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The National Convention. As it met on Monday the 4th of February 1839 at the British Coffee House'. Meeting of the National Convention of the Industrious Classes at the British Coffee House, 27 Cockspur Street, London. Among those present was English radical John Collins (1802-1852), a leading spokesman for the Birmingham Political Union. The main purpose of the Convention was to prepare and deliver to Parliament the National Petition, which sought to redress the failings of the 1832 Reform Bill that extended suffrage to the middle classes. The Bill excluded the vast majority of working men, leaving only one in eight people with the right to vote. Artist Unknown. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)