The Letters of Richard Cobden (1804-65) Online: an exploration in active citizenship
Lead Research Organisation:
Leeds Beckett University
Department Name: Cultural Studies and Humanities
Abstract
This project will maximise the impact and engagement potential of c.5,500 letters transcribed by the AHRC-funded Letters of Richard Cobden Project in 2002-2006 which did not appear in the four-volume Oxford edition. The project involves the original project team, Dr Simon Morgan and Prof. Anthony Howe, alongside new team-member Dr Helen Dampier, who has significant experience of delivering impact and engagement with letters-based projects.
We propose to make the letters available online free of charge and to use them as the basis of a range of activities designed to engage secondary school pupils, policy makers and the general public around the theme of 'active citizenship'. These activities include:
- Working with schools in Greater Manchester and Leeds to design teaching materials and activities compatible with the Citizenship part of the National Curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4.
- Bringing together c.100 archives, libraries and museums worldwide to create a virtual exhibition of Cobden material on the theme of 'Active Citizenship', hosted on the project website.
- Organising a workshop to engage policy makers and practitioners on the subject of 'Trade Policy', resulting in an article for the History & Policy website.
- Launching an essay competition with the History of Parliament Trust on the theme of Active Citizenship, to be awarded at the official launch of the online resources at the Houses of Parliament in 2023.
- Holding an exhibition of Cobden manuscripts and material at Archive+ in the Manchester Central Library building from April to June 2023, on the theme of 'Cobden as a citizen'.
To deliver these activities, we are working with a number of partner organisation: Cheadle Hulme High School in Greater Manchester; Lawnswood School in Leeds; the History of Parliament Trust; and Archives+. The project has been devised in consultation with teachers to tie in with the aims of the National Curriculum in Citizenship at KS3 and KS4, which are to ensure pupils:
- acquire a sound knowledge and understanding of how the United Kingdom is governed, its political system and how citizens participate actively in its democratic systems of government
- develop a sound knowledge and understanding of the role of law and the justice system in our society and how laws are shaped and enforced
- develop an interest in, and commitment to, participation in volunteering as well as other forms of responsible activity, that they will take with them into adulthood.
- are equipped with the skills to think critically and debate political questions.
The teaching materials themselves will draw on the letters and contextual materials and be designed around the themes of democracy, inclusivity, press freedom and international co-operation. Pupils will compare and contrast opportunities for active citizenship available in the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries, being encouraged to draw their own critical comparisons and develop their own projects to effect political or social change.
The main outcomes will be:
- An open-access digital repository of 5,500 previously unpublished Cobden letters, with contextual essays.
- A set of online learning resources based on the letters, to support the teaching of Citizenship at KS3 and KS4.
- A permanent online exhibition comprising digital images of Cobden artefacts and original letters from archives across the world.
- A workshop and article for History and Policy on the lessons of Cobden's career for modern trade policy.
- A temporary exhibition at Archives+ in central Manchester to run April-June 2023.
This project showcases the continued relevance of the Humanities at a time when the value of these subjects is being called into question, while the resources created will have considerable longevity.
We propose to make the letters available online free of charge and to use them as the basis of a range of activities designed to engage secondary school pupils, policy makers and the general public around the theme of 'active citizenship'. These activities include:
- Working with schools in Greater Manchester and Leeds to design teaching materials and activities compatible with the Citizenship part of the National Curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4.
- Bringing together c.100 archives, libraries and museums worldwide to create a virtual exhibition of Cobden material on the theme of 'Active Citizenship', hosted on the project website.
- Organising a workshop to engage policy makers and practitioners on the subject of 'Trade Policy', resulting in an article for the History & Policy website.
- Launching an essay competition with the History of Parliament Trust on the theme of Active Citizenship, to be awarded at the official launch of the online resources at the Houses of Parliament in 2023.
- Holding an exhibition of Cobden manuscripts and material at Archive+ in the Manchester Central Library building from April to June 2023, on the theme of 'Cobden as a citizen'.
