But three years before the events in Tolpuddle, rural England was rocked with a massive upr1sing of farm labourers known as the 'Swing Riots'.

Dr. Ball analyses why 'Tolpuddle' has lodged in popular memory and the far more significant events of 'Swing' have been distorted and forgotten.

W.l. Hall, North Street, Bridport

Vegetarian soup on sale from 6:30pm

The post Tolpuddle And Captain Swing: Hidden History? appeared first on Bristol Radical History Group.

Commet:

Coincidentally, I have been reading Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the last days of the working class (J. Cowie 2010) which looks at the changes in labour relations that occurred between the 1960s and 1980s (i.e. the assault on the 'Keynesian' social contract by the US working class, the rightward shift of sections of the white working class in the late 70s, and the struggles over ethnicity and gender).

In one of his case studies, Cowie looks at the formation and rise of a 'pink collar, class-conscious feminism' amongst women clerical workers. This led in Boston to the formation of 'a womens' rights organisation on the job for women office workers' called 9to5. Here is the section:

The organization began not as a union but as a simple citizens’ advocacy group, which Nussbaum found to be too “ephemeral.” As she explained, 9to5 would “organize groups to confront their bosses over maternity rights or discrimination and, inevitably, the boss would respond with, ‘Well, that’s very interesting. We’ll get back to you.’ And then they never got back to us. And that’s when we began to understand. We said, ‘We need something that forces them to get back to us. There should be a law about this.’ And then, of course, we found out that there was a law. It’s called the National Labor Relations Act, that if you organize a majority of people in the workplace, then the employer is obligated to bargain with you.” When they approached a list of unions with their ideas of chartering their own local to organize women clerical workers, however, their ideas were met with indifference or hostility. “When we started,” explained Nussbaum, “the union people scorned women. They didn’t care to take the time with us women, who didn’t know anything about unions.”

Nussbaum’s original attitude toward unions tells much about the New Left’s and the women’s movement’s hope for organized labor as the agent of historical transformation. “It never occurred to me that unions were a force for social change.... That was the milieu. That wasn’t where the impetus for change was coming in society, and that’s why it didn’t occur to us that that’s where it should be.” Eventually, the advocacy group 9to5 became Local 925 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a once sleepy union that would go on to become one of the few sources of growth and dynamism beyond the 1980s. The local, recalled Nussbaum, “had an organization that had the character and concerns of the working women’s movement but the power of a trade union.” The initial promise may have been great, but as Nussbaum lamented, “We never knew what hit us. We got smashed over and over. These businesses had not traditionally been unionized, and they were damned if they were going to be the first ones in the new wave.”

The post Werqin’ 9 to 5 appeared first on Bristol Radical History Group.

Who forgets the frost of ninety-five?
Then was all dismal, scarce, and dear,
And no poor man could thrive^[1]

The winter of 1794-95 was severe throughout the land; the rivers Severn and Thames froze over and a temperature of minus 21c. was recorded in London. In Tewkesbury, the freeze began on 20 December 1794 and continued until 7 February 1795. The subsequent thaw caused major flooding of the rivers Severn and Avon, inundating the town and the surrounding farmlands.^[2]

According to the Geast chronicler, to relieve distress, the poor were supported during this time by public subscription, enabling bread and coals to be sold cheaply and, in some cases, to be provided free. Nevertheless, the 233 burials in Tewkesbury during 1794 and 1795 exceeded most other two- year periods (usually under 100 per year). This is apart from the likes of 1779 and 1784 when the laconic phrase "Small Pox very prevalent" appears in the parish register.^[3] In 1794 itself, the disease accounted for 45 of the 132 burials recorded. The weather and hunger could well have contributed to the virulence of the smallpox virus.

Bad weather even continued into the spring and summer of 1795. It was reported that, in the district of Wincanton in Somerset, thousands of newly shorn sheep left out in the fields died of the extreme cold caused by frosts on the nights of 21 and 22 June.^[4]

The wheat harvest of 1794 had been very poor due to a hot, dry summer. Then, the extreme cold and floods of the following winter affected crop production and prevented farmers from undertaking field work. The bad weather during the spring of 1795 was also detrimental to agricultural production. A sack of flour costing £2.4s. [£2.20] in 1794 cost £4.3s. [£4.15] in 1795.

Great Britain had been at war with Revolutionary France since 1793 and much of the wheat that was produced was bought by the government to supply the army and navy. In addition the war impeded the importation of grain into Britain. This situation brought the country to the brink of famine. The plight of the poor was exacerbated by the enclosures^[5] that removed the means of some self-sufficiency that they had previously enjoyed.

By the summer of 1795 the price of bread had practically doubled at around 1s. [5p] for a 4lb loaf. At this time the average weekly wage of artisans was around 10s. [50p] a week when in work, although many labourers were paid as little as 5s. Furthermore, some corn factors and millers took to hoarding grain in anticipation of rising prices and, instead of selling to locals, exporting it to regions where higher prices could be obtained.

During 1795 and 1796, the shortages, high prices and profiteering practices led to many food related disturbances throughout the country; they very often involved women. Tewkesbury's 'bread riot' occurred on Tuesday 24 June 1795. Flour was waiting at Tewkesbury Quay to be transported by water to Birmingham where no doubt a greater profit could be made than in Tewkesbury.

On the following day, Henry Fowke, the Town Clerk of Tewkesbury, wrote to the Home Secretary, Lord Portland, reporting the event. This letter was one of scores that Portland received that year from all parts of the country reporting disturbances, asking for flour supplies or anticipating the need for military support.

My Lord

I do myself the Honour of addressing Your Grace on the subject of extreme Rioting at this place yesterday. Several Quantities of Wheaten Flour were forcibly taken out of the Barges at the Quay & carried off by divers Persons, chiefly Females – The civil force was convened with all possible Dispatch, & after much difficulty & confusion, the Riot was suppressed, & the ringleaders committed to the county rather than the Borough Goal, as more secure – The appearance of the Town this morning, I have the pleasure to say, is pacific. I have thought it my Duty to acquaint Government, through Your Grace, of this transaction. With the greatest respect, I am My Lord, Your Grace's most obedient servant

Henry Fowke
Town Clerk of the Borough of Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury 25th June 1795^[6]

Clearly the Tewkesbury authorities thought it possible that attempts might be made to free those arrested from the town gaol, so they were sent to Gloucester. Those detained were all women and the city's gaol register^[7] records the details of the charges and names four of the prisoners.

Hester Macmaster aged 21, Mary Aldridge aged 16, Sarah Kinson aged 16, Ann Mayall aged 22. Committed the 24th of June 1795, by J. Wall, Esq; charged on the oaths of Henry Welling, William Moore, Charles Moore, and John Mew, of the borough of Tewkesbury, housekeepers, with having riotously and tumultuously assembled, with divers other persons, on the 24th of June instant, within the parish of Tewkesbury aforesaid, to the terror of his Majesty's subjects, and in breach of the peace – Committed for want of sureties for their personal appearance at the next General Gaol Delivery, to answer the said charge.

A fifth woman accused was Happy Fielder; she was not committed until shortly before the trial in late July. It is possible that she may have managed to have had bail raised for her, or perhaps the degree of her role in the riot came to light later, or maybe she had evaded arrest.

In September, the judge involved in the case, Sir Alexander Thomson (who was said to be "amiable, sociable and jocular") was asked by the Home Secretary for a report of the case. Thomson described the disturbance as involving 200 people and the carrying away of flour, the property of James Lamb (who was presumably the buyer in Birmingham as he does not appear to be a Tewkesbury man). Thomson went on to summarise the evidence – mainly him paraphrasing the testimonies of witnesses.^[8]

Cornfactor and witness, Richard Jenkins, stated that at about twelve o'clock a crowd "assembled in a tumultuous manner" and that Hester Macmaster was amongst them. They wanted to know of him, "what was doing with that flour which was in the barge". He had ordered the barge to be placed in the middle of the river out of reach. "The cry of the mob was to prevent the flour going to Upton." Jenkins told the people to disperse and spoke directly to Macmaster, who was "aiding and abetting the others", telling her to go home – he did not recollect her answer! She was "in the number of the active – she was hollering". Soon after, the Riot Act^[9] was read.

Witness, Henry Welling confirmed Jenkins's evidence. He stated that at around four o'clock he saw people taking flour from the sacks; they included Macmaster and Mayall, both "dammed him, and said he as great a rogue as the next".

Another witness, Charles Moore, gave evidence that Sarah Kinson was "among the crowd and active" and that he saw all of the prisoners there; "they were not mere spectators, but taking an active part in the disturbance". He spoke to Happy Fielder who said "she wished she could leap over the bridge into the barge and she would throw the flour into the water".

Witness William Moore identified Macmaster, Kinson and Aldridge as being there. He saw Macmaster at around four or five o'clock with flour in her apron. He told her to desist and asked her if she knew the consequences. She allegedly answered with "never mind that, will you give me a dobbin?"^[10]He told her he would give her anything if she would go home and then gave her 1½d., she said "she would have her bit of flour" but he saw no more of her. He saw Kinson with flour, and Aldridge "active" in the crowd.

Rev. W. Smith spoke for the prisoners, saying that "he knew a little of Macmaster" and that he knew her parents well, and that they were respectable people. He also said that he had never heard anything bad of any of the prisoners. On 26 July, the five women were found guilty and sentenced to six months imprisonment.

The women were in fact fortunate in that they were in Gloucester Gaol after 1792. The new prison was built by then and was run in a far more regulated manner than previously. It replaced the old castle where prisoners routinely died of disease and sometimes of starvation. The reforms were largely due to the efforts of Sir George Onesiphorus Paul. The new prison was regarded as a model of its kind. Different categories of prisoners, and men, women and children, were separated and all prisoners had their own cell.

They were fed by the authorities, not their families. All were made to wash regularly and wore a yellow and blue uniform with arrows printed on it (designed to keep disease away, and also to prevent them from escaping without being noticed). They all had to work, some more so if they had been sentenced to hard labour. The governor, a chaplain and surgeon were all salaried; the latter visited the sick and inspected every prisoner weekly. Reform was encouraged by work, education and religion.

The first four women had originally arrived at Gloucester Gaol on the night of the 24 June and were examined the next day in the 'Lazaretto' (quarantine) cells by the visiting surgeon, Thomas Parker, who pronounced them free from disease.^[11] They were washed, dressed in prison-garb and placed in the Bridewell Division of the prison, "as I [the governor] did not think it safe to put them with the other female fines".^[12] (A 'fine' was a person imprisoned for not paying a fine, or being unable to raise bail, or being guilty of a misdemeanour. 'Bridewell' usually meant a place of detention for minor offences.) Happy Fielder was committed on 20 July, going through the same routine.

On her first day in gaol, and on several other occasions, Esther Macmaster avoided attending prison chapel. Her usual excuse was illness: the governor, Thomas Cunningham, noted in his journal "Mcmaster absent from chapel, she says she is unwell and at the same time refuses any assistance". She also seems to have been used as a nurse on occasion, attending sick inmates, which excused her from chapel attendance.

In his reports, the surgeon records that during September, October and November, Happy Fielder suffered "hysterical fits". Noting such an incidence on Sunday 18 October, he goes on to praise the dinner there that day, "The penitentiary dinner as usual very good boiled beef and potatoes". (He often mentions the food in his reports – perhaps a perk of his visits!) Prisoners had meat on Thursdays and Sundays along with a quart of broth. The rest of the time they each received the 'county allowance' of 1½ lb of bread a day plus 1d. to purchase cheese, butter, potatoes, peas or turnips.^[13]

On 30 September, Sarah Kinson was placed in solitary confinement for talking to a male prisoner, Edward Clark (aged fifteen – also given solitary) "contrary to repeated orders". The next day she complained of being very ill. The surgeon attended but "I do not find she has any complaint, therefore think it right she remain in solitude". They were confined for three days. She must have then fallen out with a fellow rioter, as Sarah was back in solitary on 1 December (this time in darkness too) for striking and cutting Ann Mayall. She was released from solitude two days later on the orders of visiting magistrates and, along with Mary Aldridge, she was put back on the county allowance (presumably both had been on bread and water).

