Radical reformers, 1790-1819

What was the LCS? When?

-1792-93.
-Founded by Thomas Hardy and modelled on political clubs appearing during French Rev.

What did the LCS campaign for?

Democratic reform, particularly annual elections and universal male suffrage

Who supported the LCS?

Artisans and small tradesmen

How many members did the LCS have at its peak?

3000

What happened in 1793 with the LCS?

6000 members of public signed a petition saying that they supported the society

What methods did the LCS use as protest tactics?

Discussion, pamphlets and newspaper articles

What meeting took place in 1816?

Spa Fields

Who was invited to speak at Spa Fields?

Henry Hunt

What was the aim of Spa Fields?

To show support for a petition to the Prince Regent for parliamentary reform

How many attended Spa Fields?

10,000

What did Hunt ask the Spa Fields audience to do?

Sign a petition which stood for universal male suffrage, annual general elections and intro of secret ballots

Did the Prince and govt accept the petition?

No

What happened after the first rejection of the petition?

Another meeting was organised

What was the result of the second Spa Fields meeting?

Deteriorated into a march to the Tower of London by some of the more radical members to protest

What did the govt send in to the second Spa Fields meeting?

Troops to break up the meeting

Who was the spy within the group?

John Castle

What happened to four of the leaders of the LCS?

Tried for treason but were later acquitted

What did Spa Fields convince the govt?

Revolution was a possibility

When was the Pentridge Rising?

1817

What was the Pentridge Rising?

An armed march began in Pentridge and headed towards Nottingham with the intention of later marching to London

How many were involved in the Pentridge Rising march? What kind of people?

300 working-class men, mainly iron and quarry workers

What were the Pentridge Rising marchers armed with?

Pikes and a few guns

What was the aim of the Pentridge Rising?

Demand a range of reforms incl removing national debt

Who was the spy in the Pentridge Rising?

William Oliver

What did William Oliver (Pentridge Rising) do?

Informed govt and the uprising was crushed by soldiers

How many were tried for treason in the Pentridge Rising?

45

How many were sentenced to be transported in the Pentridge Rising?

30

How many leaders were hanged in the Pentridge Rising?

3

When was the Peterloo Massacre?

1819

What was the Peterloo Massacre?

Large crowd gathered at St Peter's Fields, Manchester which was an entirely peaceful public meeting

How many attended Peterloo?

50-60,000

Who was one of the speakers at Peterloo?

Henry Hunt

Who was sent to Peterloo?

Local magistrates, local Yeomanry, supported by a regiment of hussars, some infantry and artillery

How many soldiers were sent to Peterloo?

1,500

What did the local Yeomanry initially aim to do?

Arrest Hunt

What did the Yeomanry actually do at Peterloo?

Panicked and attacked the peaceful protestors, after which the hussars, interpreting this as a riot, also attacked

How many were killed at Peterloo?

18 incl woman and child

How many were injured at Peterloo?

700

What was the Peterloo Massacre named after? Why

1815 battle of Waterloo as a means of mocking the govt

What did a number of newspapers protest against in Peterloo Massacre?

Actions of the magistrates incl The Times

What was habeas corpus?

'you may have the body' was a legal provision which prevented arrests without trial

What happened to habeas corpus?

Suspended twice in 1794 to allow govt to round up potential threats due to fears about popular protests

What was the Treason Act 1795?

-Confirmed that assaults against King were high treason
-Further allowed that anyone bringing the Crown, govt or constitution into exempt could be transported for 7 yrs

What was the Treason Act 1795 inspired by?

1795 protests where rubbish was thrown at King George 3 on his way to open Parliament

What did the Treason Act 1795 do?

Extended the idea of treason to include ideas that were written or spoken, even if no action was taken

Who was the Treason Act 1795 used against?

Used to outlaw the works of Thomas Paine and restrict publication of protests pamphlets

What was the Treason Act 1795 supported by?

Seditious Meetings Act

What did the Seditious Meetings Act involve?

-Banned public meetings of over 50 people
-Made it illegal to rent a hall for lecturing and debating policies without a magistrate's licence
-Gave Justices of the Peace the authority to disperse any crowd

Why was there a trial of the LCS leaders? When?

-Reformist ideas of the LCS were very alarming to govt
-1794

What was involved in the trial of the LCS leaders? When?

-As part of a trial of 30 radical reformers inspired by a fear of a French Revolution-style uprising, 13 members of LCS tried for treason
-All charges were acquitted

What kind of charges did the LCS face?

Varied, from inciting revolutionary plans to attempts to attack the King

What happened to booksellers under the 1795 Acts?

Fined or imprisoned and meetings were banned

What happened to the LCS by 1797?

Lost a lot of its influence

What happened to the LCS by 1799?

Made illegal by Combination Act

What did the Combination Act do?

Banned existence of any TU or political society which promoted political reform

When was Stamp Tax introduced? What was it?

1797, tax on printed media increased to make newspapers harder to afford and prevent less well-off from buying them

What was the Newspaper Regulation Act? When?

1798 passed to force newspapers to register with the aim of limiting their ability to publish critical articles

How long were the 1795 Treason and Seditious Meetings Act meant to be in place for?

Intended as temporary laws to last until the death of George 3 but after Spa Fields were made permanent in 1817

What were the Gagging Acts 1817?

-Essentially the same as 1795 but with more restrictions
-Extra limitations on meetings held within a mile of parliament, and public meetings entirely banned during parliamentary session
-Included suspension of habeas corpus just like in 1794

When were the Six Acts introduced?

