Charles Neesom was a prominent "second rank" (i.e. not a leader) London Chartist.
He was born in Scarborough (North Riding of Yorkshire) in 1785 and was employed as a tailor by a master-tailor who was an admirer of Thomas Paine("Common Sense", 1776 -
the American Revolt).
Neesom became a radical and moved to London in 1810.
He involved himself in many of the radical activities of the time and helped George Julian Harney to set up the East London Democratic Association in 1837.
Neesom died in 1861.
Bethnal Green is in London: in 1840 there were a number of Chartist meetings but the Whig government of Lord Melbourne
had a systematic plan of arresting Chartist leaders on the grounds that if the leaders were locked up,the led would
shut up and go away.
It was a very successful policy, actually,and prevented mass violence.
Scarborough is about 80 miles from Leeds, but it seems that
Neesom went to London when he was about 25.
It is possible that his family moved down to Leeds
(not much happens in Scarborough even today)
for work but it looks as though you're going back a further generation than you thought for Charles Neesom the Chartist.
Manchester is just the other side of the Pennines from Leeds
of course - a canal links the two, as does a railway and roads.
It's maybe 40 miles' travel.
That's a much more likely link, I would have thought.
Leeds is woollen textiles, Manchester is cotton -
but both are textiles and need similar skills from workers
As the cotton industry became more important, the woollen industry declined in ratio.
The above was taken from an email sent to me in reply to the question of this Charles Neesom possibly being related to my family. I have yet to make the connection.
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