The five women served their sentences almost to the day; they were discharged on 22 January 1796. The day before, the chaplain, Rev. Edward Jones, Canon of Gloucester Cathedral, visited and gave them books. Although various records indicate that the women could not write, they may have been taught to read. The chaplain did not encourage prisoners to learn to write as it was unnecessary for their reformation, but prisoners were often taught to read.^[14]

Sentences of six months that the women received were actually very mild in the context of other trials of bread rioters both locally and nationally during 1795. Being female did not provide leniency: Margaret Boulker was hanged at Warwick for her participation in an attack on James Pickford's steam flour mill at Birmingham in June. Two men were also shot dead by troops during this disorder.^[15]

In Sussex (witnessed by Jane Austen's brother, Henry) two soldiers of the Oxfordshire Militia, Edward Cooke and Samuel Parrish, were executed by firing squad for mutiny, in that they were deemed to have led hungry soldiers that took and sold bread, flour and other provisions to the people at reduced prices after looting a mill, shops and inns and commandeering a flour-laden vessel. The men stated that they had seized the food because it was being hoarded or going abroad when they and their families were starving. This defence made little impact on the members of the court-martial that included the inauspiciously named Lieut-Cols., D'eath and Bastard. Four were sentenced to 500 lashes each, one to 1,000 and another to 1,500. Three were pardoned on the day of punishment and the other three only received part of their punishment, 150 to 300 lashes each (the surgeon on duty having intervened). The firing squad was made up of members of the militia who had participated in the 'mutiny' but had been pardoned. The men were shot while kneeling on their coffins, having first witnessed the floggings; their deaths were assured by a musket shot to an ear of each man. The coffins were said to be of such poor quality that at their burial, their blood oozed through and ran down the backs of their comrades carrying them to their graves. The chaplain in attendance, Rev. John Dring, was so anguished by the executions that he became ill and died a few days later. Two others, (civilians) who were involved in the events, William Sampson and James Sykes were hanged after a civil trial. Two months after the executions another soldier, William Midwinter, was hanged, another was transported for ten years.^[16]

Following the seizure of tons of grain and flour from a barge at Hamstalls, near Awre in the Forest of Dean, bound for Bristol in November 1795, Thomas Yemm and Thomas Rosser were hanged at Gloucester.^[17] Prior to, and after this, there were other disturbances in the Forest, notably at Micheldean; also mills were attacked at Longhope and Lydbrook. These events in the district no doubt prompted the Mayor of Gloucester to write the following.^[18]

I have great reason to be apprehensive of a visit from the Colliers in the Forest of Dean, who have for some days been going round to the Townes in their Neighbourhood, & selling the Flour, Wheat, & Bread belonging to the Millers & Bakers, at a reduced price.

Despite receiving comparatively mild sentences, following the conviction and imprisonment of the five Tewkesbury women, a petition was presented to the Home Secretary by Philip Francis in early September on their behalf asking for clemency.^[19] (Later that month Francis formally declared his intention of standing for election as an MP for Tewkesbury in the next General Election.) It was claimed that three-quarters of the town, including the prosecutor, supported the appeal. The grounds for leniency pleaded were: their gender and youth; the distress and misery brought on their parents; Ann Mayall being married to a member of the armed forces (Ashley Mayall) and having a young child liable to perish without her; the youngest woman (Sarah Kinson) "only thirteen years old, and being little better than an idiot"; it being the first offence of all the women and that they had already suffered enough. This petition no doubt triggered the request for the report from the judge that has been described earlier in this article. In light of the mildness of the original sentences, all things considered, it is not very surprising that the appeal was marked 'unfavourable'.

The witnesses against the women were powerful men in Tewkesbury, not mere 'housekeepers' as described in the gaol register. They included Henry Welling, a barge-master and 'freeman' who enjoyed a lucrative trade on the Severn and later managed the Turner & Morris Bank in Gloucester. In 1800 he was a director of the poor in Tewkesbury, governing the workhouse. Ironically, he died in Cheltenham Workhouse in 1839 after falling on hard times. At the expense of old associates, his body was returned to Tewkesbury to be buried with his first wife.^[20]

The witness who spoke in support of the women was the Rev. William Smith, rector of Birtsmorton and curate of Ashchurch, a supporter of Philip Francis when he stood for election in Tewkesbury.^[21] Smith died soon after in November 1796 and is also buried in the Abbey churchyard. His monument asserts that "Society lost a most useful Member".

Key witness Richard Jenkins was a maltster; in 1793 he rebuilt the Abbey Mills. Jenkins was a freeman, bailiff, churchwarden and juror of Tewkesbury and later a director of the poor;^[22] he died in 1812.

Jenkins had purchased the mills from John Wall Esq. (who had delivered the women for trial). Wall lived at the Lodge on the Tewkesbury Park estate that his wife had inherited via her Popham family connections.^[23] John Wall was also Lieutenant-colonel of the South Gloucester Militia and JP for Gloucester and Worcester; he died in 1808.

Witness John Mew, a freeman, owned the Star Inn and brewhouse on the Quay (in the area where, Healings Mill now stands) a warehouse, two adjoining houses and four houses in the High Street, as well as being a barge-master;^[24] he died in 1802.

It is difficult to identify with certainty the two Moore witnesses. Charles and William Moore may have been the "house and malthouse occupiers" mentioned in an 1808 Militia Account Assessment and are also perhaps the same men recorded as directors of the poor.^[25] If so, this Charles Moore died in 1810 and William probably in 1824.

Lord Portland's correspondent, the town clerk Henry Fowke, was born in Barbados. He was an attorney and freeman and, at various times, deputy recorder of the town, a bailiff, coroner and director of the poor. He died in 1818 and is commemorated in the abbey; his monument asserts "his integrity, his benevolence, and his liberal spirit".

The year 1795 continued to be 'tumultuous': the Geast chronicler recorded that "an earthquake very sensibly felt at Tewkesbury and places adjacent Nov 18th 1795 a little after eleven of the clock at night".

Food shortages also continued throughout 1795: the Geast chronicler noted that in August corn was "both scarce and dear" and that it sold at  "heretofore unheard of prises [sic] … wheat from 15s. to 24s. a bushel and beanes [sic] from 7s. to 7s.8d. a bushel". It was also recorded that the price of bread for the poor was subsidised for about two months, a 1s. loaf sold for 8d. and a 6d. loaf for 4d.

Nationally, the food crisis provoked a 'sticks and carrots' response from the government. Distilling was banned to save grain. Imports of wheat were encouraged and exports banned. Wearers of hair-powder were taxed at a guinea [£1.05] a year as the powders were made from starch – the Royal Family and their servants were exempted! Efforts were also made to prosecute illegal profiteering practices (the city of Gloucester seems to have been quite active in enforcing such measures^[26]).

Importantly the 'Speenhamland' system was introduced in a number of areas of the country. Families of low-paid workers were paid extra to top up wages to a set level according to a table. This level varied according to the number of children and the price of bread. For example, if bread was 1s.2d. a loaf, the wages of a family with two children were topped up to 8s.6d. If bread rose to 1s.8d. the wages were topped up to 11s.^[27]

The 'sticks' (along with the savage punishments described earlier) came in the form of repressive legislation. The Suspension of Habeas Corpus Act 1794 allowed the arrest and imprisonment of persons 'on suspicion' without requiring charges or a trial. The Treasonable Practices Act 1795 extended the definition of 'treason' to include speaking and writing, even if no action followed – and it became treasonable to bring the king or his government into contempt. The Seditious Meetings Act 1795 said that any public meeting of more than fifty persons had to be authorised by a magistrate.

As for the background and fates of the five convicted women, it is difficult to trace all of them with total certainty in Tewkesbury parish registers and census returns. Nevertheless, using their ages and other details given in the gaol papers and the clemency petition, the following looks to be a reasonable set of deductions.

Ann King had married the soldier or sailor Ashley Mayall on 22 March 1791 in Tewkesbury Abbey. It is likely that she was baptised at the nearby village of Bushley on 1 September 1771. Her child, previously mentioned as being in danger of dying while the mother was imprisoned, was their son Thomas, baptised 23 June 1794. Happily, he does not seem to have perished as his burial is not recorded in Tewkesbury burial registers. However, his sister Sarah, baptised in August 1791, had died in 1793. The couple had at least one other child, baptised as James in 1797. However, it is apparent that Ashley Mayall soon died (perhaps in action?) as Ann Mayall (widow) married Charles Wilks in Tewkesbury Abbey on Boxing Day 1804. This second marriage bore at least two children. Ann appears to be still living in Tewkesbury at the time of the 1841 census – in Thomas Alley, Barton Road. She is probably the Ann Wilks whose death was registered at Tewkesbury in 1858. Direct descendants of Ann still live in Gloucestershire.

Sarah Kinson's surname is variously recorded as Kingston, Thenson and Thinson. However, if she was born in Tewkesbury, she would be the daughter of Francis and Jane Kinson/Kingston, baptised 29 May 1780. As she appears to be the youngest of the five imprisoned, she would therefore be the one described as mentally impaired. The baptism indicates that her age was fifteen or sixteen when the riot occurred – as recorded in the gaol register, rather than the thirteen claimed in the clemency petition.

It is likely that Mary Aldridge was baptised at Tewkesbury 10 October 1777, the daughter of Thomas and Ann Aldridge. She married Joseph Leech at Tewkesbury 23 April 1797 and they had a son in 1801, baptised with the name Joseph, but he died in the same year.

Esther Macmaster was the daughter of Daniel or Donald Macmaster (both names are used in records that appear to relate to the same family) and his wife Esther. Their daughter Esther was baptised at Tewkesbury Abbey 29 March 1772 as was her sister Mary in 1769. However, four younger children appear to have been baptised at the Presbyterian Chapel in Barton Street (recently the Jehovah's Witness Chapel and previously the Congregational Chapel). If Esther was from a religious nonconformist family, that would explain her reluctance to attend chapel when in prison. Esther Macmaster looks to have married Thomas Bullock at Tewkesbury 2 October 1796 but they do not seem to have had children there.

Happy Fielder was baptised as "Haptia" in Tewkesbury Abbey on 18 February 1776, the daughter of Joseph and Sarah Fielder. Her first marriage was to Benjamin Beale in the Abbey on 27 September 1796 and subsequently they had a daughter Sarah. Following Benjamin's death in 1798, his widow married Samuel Simons on 24 December 1805. Samuel and Happy had an infant son Jonathan buried in 1808. A son, William, was born in around 1812 and another son, Joseph, was baptised at Tewkesbury in 1816. In 1822, Edmund Attwood aged 17, served 21 days for assaulting "Happy Symonds". The Simons family are recorded on the 1841 census in Charlewood Alley (a passageway linking Barton Street to East Street) Tewkesbury, Samuel then a stockinger. Happy died in 1845, her name is recorded in the death register as "Appolonia Simons".

Very ordinary lives, apart from that day in June 1795. I do not wish to gloss over the fact that they were involved in a riot and that flour was stolen. However, these people lived in a world of extreme hardship, illiteracy, demoralisation and disease, in a society that did not provide them with any political or civil rights and gave them no means of legal redress. Mary Aldridge, Happy Fielder, Sarah Kinson, Esther MacMaster and Ann Mayall are unlikely to have been conscious of any political purpose in their deeds. Nevertheless, they were hungry enough to risk imprisonment (or worse) in taking the only action they could and thus played a part in the wider struggle of ordinary people to obtain some rights – as many 'bread-rioters' said, "better to hang than to starve".

