Radical reformers, 1790 - 1819

Depth Topic 1/5. (1-6 FR affects on British Radicals); (7-

What is the time period for Radical Reformers?

1790 - 1819

When was The French Revolution?

1789 - 99

It was an attack on aristocratic privilege, and it aimed to stop it.

When/What was the French/American Rev and its affects?

1789 - 99

FR = was an attack on aristocratic privilege, and it aimed to stop it.

It had a profound impact on British politics.

AR = colonists in North America had rejected taxation by the Crown

- They were British subjects rebelling against the British monarchs.

What was the response to the FR?

August 1789: Declaration of the Rights of Man & of the Citizen.

1792: Paine’s Rights of Man Pt.II - 200,000 copies (1792) - Defended the rev against Burke

Some Whigs had a positive view (e.g. Fox)

Burke urged caution (Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790)

= Burke and Pitt were former reformers, now part of the conservative party

What was the economic context of Britain and its affects?

Tax burdens c.1780 had led to ‘economic reforms’ (Burke) - Civil Service Act, 1782, reforms against the monarchy.

The radical wave from 1791-2 most down to Paine

= Paine criticised the aristocracy as consumers, not producers.

War with France, 1793-1815, = dislocated economy

= 22 years

= Trade disruption, Increased cost of living, Higher taxes

= As bad weather hit the harvest support for radical reformers took on more of a mass character.

= The indirect tax affected poor people (bread, sugar etc taxed)

= Food and bread riots

What did the economic issues cause?

Suffering inspired attack on King’s Carriage, Oct 1795

= Islington - c. 100,000 - 150,000

What were the corresponding societies and its impact on politics?

Established 1792-5 due to the publication of the Rights of Man and the FR.

Societies in London (Led by Thomas Hardy), Norwich, Sheffield and Edinburgh

LCS = 5,000 paying members

1794-5 = NCS & SCS = 2,000 each

The aims are for universal suffrage, an annual parliament, spread of ideas.

‘Members Unlimited’ = 1 pence per week subscription

A mass meeting of Oct. 1795, LDN, 100,000

Threatened politics is no longer limited to elites.

What was the backlash to politcal radicalism?

Loyalist Associations established Nov, 1792 by John Reeves

= Gov funded organisation for preserving Liberty and Property against Republicans and Levellers.

= Counter - narrative to radicals

May 1792, Royal Proclamation against Seditious Libel allowed for:

Dec 1792 ‘Paine outlawed in absentia; Rights of Man banned as sedition.

Feb. 1793: radicalism under attack as war begins with France

= E.P Thompson - ‘White Terror’

Suspension of Habeas Corpus ‘Right to a fair trial’ May 1794

= Effigies of Paine burned; May 1794,

= May 1794 = Hardy was arrested with 49 others for treason.

Dec 1795 - Treasonable Practices and Seditious Meetings Act (banned meetings of over 50)

What was the causes of Radicalism in Britain during 1792-5?

Ideas associated with the revolution in America and France.

Thomas Paine’s ‘Rights of Man’, 1791-2

The existence of a cheap press and six-penny copies of Paine’s work.

Economic dislocation caused by the war from 1793.

The tradition of well-educated artisans is linked to combinations.

Unreformed parliament combined with demographic change.

Discipline and organisation of Corresponding Societies

Poor Harvests and high prices during 1794-5.

When was the War with France?

1793 - 1815

How did Enclosure affect Radicalism? (Industrail Rev)

1760 - 1820: Enclosure at its peak; common rights to land lost.

= Those forced off land = to the town/city of stay as agricultural labourers.

How did Industrial Rev affect Radicalism?

New machines in industry: spinning mule (1779), power loom (1785)

= pre-industrial rev, most manufacturers worked from home - domestic industry.

= Post 1810, power loom = more common. Threat to weavers

The invention of new machinery undermined old skills and replaced the moral economy with a market one.

= workers lost status; ex artisans; lost self-sufficiency.

The long war wth France exacerbated existing economic problems. (1793 - 15)

How did the war wih france impact radicalism?

War began Feb. 1793 - 1815 (22 years)

= This led to loyalism

= Loyalist Association was established, 1792.

= 1799: Unlawful Societies Act, LCS outlawed

1799: The Combination Act (Trade Unions) meant that the w/c had no way of seeking political solutions to the social and economic challenges they faced.

During the war, political radicalism was forced underground

Bread prices (food) soared due to the disruption of trade with the Continent

= Continental System 1806 = Napoleon attempted to stop trade with Britain.

Food riots = 1795, 1800-1; worsened Order in Council 1807 = response didn’t allow the French to trade with Britain & it colonies.

Who and what were the Luddites?

A symptom of radicalism being forced underground

1811-16 = workers in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

1811 - attacks carried out on factories in Nottingham, Lancaster, Yorkshire

Targets: new machines, esp. power looms & shearing frames.

= Luddite textile workers experiencing loss of status & wages due to new industrial tech.

Men with blackened faces claimed to be led by ‘Ned Ludd’

= 1812: 12,000 soldiers employed in Northern England against Luddites.

Frame-Breaking Act (1812): This sabotage a capital offence.

What were the post-war legislation? (economic)

Post-war Gov’t needed to make money in order to pay off debts.

= 300,000 men demobilised, adding more pressure on the economy.

After the war, interest on loans took up 80% of government income.

Wartime income tax was replaced by taxes on sugar, tea, beer, etc.

= Gov decisions after the war seemed like class legislation.

1815: Corn Laws introduced = high prices on imported corn.

= 1815 - 19: See major spikes in radical activity.

What years were the corresponding societies active?

1791/2 - 1799

What areas were the corresponding societies areas most active?

