Apologies for being slow to respond.
Looking at Chartist newspapers, the Northern Liberator based in Newcastle and the Northern Star which was the main one for the whole movement, I can only see reports mentioning Thomas Wakenshaw as a miner's leader. He may well have also supported Chartism, though. In the late 1830s and early 1840s around Newcastle these movements were closely connected, with Chartist 'lecturers' frequently visiting mining areas and colliers supporting Chartist meetings.
Although beer houses and inns were often used as Chartist meeting places, and provided economic opportunities for people whose political involvement made other work difficult, there was an awareness that the association with alcohol could be problematic. In the 1840s teetotalism was promoted by some Chartists, as part of the ‘New Move’ towards education and self-improvement, and in some localities Chartists established alternative meeting places, if they could afford them.
Drosybont