 "Many plans are laid, and schemes proposed to keep our poor from perishing for want of bread; but alas! . . . I doubt whether it be any charity, except to ourselves – to prevent their rising and knocking us on the head." ^[28]

1. Notes
2. ^[1] Lines from The Honest Miller of Gloucestershire, Hannah Moore (1745-1833). ↩
3. ^[2] Geast Charity Book, Gloucestershire Archives, D2688 (contains numerous memoranda concerning local events). ↩
4. ^[3] Tewkesbury Parish Register (vicar's summary), Gloucestershire Archives, P329/1. ↩
5. ^[4] Gloucester Journal, 29 Jun 1795. ↩
6. ^[5] The Enclosure Acts were a series of laws which enclosed open fields and common land. They removed previously existing rights of local people to cultivate the land, graze animals and gather fuel. About 21% of land in England was acquired in this way, mainly by already major landowners. (Tewkesbury itself was not enclosed until 1808-1811.) ↩
7. ^[6] Home Office: Domestic Correspondence, George III (Letters & Papers), National Archives HO 42/35 (online). ↩
8. ^[7] 1795 Trinity Assizes, Gloucestershire Archives, Q/SG2. ↩
9. ^[8] Home Office: Judges' Reports on Criminals, National Archives HO 47/18/38 (thanks to Tony Reilly for taking a copy of this document for me). ↩
10. ^[9] Riot Act 1714 enabled local authorities to declare any group of twelve or more people to be unlawfully assembled. ↩
11. ^[10] A 'dobbin' was a 18th century drinking vessel, so she was probably asking for 'a drink' ie: money. ↩
12. ^[11] Gloucester Gaol Surgeon's Reports, Gloucestershire Archives, Q/GC/32/1. ↩
13. ^[12] Gloucester Gaol Governor's Journal, Gloucestershire Archives, Q/GC/3/1. ↩
14. ^[13] J.R.S. Whiting, Prison Reform in Gloucestershire 1776-1820 (Phillimore, 1975). ↩
15. ^[14] J.R.S. Whiting, Prison Reform in Gloucestershire 1776-1820 (Phillimore, 1975). ↩
16. ^[15] Harriet B. Applewhite & Darline G. Levy, Women and Politics in the Age of the Democratic Revolution; Gloucester Journal, 29 Jun 1795. ↩
17. ^[16] John M. Davenport, Oxfordshire Militia, 1869; John A. Erredge, History of Brighthelmston, 1862; Peter Longstaff- Tyrrell, The Seaford Mutiny of 1795, 3rd edn. (Sussex: GoteHouse Publishing, 2010). ↩
18. ^[17] Christine Martyn, 'The Bread Riots of 1795', The New Regard, 15 (2000). ↩
19. ^[18] Edward P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, 2nd edn. (Penguin, 1968), p.70 ↩
20. ^[19] Home Office: Judges' Reports on Criminals, National Archives HO 47/18/38 (again, thanks to Tony Reilly for taking a copy of this document for me – the actual list of names on the petition appears to have been lost in 1795!). ↩
21. ^[20] James Bennett, Tewkesbury Yearly Register & Magazine. ↩
22. ^[21] James Bennett, Tewkesbury Yearly Register & Magazine. ↩
23. ^[22] Anthea Jones, 'Tewkesbury's Flour Mills', Tewkesbury Historical Society [THS] Bulletin, 13, (2004). ↩
24. ^[23] Anthea Jones, 'Tewkesbury's Flour Mills', Tewkesbury Historical Society [THS] Bulletin, 13, (2004). ↩
25. ^[24] THS Woodard Database. ↩
26. ^[25] THS Woodard Database. ↩
27. ^[26] Thompson, p.73. ↩
28. ^[27] Named after Speen, Berkshire, where magistrates devised the system to help alleviate distress caused by high prices. ↩
29. ^[28] Extract from a letter dated 29 Sep 1795 published in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 65, Part 2, p.824, (1795). ↩

The post The Tewkesbury Bread Riot Of 1795 appeared first on Bristol Radical History Group.

Launching his new book, A Marxist History of the World: from Neanderthals to Neoliberals, archaeologist and historian Neil Faulkner argues that history is open and contested. It is an active process of creation in which different futures are possible. It depends on what we do.

Powered by the interaction of technological change, wars between rulers, and class struggle from below, history is a constant struggle for control over society’s wealth. For 5,000 years, that wealth has served greed and war. Now, in the great crisis of the early 21st century, we must act to create a different future.

The meeting will include plenty of time for questions and discussion. All welcome. Join us.

Described by The Guardian as ‘enlightening and apocalyptic in equal measure’, Dr Neil Faulkner is a research fellow at Bristol University, a revolutionary socialist activist, and the author of numerous books, including Rome: Empire of the eagles (2008). He was a lead consultant and contributor to Sky Atlantic’s The British.

The post A Marxist History of the World in 45 Minutes appeared first on Bristol Radical History Group.

We face the greatest crisis in the history of humanity. Economic depression, imperialist war, climate catastrophe, and grotesque social inequalities threaten to tear the world apart. What is to be done? The lesson of history is that human beings make their own history.

Launching his new book, A Marxist History of the World: from Neanderthals to Neoliberals, archaeologist and historian Neil Faulkner argues that history is open and contested. It is an active process of creation in which different futures are possible. It depends on what we do.

Powered by the interaction of technological change, wars between rulers, and class struggle from below, history is a constant struggle for control over society’s wealth. For 5,000 years, that wealth has served greed and war. Now, in the great crisis of the early 21st century, we must act to create a different future.

The meeting will include plenty of time for questions and discussion. All welcome. Join us.

Described by The Guardian as ‘enlightening and apocalyptic in equal measure’, Dr Neil Faulkner is a research fellow at Bristol University, a revolutionary socialist activist, and the author of numerous books, including Rome: Empire of the eagles (2008). He was a lead consultant and contributor to Sky Atlantic’s The British.

The post A Marxist History of the World in 45 Minutes appeared first on Bristol Radical History Group.

Having  written an article for last year's Bulletin^[1]  on Chartist activities in the area, I thought it appropriate that a closer study should be made of the chief Tewkesbury Chartist, William Morris Moore.

Moore was the son of William and Elizabeth Moore, baptised on 11 July 1813 at Hathern, Leicestershire,^[2] a village approximately three miles north-west  of  Loughborough.  The occupation of his father is not recorded in the baptism record. Nevertheless, we know he was later a stockinger, as was William Morris Moore himself. Hathern was a centre for silk-stocking making and it was there in 1808 that John Heathcoat developed his 'bobbinet' machine for making lace.

However, there is some mystery as to Moore's background. In a speech that he made at Chelten- ham he said that "he had been born among the higher classes, had lived among the middle classes, and was reduced to what the Tories called the vagabond class". It is difficult to know what to make of this as at other times he refers to himself as being self-educated working class.

From speeches Moore made during his Chartist activities we know that he spent some time as a youth with his parents in France and Belgium. Bennett^[3] corroborates this and tells us that he was there in 1830 during the 'Three  Glorious Days'.

This was an insurrection that brought Louis-Philippe to the throne of France replacing Charles X. It followed three days of fighting (27-29 July 1830) and inaugurated a liberal constitutional monarchy known as the 'July Monarchy'.

Perhaps this event taught the seventeen-year-old Moore that the people could change their government by direct action. Bennett certainly thought so and wrote that "the fevered notions of 'liberty and equality,' which  he  had imbibed in France, during those 'Three Glorious Days', sowed in his mind the seeds of the revolutionary principles of Chartism".

Bennett also tells us that Moore received religious instruction from an early age from Wesleyan Methodist relatives "by whom he was brought up". It is, of course, conjecture, but perhaps Moore's parents were in service, hence the 'born among the higher classes'  statement? Perhaps his parents travelled abroad with their employer leaving him with relatives and he subsequently rejoined them when he was older?

It is not clear when Moore first lived in Tewkesbury. However, he was certainly there by 1839, living in Jeynes Row. Prior to this, we know that he worked as a commercial traveller and journeyman stocking-maker. According to census returns his father was born in Tewkesbury.

We know that a successful Chartist meeting was held in Tewkesbury on 12 March 1839 when a leading Chartist, Henry Vincent, spoke.^[4] At this meeting it is highly probable that Moore was elected secretary of the newly formed Tewkesbury Working Men’s Association.

The first report of Moore speaking as secretary was when he addressed about 2,000 people at the uninhabited York Hotel in Cheltenham on 3 June 1839.^[5]  Several Cheltenham Chartists spoke, as did the  future  leader  of  the  'Newport  Rising',  John Frost, who addressed the meeting at considerable length.

At the start of his speech, Moore introduced himself as a "stranger", indicating that this was his first public appearance in Cheltenham. During this speech he referred to his time on the Continent, favourably contrasting the English work ethic and drinking habits with those of the French. He used this to contradict notions that working people should not have the vote because they were ignorant, drunken and idle. He exhorted his audience  "never  give  our  enemies  cause  to  say 'there  goes a drunken Chartist' ". It is likely that William Morris Moore was teetotal as he was for some time a member of the Tewkesbury Tee-total Society. He concluded his speech by telling his listeners not to expect help from the middle classes and  that  "was it not  time for us to bestir ourselves?" He resumed his seat amidst great cheering.

Surprisingly, after Frost had spoken, 'three groans' were proposed and carried for the Cheltenham Free Press, alias 'The Twaddler'. This was   because   of   some   mild   criticism   of   the Chartists that had appeared in that newspaper. The groans were given, immediately followed by three groans for the newspaper's publisher Samuel Harper. Yet the radical Free Press was the only organ that gave full coverage to local Chartist activities and was on the whole supportive. This is indicative of the siege-mentality of the Chartists.

Their 'groans' would perhaps have been better employed  on  a  correspondent  of  the  Liberal- leaning Gloucester Journal, whose report of a meeting on the bowling green of the Golden Hart Inn in Stroud, published on 16 March 1839, illustrates   the   vituperation   that   the   Chartists engendered. The chief speakers were the Chartist leaders, Henry Vincent and William Burns.

On Saturday evening last was exhibited the most  contemptible  mountebank^[6]  scene  that ever disgraced the town of Stroud … Burns's appearance was suitable to his purpose, he looked like a sturdy determined butcher … Vincent, the hungry state tinker – the paid mountebank  demonstrator  –  slunk    forward like a cunning, ferocious, scalping savage, or rather like a beast of prey thirsting for blood. – The institutions which he could not overturn, he covered with filth, and polluted with venom the principles which he could not destroy … The people stared with wonder, as they would at a learned fortune-telling pig … A more vicious, impudent, monstrous  attempt  to delude the people, and to hurry them on to self -destruction, never suggested itself to the most fiend-like brain.

The Tewkesbury Chartists are also briefly traduced in the Gloucester Journal of 8 June 1839: "The Chartists sustained a miserable discomfiture and were compelled to make a dishonourable retreat from a meeting at Tewkesbury, on Tuesday evening last." The Tory-leaning Gloucestershire Chronicle of 8 June adds that the meeting was to be held at the White Lion in Barton Street but the landlord (probably Joseph Roberts^[7]) decided not to allow it to go ahead. Instead it was held at The Oldbury, "enlivened by the appearance of a female 'patriot,' who escorted two of the speakers to the meeting!"

This was, no doubt, Eliza Hale of Tewkesbury, secretary of the Tewkesbury Female Radical Association. She was active in the local Chartist movement and chaired a meeting in July of 500 women in Cheltenham that was addressed by Henry Vincent. Although the Chartists did not directly campaign for female suffrage many women attended meetings, sometimes forming the majority in the crowds.

Eliza Hale had a letter published in the 3 August 1839 edition of the Chartist newspaper the Northern Star; it accompanied a longer letter that Moore wrote on 23 July 1839. He used some sarcasm in describing Tewkesbury as "an 'ancient and loyal borough' as the town are pleased to call it … No doubt the Tories and Whigs think that the inhabitants of this 'borough' have sufficient to make them 'loyal' …" He went on to describe the low wages and living conditions of Tewkesbury's stocking-makers: "with this state of things the working portions of this 'ancient and loyal borough' have at length become very dissatisfied… many of them have become Chartists".

On 12 August 1839, along with others, Moore addressed a meeting of about 1,000 at Winch- combe.^[8] Some 550 people had marched from Cheltenham with banners proclaiming their interest in several issues: "The Voice of the People", "Cheltenham Female Democratic Association", "Liberty of the Press", "No  Military  Flogging", "No Impressment", "Radical Reform and Liberty of  Conscience".  This is indicative of Chartism being a movement not confined solely to the Charter. They were met by Winchcombe Chartists with a banner inscribed "Welcome". They all marched through the town to a field at nearby Gretton, owned by John Capel. The meeting commenced with a song The Triumph of Freedom.

At this point the local parson, Rev. Harvey, appeared on horseback and warned the chairman of the meeting, Mr. Banfield jnr., that he would be held responsible for any sedition spoken there. Moore answered, hoping that he would lay any blame on him if sedition was spoken and invited Harvey to stay and listen – he declined. Along with Moore, another man from Tewkesbury, reportedly named Bease (perhaps Samuel Pearse) spoke, addressing his audience as "brother slaves". Moore concluded his speech with the words "Agitate – Agitate – Agitate, and I will never cease doing so till the Charter is the law of the land."

