The period between 1868 and 1874 was extremely important for both urban and rural working-class activism. Following the passage of the Second Reform Act, a renewal of republicanism was witnessed in a number of urban centres around England, peaking in 1873 with the establishment of two national organisations, the National Republican Brotherhood and the National Republican League (NRL). Contemporaneously, the agricultural labourers began a political movement calling for greater civil rights, which also culminated in the formation of two national bodies, the National Agricultural Labourers’ Union (NALU) and the Federal Union of Agricultural and General Labourers. Significantly, there was extensive cross-organisational activity between all these groups. In establishing their organisations and making their demands, labour activists from both urban and rural backgrounds clashed with Liberals at both the local and national level. The focus of this chapter is therefore the different ways in which these activists perceived their identity in relation to mainstream politics in general and official Liberalism in particular, and the extent to which ‘place’ and personal networks shaped this identity.

Although historians have considered the activities of the LRL, English republican clubs and agricultural labourers in isolation, the connections between them have been largely overlooked. The aim of this chapter is to correct this oversight. Not only were these movements contemporaneous, but also the level of cross-organisational activity was hugely significant. Through personal networks, the leaders of the LRL, the republican movement and the agricultural labourers moved in and out of each other's worlds, which had important implications for how the labour activists conceptualised their identity.

The first half of the chapter examines the English republican movement. It begins by considering early republican activity in London following the 1868 general election, paying particular attention to the extent to which these groups established networks with the wider labour movement. Next, the attitudes of the provincial republican clubs towards local organised Liberalism are analysed, highlighting how their ability to secure the full support of their fellow working-class radicals was strongly shaped by place. The importance of locality to the movement is then underlined by an assessment of why the attempt to establish national republican organisations failed. The second half of the chapter examines the political identity of the agricultural labourers.