Isaac Ironside

Isaac Ironside (17 September 1808 – 20 August 1870) was an English Chartist and socialist politician, whose activities were centred in Sheffield.

Early years Born near Masbrough, Rotherham, Ironside grew up in Sheffield, the son of Samuel Ironside, a Wesleyan lay preacher, and Mary Bradbury. On both sides of the family there were roots in the Independent Church in Masbrough – Mary's grandfather Isaac Bradbury was well known as an "Old Jacobin". Isaac's younger brother Samuel Ironside travelled as a Methodist missionary to New Zealand, where he became a supporter and signatory of the Treaty of Waitangi. Isaac, meanwhile, moved into politics. He began work in the foundries and undertook studies in his spare time.

Soon after marrying in the 1820s, Ironside moved to New Harmony, Indiana, Robert Owen's utopian colony. However, the colony was not a success, and the couple returned to Sheffield. In 1833, he joined his father's new accountancy business, and by the 1840s came to run it. However, with the defeat of the first Chartist petition, the local movement was split between supporters of and opponents of violence, and he increasingly stayed away from meetings.

Conflict In 1839, poet James Montgomery had Ironside removed from his post as honorary secretary of the Institute after Ironside placed eight books dealing with socialism on the shelves. Montgomery also claimed that Ironside had encouraged subversion by opening a coffee room. Instead, Ironside worked with Owen, proposing agrarian communities, and opening a Hall of Science in Sheffield. He wrote a polemic attacking John Brindley and despite moving away from Owen, founded a Workers' Educational Institute at the Hall of Science in 1848.

At the Town Council meeting of 14 January 1848, Ironside gave an antisemitic speech in response to a proposal to express the Council's support for the removal of bar on Jews becoming MPs.

Later years In 1851, Ironside founded the Sheffield Free Press, becoming an outspoken supporter of David Urquhart, and leading support for Toulmin Smith's candidature for Sheffield at the 1852 general election. He retained his seat on the council until 1868. He died in 1870 and was buried in Sheffield General Cemetery. Emma (1835), Frances (1841), Una (1845), Kate (1850), and Lilian (1852).