This meeting was criticised in the Cheltenham Chronicle as being a meeting of "motley and dis- solute groups … the usual violent addresses were delivered". In response "A friend To Fair Play" wrote to the Cheltenham Free Press ^[9][ saying that "The speech of that worthy young man Mr Moore, of Tewkesbury, inculcated better Christianity and morality than many of the clergymen of the Estab- lished Church preach, whose humble slave the Editor of the Chronicle is." (A reference to the influence of Cheltenham's Rev. Francis Close^[10].)

At about this time it is reported that William Morris Moore had taken out a 'Licence to Preach' as a Methodist. This was an official authorisation for a person to   preach the Gospel. It was not unusual for religious non-conformists (particularly Methodists) to support Chartism: Congregational Minister Ben Parsons at Ebley, near Stroud, spoke in favour of the Charter; the militant national Chartist leader Joseph Rayner Stephens was a Methodist Minister (at one time in Cheltenham). Also in Cheltenham for a period was the Charter- supporting Unitarian Minister Henry Solly.

Four days after the Winchcombe meeting Chartists carried out a 'sit-in' at St. Mary's Church Cheltenham. After this action a crowd of around 2,000 heard Moore  speak  in  a  field  in  London Road. He took his text from Jeremiah 1:17–19 comparing the English people with the plight of The Israelites: "it was always the case that the afflictions that were brought upon them, were from sins committed by their kings or priests, and never for sins committed by the common people". He carefully  added  that  no  person  should  go  away with the impression that in speaking against kings he was speaking against the sovereign of this country as "he would not say anything seditious".

He went on to criticise the Rural Constabulary Act that proposed the setting up of county police- forces, likening it to the "French spy system". He attacked both Tories and Whigs, the Poor Law, and described the Corn Laws as "damnable". He asked The Almighty "to open the eyes of the rulers of the land, to the danger of anarchy and convulsion which threatened them if they did not administer justice to the poor, and remove the misery and suffering of the people".^[11]

He concluded his speech by urging his listeners "to obey the laws of the land, while they are the laws, but to examine them publicly and express their opinion of them": (characteristic of him to discourage law-breaking). The hymn Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow was sung and the crowd quietly dispersed.

The sermon that Moore preached at London Road appears to have prompted Rev. Francis Close to make derogatory comments concerning its content and the character of the preacher. Moore answered in a letter published in the Cheltenham Free Press on 7 September 1839.

To The Rev. Francis Close

Cheltenham, Sept 2, 1839.

Rev. Sir, – I understand that in the course of a discussion which took place between you and Mr. William Milsom^[12] a few days ago you had the monstrous audacity to say that I preached blasphemy in my sermon on the London-road, that  I  was  a  drunken,  idle,  and  dissolute fellow, and that I was turned out of the Tewkesbury Tee-total Society for my habits of drunkenness … I now demand of you a proof of  the  truth  of  these  different  charges  … though  I  am  comparatively  illiterate,  am  a member of the Working classes, and have not the facilities of  obtaining  knowledge  which you have, yet, if you like, I will meet you on the platform of any public meeting you may think proper to call for the purpose, and I will there prove the rationality and Biblical character of those principles, and you, if you can, shall disprove the same. I have the honor [sic] to be, very Rev. Sir, your Fellow-citizen.

WILLIAM MORRIS MOORE, Jeynes-row, Tewkesbury

Another  repercussion  of  the  Chartists'  action that weekend was that on the following Monday, John Haines a framework knitter of Tewkesbury, appeared before the Cheltenham Magistrates. He had attended the St. Mary's protest and handed out hymn sheets at the London Road sermon. He was charged with insulting a Col. Smith and another gentleman, obstructing the High Street by preaching a sermon, and being drunk. "Are you in the habit of preaching Sir?" asked one of the magistrates. "Preaching, Sir, did you say; I don't preach generally; I am not in the habit of preaching, except on elevated occasions, when I get a little drop too much, which was the case on the present occasion." Fined 5s. [25p] with costs.^[13]

Moore no doubt spoke regularly in Tewkesbury, but the only full report we have of a sermon there was one given on 4 September 1839 at The Oldbury.^[14] His text was taken from Genesis 9:1-3 whereby he contrasted God's promise of the food of the earth for man, with the monopoly of such bounty by the rich and powerful. He went on to say (apparently sincerely) that Queen Victoria "knew nothing of the misery now prevailing in England" and blamed her ministers. The correspondent noted that "Upon the whole it was most interesting meeting of the kind ever held in this town."

On the afternoon of Sunday 8 September 1839 William Morris Moore preached to a large crowd opposite the Old Abbey Field in Winchcombe. He took his text from Proverbs 31:9 "Open thy mouth, judge righteously, plead the cause of the poor and needy". He described the wretchedness prevalent in England, blaming it on bad legislation. He stated that it was the duty of kings, queens, rulers and religious ministers to obey the injunction of his text, and denounced in strong terms all those who refused to do so.^[14]

1. Notes
2. ^[1] Derek Benson, 'Chartism in Tewkesbury and District', THS Bulletin 19, 2010. ↩
3. ^[2] Leicestershire Record Office, Hathern parish register DE731/3. ↩
4. ^[3] Bennett, Tewkesbury Yearly Register & Magazine for 1841. James Bennett (1785-1856) bookseller, Freeman and historian of Tewkesbury. ↩
5. ^[4] Gloucester Journal 16 Mar 1839. ↩
6. ^[5] Cheltenham Free Press 8 Jun 1839. ↩
7. ^[6] mountebank = quack doctor; market-place entertainer; charlatan. ↩
8. ^[7] Woodard Database, Linnell: Tewkesbury Pubs. ↩
9. ^[8] Cheltenham Free Press 17 Aug 1839; Cheltenham Examiner 14 Aug 1839. ↩
10. ^[9] Cheltenham Free Press 24 Aug 1839. ↩
11. ^[10] Rev. Francis Close (1797-1882), later Dean Close of Carlisle (Dean Close School, Cheltenham is named after him). ↩
12. ^[11] Cheltenham Free Press 24 Aug 1839; D. Benson, 'Chartism in Tewkesbury and District', THS Bulletin 19, 2010. ↩
13. ^[12] William Milsom of Cheltenham, National Chartist Association Branch Secretary. ↩
14. ^[13] Gloucester Chronicle 24 Aug 1839. ↩
15. ^[14] Cheltenham Free Press 14 Sep 1839. ↩
16. ^[15] Northern Star 21 Sep 1839; Cheltenham Free Press 14 Sep 1839; The Charter 22 Sep 1839. ↩
17. ^[16] Cheltenham Free Press 21 Sep 1839. ↩
18. ^[17] Cheltenham Free Press 28 Sep 1839; Cheltenham Examiner 25 Sep 1839. ↩
19. ^[18] Cheltenham Free Press 5 Oct 1839. ↩
20. ^[19] Rev. Thomas Malthus believed that society could not improve indefinitely, as by God's design, sooner or later, population gets checked by famine, disease and widespread mortality. ↩
21. ^[20] The Charter 20 Oct 1839; Gloucestershire Chronicle 12 Oct 1839. ↩
22. ^[21] Northern Star 26 Oct 1839. ↩
23. ^[22] Gloucestershire Archives, TBR A13/1; Cheltenham Examiner 12 Feb 1840. ↩
24. ^[23] 'Bastille' was the sobriquet given to the 'Houses of Industry' after their introduction via the Poor Law Act of 1834. ↩

The post William Morris Moore (1813-1841) appeared first on Bristol Radical History Group.

“Last hope, to England turn their anxious eyes, And weary Parliament with ceaseless cries”

Ernest Charles Jones (1819-1869) Chartist and poet. Two lines from a long poem The New World written in prison 1848-50, partly in his own blood on pages torn from a prayer-book.

The Chartist Movement was at its most active during the decade 1838-1848 and was arguably the first mass working-class political movement that drew nationwide support. It grew out of discontent with several aspects of the condition of working people. Chiefly, the Reform Bill of 1832^[1] had failed to provide the mass of workers with the vote or any significant new rights. The Corn Laws,[Import tariffs on foreign corn, keeping the price of domestic corn artificially high.] along with the protectionist economy, kept food prices high, and indirect taxation took a large part of the working man's wages. Attempts to form effective trade unions were suppressed with dire consequences for activists such as the Tolpuddle Martyrs.^[2] Furthermore the new Poor Law Act of 1834^[3] abolished 'outdoor relief' replacing it with the workhouse.

Only freeholders and leaseholders of property worth £10 a year and wealthier tenant farmers had the franchise. Tewkesbury is a good example of 'democracy' at the time. In 1843 from a 6,000 population 445 could vote, and they returned two Members of Parliament.^[4] Before the 1832 reforms it was even worse: in 1831 at least half of the 387 voters were non-residents.^[5] The Reform Act increased the electorate by about 50% but still only one in seven adult males had the vote.

The London Working Men's Association was established in 1836, primarily by William Lovett, Francis Place and Henry Hetherington. One of their key objectives was to obtain electoral reform. In pursuit of this they formulated six specific objectives which they drew up in a charter – hence the name 'Chartists'.

The People’s Charter

1. Universal Manhood Suffrage.

2. Vote by Secret Ballot.

3. No Property Qualification for MPs

4. Payment of Members.

5. Equal Sized Voting Districts.

6. Annual Parliaments.

The movement grew rapidly but was made up of diverse groups. Some were religious, often Methodists and other non-conformists; there was also a strong teetotal faction. One group believed that education of the working class was key to progress, another that land reform was important. Others were from specific reform groups such as the Anti-Poor-Law League, the Anti-Corn-Law League and the Ten-Hours Movement.^[6] Many were Socialists and Trade Unionists, (although the Trade Unions were often ambivalent in their atti-tude to Chartism). Some were decidedly middle class, like the Society for the Promotion of the Repeal of the Stamp Duties.^[7] At one end of the Chartist political spectrum were radical Tories, at the other revolutionaries advocating violent struggle. Although the leadership was diverse, in general the rank-and-file were very much town-based artisans and workers. For some time they all rallied around the Charter, but their significant differences in outlook would greatly contribute to the eventual breakdown of the movement.

To promote the Charter: mass petitions were organised, National Conventions held, newspapers published, and tours arranged of speakers dubbed 'missionaries' who encouraged the formation of local Working Men‟s Associations.

A Chartist presence in Tewkesbury was formally established with a visit by the important Chartist leader Henry Vincent. He arrived on 12 March 1839 with another missionary William Burns. In his diary Vincent described Tewkesbury as “a clean and neatly built town … with a very handsome church … the manufactories are principally hosiery and lace.” He called upon Mr. Craig, a leather-seller, who politely told him that he supported household suffrage, was not a Chartist, and did not know of any Chartists in the town.^[8] This was probably John Craig of Barton Street, a Scotsman, aged about 50 in 1839 – he already had the vote.^[9]

Vincent then walked over to the (possibly Temperance) Queens Arms, described by him as “a complete palace of an inn”. The landlord, “Mr. Pearse”, told Vincent that he was himself a Radical and let him a large room for a meeting that evening. This would be Samuel Pearse, then aged about 40:^[10]he was bankrupted in 1843 after having borrowed £2,000 on an inn.^[11]

The Queens Arms is thought to be what is now the Berkeley Arms in Church Street. However, the 1841 census places 'Samuel Pearse – Inn Keeper' two houses away from 'Osborne – Grocer', between 'Tunnicliff – Surgeon' and 'Holland – Butcher'. Osborne's and Tunnicliff's were the buildings now seen to your left of the Methodist Church; the Berkeley Arms is the fourth from the church on your right. The Berkeley Arms is an extremely nice, quite small public house, but perhaps not a 'palace of an inn' with a 'large room'? Perhaps the Queens Arms was a building demolished to make way for the church in 1878?

Again from Vincent's diary, we learn that while he was at the inn two working men entered and were found to be readers of the Northern Star,^[12] the leading Chartist newspaper. Their support was offered for the meeting. The 'bellman' (town-crier) was sent for and asked to publicise the meeting, but he told them that he had been forbidden by the Town Clerk to do so. Pearse then produced a bell and a 'tall Masaniello-looking fellow'^[13] from the Quay was engaged to 'cry' the meeting.

