Manuscripts and Special Collections

James Sweet (fl 1838-1879; Nottingham shopkeeper and Chartist)

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Hair cutter and perfumer, and second-hand bookseller, of Goose Gate, in the Nottingham Annual Register of 1840. He was still there in 1854 but by 1862 had moved his bookselling, stationery and newsagency business to 2 Stoney Street. He appeared in Wright's 1879 directory at 21 Broad Street, but was not listed by 1885. In the early 1870s he was a Nottingham town councillor.

Sweet was a founder member of the Nottingham Working Men's Association in 1838, and in the early 1840s was sub-treasurer to the Nottingham branch of the National Charter Association.

He was a committed Chartist, but deeply opposed to the New Poor Law, and therefore supported the Tory candidate Walter in the 1841 Nottingham election against the Whigs. He was the chief fund-raiser for Feargus O'Connor during his 1847 election campaign, and was secretary of the Nottingham branch of the National Land Company in 1849.

 

Manuscripts and Special Collections

Kings Meadow Campus
Lenton Lane
Nottingham, NG7 2NR

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