Dorothy Katharine Gane Thompson (née Towers;[1] 30 October 1923 – 29 January 2011[2]) was a social historian and a leading expert on the Chartist movement.
Due to the ill health of her elder brother, Tom, the family lived at the agricultural village of Keston, in a four-room cottage, before moving to Bromley.
[7][8] With husband E. P. Thompson, she was part of the dissenting group in the Communist Party of Great Britain which in 1956-7 set up the socialist humanist journal the New Reasoner, where her competence meant her principal role was "business manager".
She was inspired working with writers, artists, historians and trade unionists in the formation of new left clubs in many towns; she admired such figures as the Scottish miners' champion Lawrence Daly and clothing worker Gertie Roche.
The Chartists (1984) set out all the ways in which Thompson sought to revise how Chartism was seen - from the Irish leaders to the vital contribution of women.