At around six o'clock that evening about seventeen “friends” arrived from Cheltenham having walked the twelve miles from there. Vincent and Burns had spoken in Cheltenham the previous week to large crowds. The arrivals brought news that since then 65 new members had been recruited to their Working Men‟s Association: formed in late 1837, the first formal Chartist organisation in Gloucestershire.

The meeting commenced at seven o'clock, reportedly attended by about 450 people. Vincent's speech that evening was interrupted by what he described as “one of the 'intelligent' constituency", "a member of the 'legal profession' … appropriately drunk”. The heckler argued that he was against the extension of the suffrage due to the drunkenness and immorality of the people. Vincent said he thought the “gentleman” would just suit the House of Commons and that he had never seen a finer subject for a “member”. However, the Gloucester Journal^[14] gives a different version of events: “A sturdy Conservative, (whose absence might have been more prudent,) cried out 'You are deceived' … was instantly expelled … ill-treated … left almost in a state of nudity!”

At the conclusion of the meeting the Charter was unanimously adopted and a society formed called The Tewkesbury Working Men's Association; 10/- [50p.] was collected towards funds. Three cheers were given to Vincent and Burns, three to the Chartist Convention, and three for themselves, their wives and sweethearts. The meeting broke up and Vincent “retired to bed, very fatigued at twelve o'clock.”

James Bennett commented on Vincent's visit in his 1839 Register. He described him as “the notorious chartist delegate … afterwards convicted of sedition and conspiracy”, and reports the meeting as being “a long harangue … abusing the parliament and the clergy”, with Vincent insisting that universal suffrage and the secret ballot would be “a panacea to all their ills, social and political.”

Although Henry Vincent was a militant at this time, he later became a leading member of the 'Moral Force' faction of the movement as opposed to the 'Physical Force' faction. He also became a leading member of the Teetotal Chartists, and in later life he was a chapel lay-preacher, anti-slavery campaigner and stood unsuccessfully for Parlia-ment several times.

However, 1839 was a difficult year for him. In April he was badly assaulted in Devizes and was arrested in May accused of having participated in a riotous assembly in Newport. Despite evidence from the chief prosecution witnesses that he had in fact told the people to disperse quietly and to keep the peace, he was found guilty and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. While he was in prison the serious attempt at insurrection known as the 'Newport Rising' took place, with Vincent's plight being a key factor. On the night of November 3–4, at least a thousand people,^[15] many of them miners, marched on Newport with weapons. One of their objectives was to storm the Westgate Hotel where they thought political prisoners were being held – including Vincent. They were met by about 60 soldiers and 500 special constables and in the ensuing battle shots were fired by both sides: 24 of the rebels were killed or died from their injuries and about 50 more were wounded; one soldier was seriously injured along with two of the special constables. In the aftermath 200 or more Chartists were arrested and 21 were charged with high treason. The three main leaders were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered – this was commuted to transportation for life. One of the three was John Frost,^[16] he had planned to speak in Tewkesbury the previous June but failed to appear, much to the satisfaction of James Bennett. The latter supposed that Frost was unable to attend as he “was so busily engaged in maturing his plans for the premeditated attack on Newport.”^[17] Nevertheless, in a petition from Cheltenham to spare the lives of the three leaders, 305 of the 7,820 signatures were from Tewkesbury.^[18] Despite being incarcerated in Monmouth gaol at the time of this event Vincent was one of those charged with conspiring with John Frost “to subvert the constituted authorities and alter by force the constitution of the country.” He was convicted and sentenced to a further 12 months' imprisonment.

The Working Men's Association set up in Tewkesbury following Vincent's visit was led by William Morris Moore, a one time commercial traveller, then a stockinger and Methodist lay-preacher who lived in Jeynes Row. Moore was born in Hathern, Leicestershire in 1813, the son of William and Elizabeth Moore. He is thought to have spent some years as a youth in Belgium and France. On 23 July 1839 he wrote as Secretary of the Association to the editors of the Northern Star^[19] describing the financial situation of the 700 stockingers in Tewkesbury. They earned about 6s.[30p] a week and, after deducting work related expenses, they were left with around 3s. per week to live on. In consequence he states that many of them had become Chartists, although “we meet with decided opposition, and even persecution in every shape and form.” The letter tells us that meetings of the association were held each Monday and their motto was “universal suffrage and no surrender.” Lofty resolutions were passed, such as one on 15 July 1839 condemning “the recent outrages and bloody proceedings of an unconstitutional and blood-thirsty force from London against the peaceable inhabitants of Birmingham^[20] … proof that the administration of justice is the last thought of the practically infidel Whig government” (indicative of the Chartist view of the ongoing 'Great Whig Betrayal'). While pledging the Association‟s unqualified support of the National Convention and their desire to assist in every way, they regretted that because of their poor condition they could not offer financial aid. The letter also notes that “We are not a little proud that our respected member, John Martin, Esq. voted for the National Petition.”^[21]

In the same issue of the Northern Star there is a letter from an Eliza Hale, secretary of a “Female Radical Association” based in the Borough of Tewkesbury. Although she describes the association as “few in number” the letter says that they met weekly and states their determination “to assist our dear sisters in different parts of our beloved country, in their attempts to obtain for them and their husbands, brothers and sweethearts – Universal Suffrage.”

Bennett's Register tells us that the Chartists met in a hired room in Church Street and that they held frequent Sunday open-air meetings on the outskirts of the town. We know from a local radical newspaper that William Moore had a busy month in September 1839.^[22] He preached a sermon at the Oldbury in Tewkesbury on the 4th September. A few days later he spoke in Cheltenham (with special constables present) and apologised for speaking wearing his hat as he had a very bad cold! On the 15th he preached to 2,000 people in Cirencester (where fighting broke out); on the 22nd in Charlton Kings, and on the 29th to a large crowd in Winchcombe. We learn something of the establishment's attitude to the Tewkesbury Working Men's Association and its Secretary from the Cheltenham Examiner,^[23] “… it was asserted that 189 Chartists were enrolled in the Working Men's Association; now, however, their numbers have dwindled below fifty … their fund is barely sufficient to defray the expenses of the room in which they meet … Their secretary has been spouting at Cheltenham and Winchcombe and other places in the vicinity … he was dismissed from the society of the Tewkesbury Tee-totalers, for wishing to disseminate his rancourous [sic] principles … insulted one of our most respectable inhabitants … ”

Indeed, there were links between Teetotallers in Tewkesbury and the Chartists; the aforementioned Queens Arms hosted Temperance Meetings. A Temperance Society had been formed in 1834 but appears to have been superseded by a more 'hardline' organisation whose motto was “Moderation is the half-way house to Intoxication.” Then on 16 March 1841 the Victoria Temperance Hotel opened near the centre of Church Street in a large house previously the residence of Jacob Allis, a Quaker. (Interestingly in a Gloucester newspaper, accompanying a report on the opening of the hotel, is an item stating that a “strong petition” against the New Poor Law Bill received 1,200 signatures in Tewkesbury.)^[24] However, by early 1843 the hotel appears to have declined, “its gaudy signboard taken down”. John Hill ran the hotel and delivered lectures on Teetotalism, but he also spoke in support of Chartism. In 1846 he died in Birmingham; according to Bennett he had become “a votary and ardent admirer of Bacchus.” The Temperance Movement in Tewkesbury had 200 members at its peak but this number had declined to a dozen or so at its demise.^[25]

In August 1839 the Chartists in Cheltenham declared that they would “invade” St. Mary's Church, Cheltenham. This was the centre of power of the Rev. Francis Close^[26] and was regarded by the Chartists as the church of their supposedly social betters. Their intention was to attend the church in numbers (reportedly 500 or so) to register dissatisfaction with what they saw as the hypocrisy of many 'established-church Christians'. They duly arrived along with some Tewkesbury Chartists on the 18th August. Rev. Close had prepared his sermon for them and he used it to attack the Chartists warning them against “the tyranny of mob rule”. He criticised them for ingratitude in the face of so much local charity, and declared that “Socialism was rebellion against God and Chartism rebellion against man”. However, he did commend them on their orderly conduct. The Chartists then left the church during the playing of the National Anthem.

The Chartists reassembled in a field on the London Road and in answer to Close, Tewkesbury's William Moore preached to a crowd estimated at 1,000–2,000. After prayers and the singing of two hymns from Wesley‟s hymn book, he answered the theological arguments that Rev. Close had used. He went on to criticise the Corn Laws and to place the blame for their present distress on “ … all the bad legislation of the Whig aristocrats”. He urged the crowd to “ … reject Reverend Close and go for the People's Charter.” He also alluded to his youth spent in Belgium and France and emphasised the need for moral protest, to obey the law, and not to commit rash acts against the authorities.^[27]

A week later, wives and other female Chartists staged a similar 'sit-in' at St. Mary's.^[28]ose told them not to attempt “ … the removal of sufferings which were inherent in the nature of humanity” and “to stay at home”. He went on to compare them to women of the French Revolution, as having “dehumanised themselves into fiends akin to their French sisters”. On the same day about 30 Tewkesbury Chartists attended the Tewkesbury Abbey morning service although this 'invasion' appears to have been uneventful.^[29] It was expected that a similar visit would be made to Trinity Church, Tewkesbury, but it did not take place. This frustrated the Rev. Edward Foley who noted on a published copy of Close's sermon to the Chartists, “They promised me a visit at Trinity Church on the following Sunday, but thought better of it, to my disappointment, as I was ready for them .”^[30]

The sermon that Moore preached at London Road apparently led to Francis Close making derogatory comments concerning its content and the character of the preacher. Moore answered the attack in an open letter to Rev. Close published in the Cheltenham Free Press on 7 September 1839. He asks for justification that his sermon was blasphemous and the grounds for Close calling him “a drunken, idle, and dissolute fellow”. He also denies being expelled for drunkenness from the “Tewkesbury Tee-total Society”. He goes on to offer to debate in public with Close the rational and biblical character of Chartist principles, “though I am comparatively illiterate, [I] am a member of the Working-classes…” (Yet in a speech in June, he cryptically said that he “had been born among the higher classes.”) ^[31]

We learn a little more of William Morris Moore when, in October 1839, he spoke at a 'Chartist Tea Party' at the Emporium, Cheltenham. Around 400 guests were present: “among whom were many of the fairer half of creation … Recitations, songs and sentiments were given between the speeches ... and the remainder of the evening was passed in dancing.”^[32] Such socials were a common component of Chartist activities along with lectures, libraries and other education facilities for working people.

An example of the effort to educate was the Mechanics Institute that met in the Presbyterian Chapel in Albion Street, Cheltenham: formed to spread “knowledge among the mechanical portions of the town.” The Reverend Close set up his own Working Men's Association in rooms in St. George's Place as a “literary and scientific institute for the humbler classes.” This was no doubt intended to rival the Chartist dominated Mechanics Institute. It was at the Institute on 24 May 1842 that George Jacob Holyoake delivered an innocently titled lecture Home Colonization as a Means of Superseding Poor Laws and Emigration. However, questions from the audience (some thought to be from journalists from the Cheltenham Chronicle) provoked Holyoake to make comments on religion. When asked by a local preacher named Maitland what their duty to God was and whether there would be churches and chapels in his community, his reply included comments that: “we are too poor to have a God and build churches … Morality I regard, but I do not believe there is such a thing as God.”^[33]

His remarks were heavily reported in the Chel-tenham Chronicle – a newspaper that Rev. Close had interest in and that stoutly supported him. It is believed likely that Francis Close was instrumental in bringing these comments to the notice of the magistrates and Holyoake was arrested for blasphemy. Conducting his own defence, he spoke for nine hours! Perhaps he would have made his point if he had limited himself to one statement that he made during that time, “Christianity says we are all brethren, but I like not that equality which allows one man to revel in his opinions – while others are punished with imprisonment in gaol for thinking theirs.” He was found guilty and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. He was further punished when he refused to attend the Gloucester Prison Chapel prayer meeting: “You can not expect me to come to prayers; you imprison me here on the ground that I do not believe in a god, and then you would take me to chapel to pray to one. I cannot prevent your imprisoning me, but I can prevent your making me a hypocrite.”

