Public library find is only surviving copy of rebel hymn book

A tiny 165-year-old pamphlet, stored in a box at a Yorkshire public library, has been identified by a University of Manchester academic as the only surviving copy of a Chartist hymn book. Dr Mike Sanders, who came across the 'National Chartist Hymn Book' in Todmorden public library, has confirmed it contains 16 hymns sung by the Victorian radicals who campaigned for democracy and workers' rights. According to Dr Sanders, who is an English lecturer, the hymn books were designed in an attempt to produce a standard hymn book for the movement as a Chartist forerunner of 'Hymns Ancient and Modern'. While Chartist historians know of two earlier attempts to produce a hymn book for the whole movement - Cooper's 'Shakespearean Chartist Hymn Book' and Hobson's 'Hymns for Worship', before now, there have been no references to the Todmorden collection. Heavily influenced by dissenting Christians, the hymns are about social justice, 'striking down evil doers' and blessing Chartist enterprises, rather than the conventional themes of crucifixion, heaven and family. Some of the hymns protested against the exploitation of child labour and slavery. Another of the hymns proclaimed: Men of wealth and men of power/ "Like locusts all thy gifts devour.