The Aftermath of 1839
Following the events of August 1839 there was some effort to keep chartist meetings in public spaces going despite the bans. Some local leaders including James Maw, a bricklayer’s labourer, held open-air meetings which were poorly attended and did not lead to any significant action. Some of the remaining Darlington chartists openly defied the ban in April 1840 by assembling in the marketplace, and those who weren’t fined were imprisoned. Stockton chartists either chose to meet at Darlington or, in the case of three meetings held in the spring of 1840 by a Sunderland chartist named George Binns, often crossed boundary lines to flummox the authorities.
Protesting and physically enforcing reform had been forcibly put down by the authorities, so many chartists started turning their attention towards providing aid and education to those who needed it the most. This is the point in which chartism in Middlesbrough enters the picture.