Back in Tewkesbury the Working Men's Association soon ran into problems. Bennett informs us that in November 1839 the Secretary and Treasurer of the association absconded with the society's funds and added that Moore had betrayed his clerk for a “trifling reward”.^[34]A Cheltenham Free Press correspondent concurred, adding that “the revolutionary tide is happily checked in this vicinity.” The article also stated that Moore was “recently furnished with a suit of clothes by the Chartists of Cheltenham”, and that his licence to preach had been purchased for him by Tewkesbury's framework knitters. In October the Free Press had reported that Moore had been ill but was on the mend.^[35] In any event the next we hear of him is when he is resident in Tewkesbury Workhouse as recorded on the 1841 census.^[36] He died there of consumption on 21 July 1841 aged 28 and was buried in Tewkesbury three days later. He allegedly left a deathbed recantation of his Chartist involvement and this testimony was published in newspapers and pamphlets nationwide.

I here solemnly declare on what I expect soon to be my dying bed, and before that God in whose presence I expect shortly to stand a naked spirit, that I repent of ever joining the Chartist Association. Little did I think I was going to surround myself with men of principles so contrary to those of pure religion. Oh, that I had listened to Christian advice! And now I wish it to be known throughout Tewkesbury and the neighbourhood, that I sincerely regret having so awfully prostituted the Word of God, as I did by getting people together on blessed Sabbath days, and preaching sermons three parts politics, and the rest a little less than scepticism. And if I did, as it is feared I did, lead any one astray by my influence, I hope they may hear these my dying words, and immediately, by Divine mercy, return to the paths of life. And as for some of those who were my principal associates, and whose infidelity has even prompted them to oppose ministers of the truth of God, I pray you to take warning before it is too late. Were you in my circumstances, I trust you would think and feel differently, but I assure you that if you die as you are, five minutes' suffering under the vengeance of an angry God will take away all your infidelity. Take warning; and may the Lord have mercy upon your souls!

(Signed) 'William Morris Moore, Tewkesbury Union Workhouse,July 7 1841.'  ^[37]

Wherever this was published it states that this was an “extract of the more important part” of his declaration. The full text was published in the Cheltenham Free Press^[38] and the omitted parts are mainly religious in nature, although there is a tribute to the master of the workhouse for his “great kindness”. However, the newspaper states that “we have some doubts of its genuineness” and asks its readers to judge for themselves. Certainly, the obsequious, 'show-trial type confession' that was printed provided very good ammunition for anti-Chartist interests. The Free Press describes pamphlet versions of it being hawked on the streets as “the last dying confession of the wicked Charterist, Moore.”

The publication of the tract triggered correspondence in the local newspapers.^[39] Francis Hayes of the Cheltenham Mechanics Institute appears to have known Moore well and questions the testi-mony. He adds that Moore was expelled from the Teetotal Society for forming the Tewkesbury Working Men's Association, not for being drunk.

Hayes's letter was answered by “A Lover of Truth” from Tewkesbury – could this be Bennett? The 'truth lover' includes a letter from the father of Moore confirming that the confession was the true sentiments of his son. Hayes replied questioning the motives and character of an anonymous writer and added that Moore had often told him of the “injustice of the father to his children”. Certainly the letter is suspiciously well written for an appar-ent frame work knitter living in Well Alley.^[40]

Tewkesbury, August 11th 1841Sir –

Having been with my son very frequently during the latter stages of his illness, I can bear full testimony that the statements already published by you were his true sentiments and, having myself been too, much disposed to take up Chartist principles, I would take this opportunity in hoping, that all who have been so led astray, may take warning from the dying testimony of my son. I am sir your humble servant.

William Morris

It is worth noting that the Free Press article of 7 August 1841 corrects a statement they had made that Moore had run away with the money-box of the Tewkesbury Working Men's Association. They now accepted that the Tewkesbury Chartists had no funds at the time that Moore left the town.

Bennett directly commented on Moore's death in his 1841 Register, describing him as “an itinerant Chartist preacher of some celebrity” and attributed his politics to “the fevered notions of 'liberty and equality', which he had imbibed in France.”

On the national scene, Feargus O'Connor was arguably the most important Chartist leader – certainly the most self-important. Although far from being a Socialist, he envisaged co-operative style farming communities of cottages with smallholdings. In pursuit of his utopian vision he formed in 1845 the Chartist Cooperative Land Society, later known as the National Cooperative Land Company. The basic idea of his scheme was for working people to buy shares in the company, the money to be used to buy land and build cottages. Shareholders would then be chosen by ballot to live and farm in these communities. They were to pay rent which was to be used to repay (in theory with interest) all the subscribers.

One such community was Snig's End: it consisted of 268 acres lying partly in Staunton and partly in Corse, some nine miles south-west of Tewkesbury. By 1848 a schoolhouse and 85 four roomed, single storied cottages had been built, each with three or four acres of land. It is claimed that the third Chartist Petition was taken to Parliament in 1848 on a cart made at Snig's End and pulled by estate horses; O'Connor himself lived there for some time after 1848.

In the 1851 census we can see that some 20 families made up the Snig's End community, each farming from two to six acres. They were from all over the country with most of the heads of households in their thirties though several were in their fifties.^[41] Although they no doubt welcomed the chance of living in well-built housing, having land to farm and a school for their children, the change from being perhaps a factory worker in Lancashire transplanted to farm in isolated countryside must have been challenging.

Ultimately the settlements were not a success, and the tenants had difficulty in making a living and resisted paying their rent. The government attacked the scheme by branding it an illegal lottery, and in 1848 the House of Commons set up a Select Committee to look into the company. It declared that The National Land Company was an illegal scheme that would not fulfil the expectations held out to its shareholders. After a number of court cases an Act to wind-up the company was passed by Parliament in July 1851. The settled shareholders mostly disappear from the records of most of the estates in the years following, and the estates themselves were auctioned off. However, at Snig's End several of the 1851 tenants were still there in 1861^[42] and today the cottages are sought after residences; the school became a public house, the Prince of Wales.

In July 1847 O'Connor had been elected as an MP for Nottingham but his mental health was deteriorating, no doubt exacerbated by his heavy drinking and possibly syphilis. In August 1849 he wrote a strange letter to Queen Victoria beginning “Well Beloved Cousin” and signing himself as “Your Majesty's Cousin, Feargus, Rex, by the Grace of the People”. In 1852 he struck two fellow MPs in Parliament, and at the Lyceum Theatre, a policeman. In June 1852, he was admitted to an asylum at Chiswick. As news circulated that he was neglected and in need, working people contributed to a fund to help him. O'Connor died on 30 August 1855 at his sister‟s home in London. Fifty thousand people were reported to have attended his funeral.

Chartism as a significant force can be said to have ended in April 1848 when the third Chartist Petition was delivered to Parliament. It was claimed to have had nearly six million signatures but the actual number was much smaller and many of those were obvious forgeries. The plan was to deliver it after a mass meeting on Kennington Common and a march on Parliament; the march did not take place and the meeting was considered a failure. Following the rejection of the petition by Parliament (222-17) widespread disturbances throughout the country occurred and many Chart-ists were arrested. The 1848 Chartist National Convention dissolved into acrimony and division.

However, the movement did continue in various guises into the 1850s, developing a radical program. The 1851 Convention proposed (amongst other things) the nationalisation of land, free education, the right of the poor to relief and the abolition of capital punishment. Many Chartists turned to other endeavours. Local Government, Co-operation and Trade Unionism attracted some; others agitated for reforms in education, some joined the Temperance Movement, a number moved towards Marxism. Of the original aims of the Charter, only that of annual elections has not been realised. The property qualification for MPs was abolished in 1858, and the secret ballot introduced in 1872. MPs were paid from 1911, and successive Reform Acts equalised electoral districts. The advent of universal suffrage for all men in 1918, and then for all women in 1928, is something that would have gratified and exceeded the expectations of the Tewkesbury Chartists, and their comrades in the district and elsewhere.

How significant was the role of the people of Tewkesbury in the Chartist Movement in Gloucestershire? Certainly not as involved as those of Cheltenham where the Chartists were particularly active. Nevertheless, the penurious stockinger workers of Tewkesbury no doubt made archetypal Chartist 'foot soldiers'. Furthermore, the preaching throughout the county of Tewkesbury‟s William Morris Moore drew crowds of thousands. When ailing on his deathbed it could be that he did repudiate his Chartist agitation. However, oppo-nents of the movement may well have embellished his words for propaganda purposes; this may also be the case with the exact facts surrounding the various misdemeanours attributed to him. In any event the widespread publication of his alleged recantation is in itself indicative of his importance. William Morris Moore was clearly a far more prominent and interesting character from Tewkesbury's political and religious past than Bennett would have us believe, with his curt dis-missal of him as an “itinerant Chartist preacher”.

Postscript

I was prompted to write this article on discovery that Frederick Tovey of Cheltenham, ancestor of Janet Martin (THS secretary), was a nominee to the General Council of the Chartist National Convention in 1842.

1. Notes
2. ^[1] Representation of the People Act 1832, enacted by the Whig government in the face of severe opposition. ↩
3. ^[2] In 1834 six Dorset Agricultural Labourers were sentenced to seven years transportation for taking an 'illegal oath' when they formed a 'friendly society'. ↩
4. ^[3] Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the old, mostly 17th century, parish based 'Poor Law'. ↩
5. ^[4] James Bennett, Tewkesbury Yearly Register & Magazine (Bennett‟s Register) for 1843. ↩
6. ^[5] Dr. Anthea Jones, 'Tewkesbury's M.P.s', THS Bulletin 5, 1996. ↩
7. ^[6] The Anti-Poor Law League was formed largely by Tory Radicals following the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. Anti-Corn Law League was formed in 1838 by Richard Cobden and John Bright – corn-laws were abolished in 1846. Ten-Hours Movement was formed in 1831 to campaign for factory reform, led by Richard Oastler. ↩
8. ^[7] Soc. for the Promotion of the Repeal of the Stamp Duties, to remove newspaper taxes, led by Francis Place. ↩
9. ^[8] Henry Vincent, Life & Rambles, http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/chap_page.jsp?t_id=Vincent&c_id=3 ↩
10. ^[9] Woodard Database, 1832 Poll List. ↩
11. ^[10] 1841 census HO 107/380/6 es.7 p8 ↩
12. ^[11] Woodard Database – Linnell, Tewkesbury Pubs. (Unclear whether the inn was the Queens Arms or the Quart Pot.) ↩
13. ^[12] Northern Star and Leeds General Advertiser (Northern Star), established by William Hill, Joshua Hobson and Feargus O'Connor in 1837. Available on-line at http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/glo_earl ↩
14. ^[13] Alias of Tommaso Aniello 17th century leader of an insurrection in Naples against Spanish rule. ↩
15. ^[14] Gloucester Journal founded 1722 by Robert Raikes and William Dicey. ↩
16. ^[15] The exact number is unclear. Up to 8,000 assembled in the area but a much smaller number actually participated in the attack on Newport. ↩
17. ^[16] John Frost (1784-1877) Draper, Newport Town Councillor, Mayor and Magistrate – and prominent Chartist. ↩
18. ^[17] Bennett's Register for 1839, Vol I p.427. ↩
19. ^[18] Gloucester Journal 8 Feb 1840 ↩
20. ^[19] Northern Star 3 Aug 1839. ↩
21. ^[20] Birmingham 'Bull Ring Riot' 4–5 Jul 1839. Police brought in from London to clear a crowd deemed to be an illegal assembly. Chartist leaders arrested in the aftermath. ↩
22. ^[21] John Martin of Upper Hall, Ledbury (1805-1880) Whig (Liberal) M.P. for Tewkesbury 1835-1859. First Chartist Petition presented to Parliament 7 May 1839, rejected by 235 votes to 46. (Martin did not vote for later Petitions.) ↩
23. ^[22] Cheltenham Free Press 14 , 21 Sep & 5 Oct 1839, (est. 1834 , incorporated with Cheltenham Examiner 1908). ↩
24. ^[23] Cheltenham Examiner 21 Aug 1839, (est. 17 July 1839, incorporated with the Gloucester Journal in 1913). ↩
25. ^[24] Gloucester Journal 20 Mar 1841. ↩
26. ^[25] Bennett's Register, 1838-1846. ↩
27. ^[26] Rev. Francis Close (1797-1882) later Dean of Carlisle (“Dean Close”). Anti-Chartism – and anti many other things. ↩
28. ^[27] Owen Ashton, 1983, Clerical Control and Radical Responses in Cheltenham Spa 1838-1848: Midland History, 8. ↩
29. ^[28] a. Ian McCalman, 1999, An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age: Oxford University Press, b. Owen, above. ↩
30. ^[29] Bennett's Register for 1839, Vol. I, p.427. ↩
31. ^[30] Glos. Record Office P329/2 in 4/1/1. Rev. Edward Walwyn Foley incumbent of Trinity Church. ↩
32. ^[31] Cheltenham Free Press 8 Jun 1839. ↩
33. ^[32] Northern Star 26 Oct 1839. ↩
34. ^[33] a. George Holyoake, 1871, The Last Trial for Atheism, b.Owen, above. ↩
35. ^[34] Bennett‟s Register for 1839, Vol. I, p.426. ↩
36. ^[35] Cheltenham Free Press 23 Nov 1839 & 26 Oct 1839. ↩
37. ^[36] 1841 census HO 107/380/7 es.7 p.4. ↩
38. ^[37] Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser (Dublin, Ireland) 13 Aug 1841. ↩
39. ^[38] Cheltenham Free Press 31 Jul 1841. ↩
40. ^[39] Cheltenham Free Press 7 , 14 & 21 Aug 1841. ↩
41. ^[40] 1851 census HO 107/1974 f.344 p.5. ↩
42. ^[41] 1851 census HO107/1960 f.430-432. ↩
43. ^[42] 1861 census RG9/1762 f.49-50. ↩

The post Chartism In Tewkesbury And District appeared first on Bristol Radical History Group.

