Dr Vic Clarke 'Feargus O'Connor "at large": Leadership behind bars in York Castle's prison during the Chartist movement, c. 1837–1842.'

Feargus O'Connor was an immensely popular leader of the Chartist campaign to expand voting rights. He was the most influential of the many campaigners for democracy or social reform who were imprisoned in York Castle between late 18^th and mid-19^th centuries. Vic Clarke is a researcher, writer, and editor based in Leeds who has published widely on the Chartist movement, Victorian labour practices, and the periodical press. She will describe how O'Connor continued the struggle for democracy from his prison cell in York ahead of a triumphal release procession around York.