gammage was born in Northampton around 1820. Aged twelve he started an informal apprenticeship with a local coachbuilder. He was a founding member of the Northampton branch of the Chartist "Working Men's Association". He began speaking at public meetings and as a result lost his job. He began travelling simply to find work, but became increasingly active as a Chartist lecturer.

In June 1839, he walked the six miles from Northampton to the village of Brixworth in order to address a public meeting. Before the meeting was held, Gammage and two companions attended a service in the parish church where the clergyman (Charles Frederic Watkins, who was vicar of Brixworth from 1832 to 1873) rebuked them and threatened the three with arrest if the meeting proceeded. Despite this, Gammage recalled that attendance at the roadside assembly later that day amounted to several hundreds and the minister’s efforts to persuade the constable to arrest those addressing it were unsuccessful.

He left Northampton on 6 February 1840 and went first to Newport Pagnell and stayed at the Coachmaker's club house. He then travelled through Bedford, Ampthill, Huntingdon and Cambridge to Hertford, where he stayed with friends, and made a visit to a cousin in Hatfield he had not seen since childhood. In London he stayed for six weeks with an uncle and aunt. He moved on to Sevenoaks and Maidstone, where he had another friend from Northampton, to Tonbridge, Lewes, Brighton, Chichester, Fareham, and Southampton. In Southampton he heard about work in Portsmouth, so travelled back but was rejected because he lacked experience. He travelled on via Salisbury and Devizes to Bath, and finally to Sherbourne, where he found work.

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