"Let the people think they govern and they will be governed."
William Penn (1644-1718) Some Fruits of Solitude 1682

William Penn Gaskell was born on 20 February 1808 at Burnham, Buckinghamshire. He was the son of William Penn Gaskell senior and his wife Elizabeth; they had a small family estate at Great Marlow. The Gaskells were descended from William Penn, the Quaker leader and founder of Pennsylvania. This lineage was through William Penn's great-granddaughter Christiana Gulielma Penn, the mother of William Penn Gaskell senior.^[1]

William Penn Gaskell studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and received his BA degree in 1831. From Owen Ashton's writings on radical politics in Cheltenham,^[2] we know that after graduating Gaskell lived in London. There he moved in radical political circles and was particularly influenced by Rowland Detrosier.^[3] Although a campaigner for workers' rights, Detrosier believed that democracy posed real dangers unless individual moral development preceded political freedom. Ashton also informs us that by 1832 Gaskell was living in Cheltenham at 4 Bedford Buildings, Clarence Street (the area where the Library now stands). His father, mother and sister were also living in or around Cheltenham. His twenty-eight-yearold sister Elizabeth died in 1835 and was buried at St. Mary's, Cheltenham on 23 June 1835.^[4]

Gaskell stood as the Radical candidate in the General Election of 1835. His opponent was the sitting Whig MP, Craven Berkeley,^[5] who had been returned unopposed in 1832 when Cheltenham first became a constituency in its own right. Sir James Tynte Agg-Gardner^[6] described election proceedings of the time.

On the appointed day the rival candidates with their respective proposers, seconders and hosts of supporters, accompanied by bands and banners, marched in procession to the hustings. On arrival there the Returning Officers, who presided, invited the proposers and seconders to describe the claims and merits of their respective nominees. After these duties had been discharged, the candidates themselves were called upon to speak, which they did as well as they could, to the accompaniment of rival bands, cheers, jeers, hisses, and volleys of eggs, dead cats and other missiles. At the conclusion of the entertainment, the Returning Officer called for a show of hands, and gave his decision on the result.^[7]

On Tuesday 6 January 1835 the 'hustings' had been erected in Barnett's Riding School (on the site of the present Regent Arcade). The area was capable of holding several thousand people – and was crowded. Formal nomination of the candidates took place, Gaskell by Messers Hollis^[8]and Vaughan, and Berkeley by Captain Gray and William Seale Evans. Speeches were made by the candidates, although both were interrupted by great uproar. In his address, Gaskell called for the repeal of the Corn Laws^[9] and the Poor Law^[10] and for extending the right to vote to all classes. The Cheltenham Chronicle reporter thought that "the Riding School rather presented the appearance of a bear garden ... the cries, cheers, groans, and confusion, to say nothing of a dog-fight that interrupted the delivery of the speeches". Elections could be decided by a show of hands at the hustings regardless of whether the hands belonged to the enfranchised or not. Only when a candidate defeated in this way demanded it would a formal poll be held, the poll itself could extend over several days. Gaskell easily won on the show of hands and of course Berkeley demanded a poll. The population of Cheltenham at this time was around 33,000 but those entitled to vote (property owners or tenants of substantial property) only amounted to some 1156; of these, 436 exercised their franchise on the first day of the poll. Gaskell resigned from the contest before the second day of polling as he was trailing 411 votes to 25.^[11]

A month later, on 14 February 1835, a letter addressed "to the Mechanics of Cheltenham" signed by "W.P. Gaskell", appeared in the Cheltenham Free Press. It reminded readers that the "Let the people think they govern and they will be governed." William Penn (1644-1718) Some Fruits of Solitude 1682 first anniversary of the Mechanics Institution would be on 1st March. (Gaskell was a member of the management committee of this new society that replaced a former Mechanics Institute that had run from 1825-1833.) Gaskell appealed to all 'Mechanics', men and women to join the society in order to gain knowledge to assist them in bettering their condition. He defined 'Mechanics' as "every hand-worker, everyone in the manual-labour class, everyone who is employed by another to work for wages". The cost of belonging to the institute was 3/- a quarter [15p]. As skilled artisans at the time earned perhaps £1 a week, this charge was probably within their means, but not so for unskilled workmen. Key, was the motivation of workers to give up time and money for self-improvement. Even if they actually read the letter, one wonders how effective was Gaskell's exhortation that "it is therefore your duty, because it is your interest, to enrol yourselves as members".

The Mechanics Institute was housed in the former Unitarian, later Wesleyan Methodist, chapel in Albion Street that was demolished when Pittville Street was formed.^[12] In June of 1837, William Penn Gaskell spoke at the institute on the subject of Tee-Totalism. Apparently a meeting was to have been held to debate "whether Mechanics' Institutions or Tee-Totalism will best serve the liberty and happiness of the working classes". However, the Tee-Total Society declined to attend and Gaskell proceeded to gently mock the abstemious and championed Mechanics Institutes as the best means of workers obtaining political knowledge.^[13]

A further development in the radical politics of Cheltenham was in November 1837. Gaskell wrote a lengthy appeal to the "working classes of Cheltenham" calling on them to form a Working Men's Association with the objective of obtaining universal suffrage.^[14] However, he clearly targeted the more politically aware of the working classes, stating that what was wanted was "not a hodge-podge of hundreds … but an union of none but uncompromising democrats of moral character … Let a few intelligent working men and democrats unite and be pioneers of the people". In conclusion, he styled himself, "The zealous friend of Radical Reform, W.P. Gaskell".

A month later, The Cheltenham Working Men's Association was formed with the objective to improve the condition of the working classes. The founders clearly laid down their non-violent stance: "to create a moral, reflecting, yet energetic public opinion, so as eventually to lead to a gradual improvement in the condition of the working classes, without violence or commotion". William Penn Gaskell was not among the nine committee members that signed a letter to the press^[15] announcing the event, but he no doubt was a key participant behind the scenes. At this time he was also a member of The Radical Club formed by Francis Place^[16] in London in 1833. Gaskell appears on a membership list of 75 as at 29 January 1838, but he could of course have been a member from an earlier date.^[17]

The movement to obtain electoral reform soon became known as 'Chartism', after the charter drawn up by the London Working Men's Association in 1836 which called for universal manhood suffrage, vote by secret ballot, no property qualification for MPs, payment of members, equal sized voting districts and annual parliaments.

On Christmas Eve of 1838, the Chartist leader John Collins^[18] of Birmingham discoursed on the Charter at the York Hotel, Cheltenham with Gaskell chairing the meeting. Resolutions were carried in support of the aims of the Charter but only around a hundred people attended. However, subsequent meetings in January, also chaired by Gaskell, attracted far larger audiences of 1,400 plus.^[19]

Also in January 1839, Gaskell wrote to "the working classes of Stroud".^[20] He urged them to support the national petition for universal suffrage and to organise themselves. He told them, "you are as much the slaves of the law-makers as the black man is the slave of his single master". He also counselled non-violence: "Be temperate, but firm and decided, and all will soon be convinced that only an insignificant minority advocate force."

On 25 August 1839 female Chartists attended St. Mary's Church, Cheltenham in numbers; this followed a similar 'sit-in' carried out by male Chartists the week before. The Rev. Close, in his sermon, told the women to stay at home, compared them to the women of the French Revolution and generally quoted biblical passages that suggest that women should be subjugated by their husbands.^[21] On 4 September, William Penn Gaskell gave a lecture to a meeting of the Female Chartists Association, chaired by Miss King. He thought if Rev. Close wanted women to 'keep at home', he should support them in agitating for the overthrow of a system that drove them into factories and the workhouse. He also pointed out various inconsistencies and contradictions in the biblical directives concerning women. However, he did concur with Close in condemning any resort to physical violence.

Five days after this lecture a major Chartist meeting was held in a field where St. Paul's Medical Centre now stands. National Chartist leaders were to have spoken at the meeting but in the event were unable to attend. Nevertheless, local magistrates had troops stationed in Cheltenham in anticipation of trouble.^[22] Gaskell chaired the meeting and ridiculed the magistrates' actions: "The childish conduct of these old ladies in pantaloons, who sit in the Town Hall, is a ludicrous proceeding." In addition he once more attacked various utterances of the Rev. Close, described the Whigs as "nothing but the tools of the Tories", attacked the Corn Laws, advised against drunkenness and (as usual) disavowed any use of violence in attaining their aims.^[23]

In October 1839, Gaskell lectured against the Corn Laws to the Anti-Corn Law Association. He thought that the artificially inflated corn prices caused great harm economically and the high price of bread contributed to sickness among the working classes due to insufficient diet. He also challenged the notion that the repeal of the Corn Laws would lead to lower wages for the rural working class (a view held by many Chartists, who also considered the Anti-Corn Law Association to be middle-class and not to be trusted).^[24]

This lecture was the last report of William Penn Gaskell speaking in Cheltenham. Around this time he moved to London and became the proprietor and editor of the radical newspaper the Statesman (formerly the Weekly True Sun where Charles Dickens was once a parliamentary reporter). It was a London evening paper which attempted to mediate between working-class and middle-class radicalism, and was in the forefront of the campaign to repeal newspaper stamp duty. At a Chartist National Delegate Meeting in Manchester in July 1840, the Statesman was one of eleven newspapers recommended as advancing their cause. However, some delegates demanded that it should be removed from the list as it supported the Anti-Corn Law movement. The chairman, Mr. Smart, went as far as saying that he considered the Statesman to be "an enemy of the working classes". The Statesman was accordingly expunged from the approved reading list.^[25] This attack on Gaskell prompted a response from William Spackman of the Cheltenham Working Man's Association in a letter to the Northern Star published 15 August 1840. After praising the efforts of the Manchester meeting in setting up a National Charter Association, the issue of Gaskell and the Statesman was addressed.

But we are constrained to acknowledge it our duty to express our sincere regret at the manner in which the delegates threw a stigma upon, and held up to the world as an enemy to the people, our best friend, Mr. Gaskell, by their remarks upon the Statesman newspaper, because Mr.G. therein differs with us upon one minor point. We should feel it a shameless dereliction of our duty did we not thus publicly justify our warmhearted and noble-minded friend from attack which has been (we hope) in ignorance cast upon him, by declaring to our brother Chartists of Great Britain that Mr. Gaskell, the proprietor and editor of the Statesman, is the man who established our Association, and is still a worthy member of the same. Neither can we forget that his talents and his purse have ever been at our service when required. We can point at the most splendid set of banners which ever graced a Chartist procession, as the gift of that gentleman. Nor can we forget how he drew forth the crocodile tears from the craven Berkeley upon the hustings, before assembled thousands; and shall we be unmindful of his unwearied exertions to save the blood of Messers. Frost, Williams, and Jones? Nor will we be ungrateful to him for the use of his columns to advocate our cause, when we request it; nor will we at any time remain criminally silent in his defence, by whomsoever he may be accused as the "enemy of the people".