To deliver these activities, we are working with a number of partner organisation: Cheadle Hulme High School in Greater Manchester; Lawnswood School in Leeds; the History of Parliament Trust; and Archives+. The project has been devised in consultation with teachers to tie in with the aims of the National Curriculum in Citizenship at KS3 and KS4, which are to ensure pupils:
- acquire a sound knowledge and understanding of how the United Kingdom is governed, its political system and how citizens participate actively in its democratic systems of government
- develop a sound knowledge and understanding of the role of law and the justice system in our society and how laws are shaped and enforced
- develop an interest in, and commitment to, participation in volunteering as well as other forms of responsible activity, that they will take with them into adulthood.
- are equipped with the skills to think critically and debate political questions.
The teaching materials themselves will draw on the letters and contextual materials and be designed around the themes of democracy, inclusivity, press freedom and international co-operation. Pupils will compare and contrast opportunities for active citizenship available in the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries, being encouraged to draw their own critical comparisons and develop their own projects to effect political or social change.
The main outcomes will be:
- An open-access digital repository of 5,500 previously unpublished Cobden letters, with contextual essays.
- A set of online learning resources based on the letters, to support the teaching of Citizenship at KS3 and KS4.
- A permanent online exhibition comprising digital images of Cobden artefacts and original letters from archives across the world.
- A workshop and article for History and Policy on the lessons of Cobden's career for modern trade policy.
- A temporary exhibition at Archives+ in central Manchester to run April-June 2023.
This project showcases the continued relevance of the Humanities at a time when the value of these subjects is being called into question, while the resources created will have considerable longevity.
Organisations
- Leeds Beckett University (Lead Research Organisation)
- Beckfoot Thornton School (Collaboration)
- History and Policy (Collaboration)
- The History of Parliament (Collaboration)
- Archives+ (Project Partner)
- Cheadle Hulme High School (Project Partner)
- History of Parliament Trust (Project Partner)
- Lawnswood School (Project Partner)
Publications
Morgan S
(2024)
The Letters of Richard Cobden Online: A New Resource for Liberal History
in Journal of Liberal History
Morgan S
(2024)
Cobden and His Constituencies
in Journal of Liberal History
| Title | Letters of Richard Cobden Online Virtual Exhibition |
| Description | This is a virtual exhibition of manuscript material relating to Richard Cobden provided by over 80 libraries, museums and archives worldwide. It is hosted on the project website and is intended as a teaching aid, a resource for scholars and something to help engage the general public with Cobden's life and work. It is still being added to. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | Since it went live in September 2023 the virtual exhibition has been visited by 120 unique users and has 493 views according to Google Analytics. |
| URL | https://www.cobdenletters.org/virtual-exhibition |
| Title | Richard Cobden exhibition, Midhurst |
| Description | Twenty-seven of the panels from the exhibition Richard Cobden: Manchester Manufacturer to International Man were put on display at the Old Library in Midhurst. These panels tell the story of Cobden's life from his experiences as a young calico manufacturer until his death. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Impact | The exhibition is still ongoing. There has been some positive feedback from audiences. |
| URL | https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/lectures-and-exhibition-held-for-one... |
| Title | Richard Cobden: From Manchester Manufacturer to International Man |
| Description | This was an exhibition on the life, work and legacy of Richard Cobden designed and created by the project and hosted by Archives+ at Manchester Central Library. It ran from 5 April to 30 June 2023. It was one of the planned project outputs. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | The exhibition raised awareness of Cobden's contribution to the history of Manchester, the UK and international relations during and after his lifetime through his activities and ideas. Manchester Central Library is one of the busiest public libraries in the UK, with over 2 million visitors in 2019/20. Assuming footfall has returned to pre-pandemic levels, that would mean approximately half a million visitors would have been able to engage with the exhibition during its three-month run. The exhibition also came to the attention of Tim Young, a member of Chichester City Council and resident of Cobden's home town of Midhurst. A significant part of the exhibition is currently on display at The Old Library in Midhurst and is the focal point of a lecture series devised by Tim which includes talks by academics (including two members of the Letters of Richard Cobden Online team), journalists and politicians. Finally, the exhibition helped to raise awareness of the plight of a significant collection of Richard Cobden artefacts in the care of the YMCA and currently in storage since the sale of Dunford House, Cobden's country house near Midhurst. These artefacts will now be going to Chetham's Library in Manchester, which will mean that the exhibition has effectively left a permanent legacy for the city. |
| URL | https://manclibraries.blog/2023/03/27/richard-cobden-manchester-citizen-to-international-man/#:~:tex... |
