Isaac's younger brother Samuel Ironside travelled as a Methodist missionary to New Zealand, where he became a supporter and signatory of the Treaty of Waitangi.
[2] He increasingly became a leading figure in Sheffield Chartism, and spoke alongside Ebenezer Elliott at a mass meeting in Paradise Square in 1838.
[2] In 1846, Ironside was elected to Sheffield Town Council representing Ecclesall, where he founded the Central Democratic Association to raise socialist and Chartist demands.
By 1849, this grouping had grown to 22 members and was able to force the creation of a health committee and the construction of a model farm on broadly Owenite principles at Hollow Meadows.
Utilising Joshua Toulmin Smith's localist ideas, he set up a system of "wardmote" committees where any local citizen could influence council policy.