W. Speakman, [sic] Chairman August 5th, 1840

William Penn Gaskell married on 27 June 1842 in London, at St. John's, Paddington.^[26]His bride was Mary Hobbs by whom he appears to have already had two sons. Mary came from the working class that Gaskell championed – she was the daughter of a blacksmith, John Hobbs, of Sandhurst, Gloucestershire.

The parents of William Penn Gaskell were still living in the Cheltenham area and are recorded on the 1841 census as living at Alba Cottage, Charlton Kings. However, William Penn Gaskell senior lived only another seventeen months, he died 17 November 1842 at Exmouth Place, Cheltenham and was buried at St. Mary's seven days later – the service was conducted by his son's old adversary, Rev. Close. In his last will and testament, William Penn Gaskell senior left his only son at least £13,000 (perhaps £994,000 in modern values).^[27]

Gaskell continued his political activities in London, supporting the Complete Suffrage Movement, an organisation that was set up by the more moderate Chartist leaders. Among its objectives was "to effect a cordial union of the middle and working classes" and to disavow violence;^[28] two aims very much in accord with Gaskell's thinking. He also kept up his Anti- Corn Laws activities whilst in the capital, and in 1843 joined the General Committee of "Members of Parliament and Gentlemen residing in London" who pledged themselves "to promote free trade by the abolition of the corn and provision laws, and all other monopolies".^[29] He did not abandon his mainstream Chartist involvement either, as in 1858 he attended the last major Chartist Conference held in London.^[30]

By 1851 Gaskell and his wife Mary were living in Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire; the census describes him as a farmer of 56 acres. The couple had seven children by now (one of the daughters given the family name of Gulielma – all of the children were also given Penn as an additional name). From their given places of birth on the census it would seem that the family moved to Great Marlow in around 1846. On the 1861 census they are still there, Gaskell now described as "landed proprietor", and there are three more sons. In 1871 the household is in Ealing, Middlesex, Gaskell a "landowner" with no further additions to his ten children. In 1881 they are living in Craven Terrace, Ealing and on the night of the census two grandchildren were staying, including the two-year-old Gulielma Bowen.

William Penn Gaskell died 22 December 1881 and was buried at Ealing 31 December. He left a personal estate (not including property) of just under £23,000 (perhaps £1,720,000 in current values). He left "a freehold house at Sandhurst" (Glos.) and household effects to his wife with an annuity of £400. He left the rest of his estate to his ten children.^[31] His widow continued to live in Ealing and died there in 1885.

Gaskell's son, George Edward Penn Gaskell (1857-1946) a barrister, was a leading charity worker involved with the Charity Organisation Society and for many years was secretary of the National Society for Epileptics. He married Eleanor Charlotte Lindsay (1861-1937) who became a leading figure in the Suffragette Movement. The other Gaskell sons were all successful professional men, barristers, civil engineers and accountants. Only one of the daughters married, the other three lived comfortably on their independent means. The majority of William Penn Gaskell's offspring lived well into their 80s and the last to pass away was Elizabeth Penn Gaskell who died aged 98 in 1947.

William Penn Gaskell lived to see some of the aims of the Charter realised: the property qualification for MPs was abolished in 1858, the franchise widened in 1867 and the secret ballot introduced in 1872. However, universal suffrage for all men was not achieved until 1918, and then for all women in 1928. Nevertheless, as his illustrious ancestor William Penn once said, "To have striven, to have made the effort, to have been true to certain ideals – this alone is worth the struggle."^[32]

1. Notes
2. ^[1] Howard M. Jenkins, The Family of William Penn, 1899. ↩
3. ^[2] Owen Ashton 'The Mechanics Institute and Radical Politics in Cheltenham Spa 1834-40',
   Cheltenham Local History Society (CLHS) Journal 2, 1984. ↩
4. ^[3] Rowland Detrosier (c1800-1834) radical politician, preacher and lecturer. ↩
5. ^[4] Bristol Mercury 4 Jul 1835: Glos. Archives, Cheltenham parish register P78/1. ↩
6. ^[5] The Hon. Craven FitzHardinge Berkeley (1805-1855) Cheltenham MP 1832-1847 and 1852-1855. ↩
7. ^[6] Sir James Tynte Agg-Gardner JP (1846-1928) Conservative MP for Cheltenham for a total of 39 years. ↩
8. ^[7] Gwen Hart, A History of Cheltenham, 1965. ↩
9. ^[8] William Sydney Hollis (1798-1867) Gun-maker, Unitarian, Radical, Chartist, Temperance-supporter. ↩
10. ^[9] Import tariffs on foreign corn, keeping the price of domestic corn artificially high. ↩
11. ^[10] Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the old, mostly 17th century, parish based 'Poor Law'. ↩
12. ^[11] Cheltenham Chronicle 8 & 15 Jan 1835: Times 9 Jan 1835. ↩
13. ^[12] George Row, Illustrated Cheltenham Guide, 1845. ↩
14. ^[13] Cheltenham Free Press 24 Jun 1837. ↩
15. ^[14] Cheltenham Free Press 18 Nov 1837. ↩
16. ^[15] Cheltenham Free Press 16 Dec 1837: The nine were, J. Walter, D.W. Smith, A. Bannister, J. Davis, T. Riordan, D. Bryan, J. Taylor, W. Spackman, T. Down. ↩
17. ^[16] Francis Place (1771-1854) Social reformer involved in many Radical movements of his time. ↩
18. ^[17] British History Online, www.british-history.ac.uk ↩
19. ^[18] John Collins (1802-1852) imprisoned 1839-40 for his Chartist activities. ↩
20. ^[19] CLHS A Fair Day's Pay for a Fair Day's Work, 2010. ↩
21. ^[20] London Dispatch and People's Political and Social Reformer 13 Jan 1839. ↩
22. ^[21] Benson D., 'Chartism in Tewkesbury and District', Tewkesbury Historical Society (THS) Bulletin 19, 2010: Rev. Francis Close (1797-1882) later Dean of Carlisle. ↩
23. ^[22] For an extended account of this see, Derek Benson, 'William Morris Moore' THS Bulletin 20, 2011. ↩
24. ^[23] Northern Star 21 Sep 1839; The Charter 22 Sep 1839. ↩
25. ^[24] Cheltenham Examiner 16 Oct 1839. ↩
26. ^[25] Northern Star 25 Jul 1840. ↩
27. ^[26] London Metropolitan Archives, P87/JNE1 (via www.ancestry.co.uk). ↩
28. ^[27] Glos. Archives, Cheltenham parish register P78/1: National Archives PROB 11/1972: as endnote 19. ↩
29. ^[28] William Lovett, Life and Struggles of William Lovett, Vol II, 1877. ↩
30. ^[29] Morning Chronicle 24 Jan 1843 ↩
31. ^[30] As endnote 2 ↩
32. ^[31] Belfast News-Letter 20 Mar 1882. ↩
33. ^[32] William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude, 1682. ↩

The post William Penn Gaskell (1808-1882) appeared first on Bristol Radical History Group.

These are some of the headlines which started appearing in the Gloucester Citizen and Western Daily Press in the 1890s. This pamphlet will try and get by behind the headlines and reveal what was really going on in the Blakeney area of the Forest of Dean the time.

THE BLAKENEY OUTRAGES

“WORSE THAN IRELAND” - THE VICAR ASKS FOR EXCEPTIONAL LAW

A REIGN OF TERROR - SPEECH BY MINERS AGENT

ASSAULT ON THE POLICE IN BLAKENEY - THE RECENT OUTRAGES

MORE LAWLESSNESS AT BLAKENEY - RESIDENTS ARMED

ALLEGED POACHING AFFRAY IN DEAN FOREST

A POLICE SERGEANT MURDERED AND A CONSTABLE INJURED

POACHING IN DEAN FOREST - A POLICEMAN STONED

POACHING AT NEWNHAM - ARREST OF “SHEEPSKIN”

OUTRAGE IN DEAN FOREST - ENGINE DESTROYED

DYNAMITE OUTRAGE IN BLAKENEY

The post Walter Virgo and the Blakeney Gang appeared first on Bristol Radical History Group.

"BBC 'Witch' Song Insult to Maggie" (front page)

"....and now even a police sergeant tweets meassages of hate" (front page)

"I hope Thatcher's death was degrading and painful, tweets sick Scotland Yard sergeant" (page 7)

...and unbelievably on their website headlines:

"'They danced in the streets when Hitler died too': Death parties drama teacher likens Lady Thatcher to Nazi leader"

"Romany Blythe, of Worthing, created webpage called: 'The witch is dead'"

"She was given breast implants on NHS because of her low self-esteem"

"45-year-old wrote of Lady Thatcher: 'Who wants to p*** on her grave?"

You what!!!! Yes, you what?? Breast implants on the NHS, have the right-wing finally completely lost it?

As 'Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead' shoots up the charts the Mail and many other commentators have been horrified. The Mail is running a campaign to get it banned but are up against the 'communist' BBC (sic) who are going to play a snippet and then explain to their younger listeners 'what it means'. Bunch of liberals if you ask me, just play it. References have been made to the Sex Pistols 'God Save the Queen' which famously reached number one during the Silver Jubilee week in 1977. The song wasn't played, effectively being banned, and to the situationists delight was even erased from the chart in the press. So there was no number one that week; was this 'the end of music'? The Pistols were later faced with attempts to ban their seminal album 'Never Mind the Bollocks' for being offensive (i.e. it had the word 'bollocks' on public display). The case eventally failed but not after a significant legal battle and disruption of the LP's production.

Now'Ding Dong' is a different kettle of fish altogether. The song itself does not contain any swear words or offensive statements. So banning it is a bit of a legal problem, as it is not literally offensive, blasphemous or whatever. So the battle is now over its meaning. So how do you ban something on the basis of its meaning rather than its content? What you do is get a 'real' Munchkin to denounce it....

 http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4885886/munchkin-fury-at-thatcher-ding-dong-song.html

...and try and create more 'outrage'. But hang on a minute what about the writer of the song? What did he have to say?

"Last night experts said New Yorker Yip Harburg --- who wrote the song along with the Oscar-winning Over The Rainbow --- may have ENJOYED its political revival. He was born Isidore Hochberg but it is thought he may have changed his name in tribute to the Young People's Socialist League --- the student arm of the American Socialist Party --- who were known as Yipsels. "

So no joy there for The Sun. The madness over trying to suppress a song based on its subjective meaning is so surreal it almost defies belief. Orwell would have been laughed at if he had put this in his anti-stalinist classic '1984' . Now the joke is on us.

So the paradox of 'Ding Dong'? All week we have heard how sick it is to 'celebrate' the death of anyone. What about the family? The happy memories? Etc etc. Well, let me tell you a story:

Once upon a time there was a wicked Witch of the East who was cruel and oppressive to the 'little people', the Munchkins, in the land of Oz. Trapped in her house and whipped up in tornado, a young girl 'Dorothy' (and her little dog too), came crashing to down to earth in Oz killing the evil Witch instantly and thereby ending decades of dictatorship. Two Munchkins presented a bouquet to Dorothy and spread the news that 'the wicked old witch at last is dead!'. The Munchkins then sang 'Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead'. After its one verse, there is an interruption, as the city officials needed to determine if the witch was 'undeniably and reliably dead'; after all, better safe than sorry. The coroner confirms that she is definitely dead, and the mayor reiterates advice to the Munchkins to spread the news. The Munchkins oblige, the celebrations begin and they sing happily 'Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead' again.

These Munchkins are the kind of sick bastards that are destroying Ozian society. How can you celebrate the death of anyone, especially the 'Wicked Witch of the East'? After all, she probably has family (well at least some goblins or something). And what about Dorothy, she didn't even go to court for killing her. Typical bleeding heart liberals letting the undeserving poor get off scott free. Apparently Dorothy even had breast implants on the MHS (Munchkin Health Service) becuse she had problems with 'low self-esteem'. Disgusting sicko.

So if it is so evil to celebrate someones death, then why have we been feeding this disgusting communist 'Wizard of Oz' nonsense to our children for so long? Left-wing teachers are probably behind it or maybe its a MWP (Munchkin Workers Party) plot. The whole story is sick, especially the celebration of someones death. We should not only ban 'Ding Dong' but the film should never be shown again, especially at Christmas.

So there.

The post The Strange Paradox of 'Ding Dong':"political correctness gone mad" appeared first on Bristol Radical History Group.