1819 after Peterloo to prevent any more reformist action

What were the Six Acts?

-Training prevention Act- to stop civilians learning to use weapons
-Seizure of Arms Act- allowed magistrates the right to seize weapons
-Seditious Meetings Act- extended 1817 Act to require notice to be given to magistrates for any public meetings
-Blasphemous and Seditious Libels Act- set penalties for libel at 17 yrs transportation
-Misdemeanours Act- sped up process of charging people and getting trial
-Newspaper and Stamp Duties Act- raised stamp duty to 4d on any publication which was at least monthly cost and cost less than 6d

What did the govt make use of?

Agent provocateurs

Who were agent provocateurs?

Individuals who went undercover within reformist groups to gather evidence of illegal activity

What's some evidence of failure by radical reformers by 1819?

Lack of progress with objectives:
-Hadn't achieved goals and failed to meet objectives. Annual gen elections not a serious possibility. Middle classes didn't have vote or greater rep in constitution, rotten boroughs continued to be over-rep in contrast to under-rep, mainly northern, urban centres. No aims met.

Inability to overcome opposition:
-Mass protest movement and ideas of radical thinkers proven unable to overcome opposition of govt. Willingness of Parliament to pass acts aimed at opposing ideas severely hampered reformist efforts. LCS effectively weakened by 1799 Combined Acts. Stamp duty forced underground publications, 1795 + 1817 acts made it difficult to org mass protests. Putting leaders on trial was an insurmountable obstacle.

Lack of co-ordination within the movement:
-Reformist movement not unified nor co-ordinated. Not a movement as not organised. Cobbett, Hunt and Cartwright published and debated ideas, no unified leadership. Easy for govt to oppose.

What's some evidence of success by radical reformers by 1819?

Creating an awareness of the issues:
-But, simply to dismiss extra-parliamentary protest would be to overlook achievements. Generated awareness of dissatisfaction in gen pop. Generated strong opposition that govt showed, made reform important political issue. Liberal media criticised govt. Impossible for govt to ignore esp after Peterloo.

Setting the scene for future progression:
-General awareness and parliamentary discussion around reform laid out foundations for reform crisis 1780-32. Debate about representation didn't completely disappear in 1820s. Poor harvest 1829 led to upsurge in reform movement. Influenced Whigs to propose parliamentary reform; combined w pressure from reappearance of popular protests and political unions, led to 1832 Rep of People Act.

What events influenced extra-parliamentary protest?

-American War of Independence 1775-83 showed govt could be challenged, raised ideas of freedom and political independence.

-French Rev 1789-99 created debate over whether traditional elites really deserved to maintain their power. Furthered idea that all men are fundamentally equal.

-End of Napoleonic War 1815 led to 300,000 men returning to Britain to find work, drove down wages. Combined with bad harvests, price of bread rose, created popular discontent against wealthy elites and demand for change.

What were the Tory govt policies which only benefitted the middle and upper classes?

-Corn Laws 1815
-Poor Employment Act 1817
-Wartime income tax

What were the Corn Laws 1815?

Kept corn prices high to protect farmers, but drove up bread prices for the poor

What was the Poor Employment Act 1817?

-Inadequate for the scale of economic problems
-Govt ignored requests for financial relief in poorest areas

What was wartime income tax?

Mainly affected middle classes, abolished, govt short of money and still taxed poor

What did Thomas Paine publish? What was it?

-Rights of Man 1791 after the French Rev.
-Intended to be a defence for the values of rev, became a criticism of govts which failed to protect basic human freedoms.

What did Paine argue?

Emphasised that in countries like Britain, only a fraction of those who paid taxes had the right to vote

How was Rights of Man received?

Published in 8 editions in its first year, widely read in Britain as well as Europe

What happened to Paine in 1792?

Govt took action against him and he moved to France

Who was John Cartwright?

An advocate of universal suffrage and political reform

What did John Cartwright form? When?

Hampden Club 1812

What was the Hampden Club and what did it aim to do?

A meeting aiming to get middle-class moderates to unite with working class radicals

What happened to John Cartwright in 1813? Why?

Arrested because too radical

What happened in 1816 as a result of the Hampden Club?

Supporters began opening Hampden Clubs outside London

What happened with the Hampden Club in Manchester?

Formed the Patriotic Union Society and organised Peterloo

Were the Hampden Clubs effective?

No because there was a divide between those who wanted universal suffrage and those who wanted extended suffrage for those with property- but did spread political ideas

Who was William Cobbett?

Journalist and writer

What were William Cobbett's ideas?

-Not a radical, but wanted to return Britain to a more harmonious, peaceful place.
-Saw political system and limited voting as a repressive system, compared to the past.

What did William Cobbett do before the Political Register?

Accused the army of corruption, fled to USA before returning to Britain in 1800

What did Cobbett turn his anger of corrupt elections into?

A protest newspaper called the Political Register

What did the govt do to stop the sale of the Political Register?

Raised taxes on newspapers to 4d to prevent poor from buying them

What did Cobbett do in reaction to raised newspaper taxes?

Published a pamphlet instead for 2d

What did the Political Register have a circulation of? Who by?

40,000 working-class

What was Henry Hunt known as?

'Orator' Hunt

When was Hunt imprisoned?

1820 for 2 and a half years

What did he inspire working-class people to do?

View universal suffrage as a prize worth seeking