Henry Vincent

active in the formation of early Working Men's Associations in Britain, a popular Chartist leader, brilliant and gifted public orator, prospective but ultimately unsuccessful Victorian member of parliament, and later an anti-slavery campaigner.

In 1836, he joined the recently formed London Working Men's Association and he was quickly recognised as one of the best young orators promoting universal suffrage and workers rights.

In 1837, he accompanied John Cleave on a summer speaking tour in the industrial north of England and they helped local activists to establish Working Men's Associations in Hull, Leeds, Bradford, Halifax and Huddersfield.

In 1838, Vincent was given responsibility for promoting universal suffrage and welfare benefits and Working Men's Associations in industrial South Wales and the West Country from Cornwall up to Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.

With the fair sex his slight handsome figure, the merry twinkle of his eye, his incomparable mimicry, his passionate bursts of enthusiasm, the rich music of his voice, and above all, his appeals for the elevation of woman rendered him a universal favourite and the Democrats of both sexes regarded him as the young Demosthenes of English Democracy.The authorities sought to obstruct Vincent and deny him the opportunity to speak out.

They feared a worker's revolution with resulting violence and damage to property, and they were particularly opposed to those Chartists who were advocating the use of physical force to achieve their aims and vent their resentment and fury.

Government spies followed Vincent, seeking evidence to arrest and convict him at a time when transportation to Australia or death by hanging were some of the punishments for stirring up social unrest.

Upon his release from prison in January 1841 Vincent made plans to marry Lucy, the daughter of John Cleave, editor of the Working Man's Friend.

Although still a member of the National Charter Association, Vincent was no longer the envied spirited orator and firm ally of the inner circle of the most prominent and influential Chartists.

On 8 November 1876, in connection with the Huddersfield Literary and Scientific Institution, Vincent gave a lecture entitled: "The English-Speaking Race: Its Conflicts and Triumphs".