Auction Catalogue
LONDON, Charing Cross, National Political Union, 1831, silver, bundle of sticks, union is power, power and union are happiness, rev. legend, 29mm, 12.15g (W 1945 [not seen]; D & W 168/515). Extremely fine and toned, very rare £100-£150
The National Political Union, presided over by Sir Francis Burdett (1770-1844), was established in October 1831 by the social reformer Francis Place (1771-1854), following the rejection by the House of Lords of the Reform Bill. Place, a member of the token-issuing London Corresponding Society, modelled it on the Birmingham Political Union, intending it both as a co-ordinating body for the country’s political unions and an outlet for London radicals. A subsequent government ban on umbrella organisations led to a widespread series of protests in May 1832, the effects of which led to the eventual passing of the Reform Bill.
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