Render the Chartists Defenceless

New book reveals an explosive new twist in the story of the Newport Rising which was the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in Great Britain.

Newport publishers Three Impostors announce the release of a new book revealing an explosive new twist in the story of the Newport Risingwhich was the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in Great Britain when, on the 4th November 1839, somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000Chartist sympathisers, led by John Frost, marched on the town of Newport, Monmouthshire.

Newport–born Hollywood actor Michael Sheen introduces the book, in which historian Les James describes the previously untold story of the voyage of Frost, Zephaniah Williams and William Jones to Van Diemen’s Land in 1840, to start their sentence of transportation for life for treason.

Lulled at first by the kindness of those in authority on board the convict ship Mandarin, the prisoners gradually became aware of the web of intrigue and surveillance around them, and suspicious of the possibility of government spies watching their every move. Were these suspicions correct?

Les James is a former Museum Education Officer for Gwent, and Senior Lecturer at the University of Wales, Newport, with a long-standing research interest in south Wales Chartism.

Three Impostors is a small publisher established in Newport in 2012 with the aim of producing high quality, scholarly versions of rare and out-of-print books, along with other related new writing. Their first book was a commemorative edition of 'Far Off Things' by Arthur Machen, published in 2013 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of his death.

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