| Description | As this was 'follow-on' funding it was a stipulation of the award that the money could not be used to fund new research but instead for impact and engagement activity. All the original outcomes were met during the period of the award with the sole exception of the running of a workshop on British trade policy from the Corn Laws to the Present with History and Policy, which for logistical reasons had to be held in February 2024 instead. The key achievements during the award period were: 1. The production of a significant new online resource, The Letters of Richard Cobden Online, for the study of nineteenth century History, including the transcripts of 5,500 letters written by one of the most influential statesmen of the century. These deal with a wide range of subjects, from family life, to various political campaigns, notably of course the campaign against the Corn Laws from 1838-1846. The letters also have a significant international dimension due to Cobden's involvement in the international peace movement, his 1846-7 tour of Europe in support of free trade, hist critique of British imperial aggression in India, China and Japan, his negotiation of the 1860 Anglo-French Commercial Treaty, and his correspondence around the American Civil War. 2. Using this resource to develop impact and engagement through the co-creation of teaching resources to support lessons in History and Citizenship at Key Stage 3. These are available to download from the project website. 3. The production of a virtual exhibition of scanned original Cobden letters provided by around 80 of the 150 archives and collections worldwide holding Cobden material. This collection is designed to support teaching as well as providing further context for Cobden on the website. 4. The production of a physical exhibition on 'Richard Cobden: From Manchester Citizen to International Man', that ran in Manchester from April to June 2023, significant elements of which are currently being redisplayed in Midhurst, Cobden's birthplace. |
| Exploitation Route | The publication of the letters of Richard Cobden, a man with truly global interests, in an open access and fully searchable format potentially provides the starting point for a large number of new research projects across a wide range of topics in British, European and World History, while providing peripheral information for many more. The publication of Cobden's international correspondence, particularly around the Anglo-French treaty of 1860, has potential to be useful for studies of British free trade diplomacy, which was the theme of the recent seminar held in conjunction with History and Policy at the Institute of Historical Research. The production of the physical exhibition on Cobden has already led to a spin-off exhibition in Midhurst, West Sussex. |
| Sectors | Education Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Security and Diplomacy |
| URL | http://www.cobdenletters.org |
| Description | The most immediate impact of the project has been on the three partner schools involved in the project. Intensive three-day workshops were delivered at each school in conjunction with the GreenWing Project, funded by the Letters of Richard Cobden Online, in order to co-create the teaching resources for the project website. Each school made available a team of around six Year 9 'leaders', who were a mixture of the academically talented and more challenging 'intelligent disruptors'. The students were taken off timetable for the three days, and on day one received leadership training from GreenWing. On the second and third days full classes of between 20 and 30 year 7 or 8 pupils were introduced. These were broken down into small groups, each led by a Year 9 leader. Over the rest of the two days, the students learned about Richard Cobden's campaigning activities and tactics, and were then asked to devise a presentation on what we can learn from the past in order to become active citizens in the present and how we can implement those letters to campaign constitutionally for positive change. These presentations were then delivered to representatives of the project team and senior leaders from the schools involved. At the conclusion of the project, the Year 9 leaders were invited to the website launch at Portcullis House. Unfortunately only one School was able to take advantage of this invitation, though a second viewed the launch on Zoom. According to their teachers, the impact on members of the leadership groups in particular has been transformational, making them aware of their innate potentials and already having an impact in making them want to become more engaged in the lives of their schools and communities. One of the schools, Lawnswood in Leeds, has even introduced a 'Richard Cobden Award' for active citizenship, awarded to a student who has had a positive impact on the life of the school. Other evidence of impact that has emerged so far includes the following: - The successful partnership with the History of Parliament Trust which enabled us to base their annual schools competition around the Cobden Project. The competition normally struggles to gain traction outside the independent school sector but this year attracted entries from a number of state schools thanks to project support. - The 'collection encounter' held at the John Rylands University Library in Manchester led to that institution signing up two new readers eager to learn about how some of the tactics of the Anti-Corn Law League might be adapted to modern environmental campaigning. We are currently (2025) working on scaling up the winning entry to the Schools competition in order to take it into other schools to develop further impact. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
| Title | The Letters of Richard Cobden Online |
| Description | This is an online database of over 5,500 previously unpublished transcripts of letters by Richard Cobden. They were collected by the AHRC-funded Letters of Richard Cobden Project since 2002 and have now been made available online in a fully seachable open access format. The database is the principal output of the Letters of Richard Cobden Online project. The website on which the database is hosted also includes teaching resources for History & Citizenship lessons at KS3; a virtual exhibition of manuscript material; explanatory essays contextualising Cobden's life and work. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The dataset was only published in September 2023 so we are unaware of notable impact from it as yet. It is currently being used by Dr Rebecca Wade in her research on the connections between Richard Cobden and the Novello family. Since it went live in September 2023 there have been 709 unique users of the website and it has been well reviewed in Global Intellectual History. The potential for this resource as a source for exploring Victorian life and politics is huge. |
| URL | http://www.cobdenletters.org |
| Description | Partnership with Beckfoot Thornton School, Bradford |
| Organisation | Beckfoot Thornton School |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | In association with the GreenWing project, we ran a three-day series of workshops with Year 7 and 9 pupils at Beckfoot Thornton. On the first day, 6 Year 9 pupils received specialist leadership coaching from GreenWing. On the subsequent days, these pupils led small groups of Year 7 pupils in developing presentations on Active Citizenship and how political campaigns of the past had inspired them to make a difference in the present. The pupils helped GreenWing to test and co-create teaching resources for Citizenship and History lessons at Key Stage 3. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The school contributed teaching time and resources and allowed us to take the pupils off timetable for 3 days (for the Year 9s) and two days (for the year 7s) respectively. |
| Impact | The outcome of the collaboration is a set of downloadable teaching materials for History and Citizenship lessons at Key Stage 3. These are available from the project website. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Partnership with History & Policy |
| Organisation | History and Policy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Professor Anthony Howe organised a workshop at the Institute of Historical Research in conjunction with History & Policy on the theme of 'The British Way In Trade Policy in Global Perspective.' This took place on 6 February 2024. |
| Collaborator Contribution | History and Policy facilitated the workshop by providing a room and organising publicity. |
| Impact | The workshop was delivered on 6 February 2024. The event was recorded but this is not yet available. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Partnership with the History of Parliament Trust |
| Organisation | The History of Parliament |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We worked with the History of Parliament Trust to promote their annual Schools competition which was themed around the Letters of Richard Cobden Project in 2023. We also provided a number of posts for their blogs (see under 'Engagement'). |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Trust allowed us to theme their annual schools competition around our project and helped to promote and advertise it. They also helped to organise the website launch event at Portcullis House in September 2023, which also included the award of the competition prize. |
| Impact | Blog-post by Helen Dampier, 'Richard Cobden's Letters: The Human Side'. Blog-post by Simon Morgan, 'Cobden and His Constituencies' |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | 'Collection Encounter' at the John Rylands University Library, Manchester. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | On 8 June 2023 I helped present a Collection Encounter at the John Rylands University Library, Manchester. This was designed to showcase the Library's collections of Richard Cobden objects and documents to the general public and also to advertise our exhibition at Manchester Central Library. It lasted about two hours and also involved two members of staff from the Library demonstrating objects, while volunteers guided members of the public to our stand. It was estimated by the Library that 70-80 people engaged with the exhibit over the course of the afternoon. The audience was truly international including visitors to the library from east and south Asia, North America and continental Europe. Two visitors, inspired by Cobden's campaigning example, signed up as Readers of the Library on the spot, desiring to learn more about Cobden's campaigning methods and whether they could be applicable to campaigning in the present day for action on climate change. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | 'Richard Cobden and the Novellos', public lecture at the University of Leeds |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was a talk given to members of the general public on 30 November 2024. It tied in with the research on the Novello papers undertaken by Rebecca Wade at the University of Leeds and was part of the activities taking place in Leeds relating to the unveiling of a blue plaque to the Northern Star later that day. A good discussion about the letters of Richard Cobden followed. Those present included a representative of Cheetham's Library in Manchester, which was negotiating with the YMCA to take part of its collection of Cobden items. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | 'The Peace Campaigns of Richard Cobden' Public Lecture at the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was a public lecture which was also streamed via Zoom. It has since been put up on YouTube and is open access. Since it was put up there have been 2.5k views and over one hundred interactions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1pwYhdCQe8 |
| Description | Blog Post by Simon Morgan, 'Cobden and His Constituencies', for the Victorian Commons blog, 24 January 2024. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This blog post was intended to showcase and advertise the new resource created by the project in the form of the Letters of Richard Cobden Online database of 5,500 Cobden letters and associated resources. Since its publication the editor of the Journal of Liberal History has requested that he be allowed to reprint it in the Summer edition. This has been agreed by the Blog's owners, the History of Parliament Trust. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2024/01/24/cobden-and-his-constituencies/ |
| Description | Blog post by Dr Helen Dampier, 'Richard Cobden's Letters: The Human Side' for the Victorian Commons blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This blog post was intended to showcase and advertise the new resource that the project has created in the form of the Letters of Richard Cobden Online database. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2023/11/24/richard-cobdens-letters-the-human-side/ |
| Description | Launch event for the exhibition 'Richard Cobden: From Manchester Citizen to International Man' at Manchester Central Library |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Around 20 people attended this event, mostly drawn from local cultural and educational organisations in Manchester such as the City Art Gallery, Chetham's Library and the Universities. There were also members of the general public, teachers from partner schools and at least three members of Rochdale City Council. The event included a tour of the exhibition which sparked a great deal of interest. It also led to a further engagement event held at the John Rylands University Library. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://manclibraries.blog/2023/03/27/richard-cobden-manchester-citizen-to-international-man/ |
| Description | Launch event of the Letters of Richard Cobden Online, Portcullis House, 19 September 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | A launch event was held at Portcullis House for the project website, including the database of over 5,500 transcripts of Cobden's letters. The event included a presentation on the project by myself, and the presentation of the History of Parliament Trust annual schools prize which was themed around the project. The presentation was made by Lord Norton of Louth, President of the HoPT. Pupils and teachers from one of our partner schools were in attendance, while pupils and teachers from another school attended virtually via Zoom. At least one MP was present in addition to members of Rochdale Borough Council and Parliamentary Candidates for Colchester and Chichester. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/school-of-humanities-and-social-sciences/2023/09/the-letters-of... |
| Description | Lecture at the Old Library, Midhurst |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Professor Simon Morgan delivered a lecture on the project at the Old Library Midhurst on Tuesday 30 January to a predominantly local audience. This accompanied the display of panels from the project's Manchester exhibition. Over 30 people were in attendance, including some local councillors and the prospective parliamentary candidates for the Liberal Democrat and Green Parties for the Chichester constituency. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/lectures-and-exhibition-held-for-one... |
| Description | Lecture by Prof. Anthony Howe (Co-I): 'Richard Cobden and Dunford House'. At Old Library, Midhurst |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A talk was delivered by Professor Howe at Midhurst Old Library. It was well attended by local people with an interest in local history who were very engaged with the subject. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/richard-cobden-and-dunford-house-a-talk-by-professor-anthony-howe-tic... |
| Description | Public Lecture to the Thoresby Society: 'A Manchester Man Abroad: Richard Cobden and the West Riding of Yorkshire'. 20 March 2025 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was a public lecture on Richard Cobden's association with the West Riding of Yorkshire drawing on the letters project. The lecture was attended by 23 people in person with a further 25 watching on Zoom. The lecture has since been put on YouTube. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdLh58jD50Y |
| Description | Workshop with History and Policy: The British Way in Trade Policy in Global Perspective. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The workshop arranged by Prof. Anthony Howe (Co-I) explored British trade policy since the corn laws in order to understand how policy might evolve in the post-Brexit world. There were contributions from scholars with specialisms in the histories of trade policy of the US, European Union and China. Around twenty people attended. Audience members were a mixture of academics, postgraduate students and policymakers. The presentations were followed by a lively discussion. The event was recorded though as yet the recording has not been made available. It is intended that an article by Professor Howe will also result. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.history.ac.uk/events/british-way-trade-policy-global-perspective-corn-laws-global-britai... |