London, Norwich, Sheffield, Edinburgh

Who were the leaders of the corresponding societies?

Thomas Hardy,

Thomas Muir = Arrested before he could set up a National convention in Edinburgh

What was the social composition of the corresponding societies?

Aritsans (skilled workers)

What was the membership size of the corresponding societies?

5,000 paying members in London

2,000 in Sheffield and Norwich

Open to members unlimited

Payed one pence

Mass meeting of 100,000 in LDN, Oct 1795

What was the causes of protest for the corresponding societies?

Tom Paine, French Rev, Unreformed Parliament

What was the methods of protest for the corresponding societies?

Corresponding = Spread of Knowledge

Ocasional Mass Meetings

Regular Small Meetings

Whats was the aims of the corresponding socieites?

Reform parliament, universal male suffrage, spread knowledge of rights, national convention.

What years were the Luddites most active?

1811 - 1813 (1816)

What areas were the Luddites most active?

Textile counties of the North

Lancashire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lecistershire.

Who were the leaders of the Luddites?

Ned Lud

What was the social composition of the Luddites?

Aritsans, weavers etc.

What was the membership size of the Luddites?

The exact numbers are unknown

But 12,000 soldiers were employed in the North to resist them so they must of had enough.

What was the causes of protest of the Luddites?

Industrial Rev, Factories, Machinery, Governments removal to put tax on new machiery.

What was the methods of protest for the Luddites?

Attacked machinery, Mills and factories.

What was the aims of the Luddites?

Return to a moral economy,

Wanted to compete fairly with machinery

Wanted a tax on it but was rejected.

Who/What is William Cobbett and his Political Register?

Began as a Toury journalist and transformed into a radical one.

Established his register in 1800 and became one of the leading independent sources.

By 1805, it had a circulation of 4,000

Due to the increasing tax on newspapers, it was too expensive for the w/c, so he issued a single sheet of the register for 2 pence. 1816

The first edition of the new publication, To the Journeymen and Labourers of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, was a huge success,

By the end of 1817, 200,000 copies had been printed and circulated.

Cobbett’s opponents labelled it the ‘two-penny trash’, which Cobbett was happy to employ.

When was the Hampden Clubs established?

John Cartwright formed the club in London in 1812

What is the Hampden Clubs?

Exclusive: as a high annual subscription of £2, limiting its number to a small number of m/c & aristocratic men.

1816: Regional clubs were created, open to all who could pay a weekly subscription of one penny.

Invited local delegates to a plenary meeting in LDN and agreed on:

= Universal male suffrage

= Annual parliament

= approved a broad strategy of petitioning to introduce reforms. (700 to parl during 1817)

Magistrates in Manchester & surrounding towns employed spies who attended the club meetings, acting on these exaggerated reports

So, arrested club members, charged with attending seditious meetings. As well as some local leaders being arrested for a few months.

When was the Spa Fields meeting?

December 1816

The Spa Field meeting, December 1816

Reform meetings in LDN during the early months of 1816 proved uncontroversial.

The followers of Thomas Spence were unhappy with the moderate stance & planned a mass meeting in East London, hoping for violent rioting and disorder.

Henry Hunt gathered a meeting of 10,000 and the aim was not contentous as Hunt asked to present a petition to the Prince Reagent, urging him to reform parliament.

This was not received so a second protest was called on the 2nd December.

At the 2nd meeting, the Spenceans stirred up sections of the crowd and urged them to take a course of direct action before Hunt’s speech.

A number of people looted a number of gunsmiths and set off to seize the Tower of London and the Royal Exchange.

Due to the use of gov spies and agent provocateurs Lord Mayor of London was quick and dispersed the rioters.

Their leaders were arrested yet in light of the gov informer Castle who encouraged the riot the jury acquitted all the defendants.

When was the March of the Blanketeers?

March 1817

The March of the Blanketeers, March 1817

Manchester was one of the most underrepresented parts of the country and became a major hub of radical activities.

Textile workers intended to march to London to petition the Regent to improve the cotton trade.

A crowd of 10,000 saw off 300 marchers from Manchester but they didn’t get far

At Stockport, the local yeomanry arrested many marchers and dispersed the rest.

The remaining Blanketeers failed to get beyond Macclesfield.

They were encouraged by agent provocateurs including Oliver the spy.

The government was aware of the route they would follow.

When was the Pentrich Rising?

June 1817

The Pentrich Rising, June 1817

A combination of economic distress and gov provocation led radicals in the former Luddite counties of Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire to take more violent mesures.

Oliver, the agent provocateur, intended to lead the Pentrich activists into illegal and treasonable activities. March to London

Jeremiah Brandreth led 200-300 men toward from Derbyshire to Nottingham, intending to seize the city and gain 10,000 more men.

The rebels were intercepted by soldiers before they could march the city, and 80 were arrested.

30 men were transported, Brandreth along with 2 others who were hanged and beheaded in public.

When was the Peterloo Massacre?

1819

What was the Peterloo Massacre, 1819

Following a wave of economic strikes in Lancashire and Cheshire during 1818, the Manchester area remained the most polarised and class-driven part of the country.

A planned radical meeting there in 1819 was awaited by the authorities with a mixture of aminosity and anxiety. At St. Peter’s Field

Attracted 60,000 - 80,000 men, women and children.

Henry ordered no weapons

They wore their Sunday best and practised military drilling on the moors.

18 dead and over 650 injured.

Magistrates issued a warrant for Hunt’s arrest and ordered Manchester and Salford yeomanry to ride through the crowd and arrest Hunt.

Several groups carried banners calling for universal suffrage and annual parliaments.

How did Pitt’s repress the raidcals in the 1790s?

May & Dec 1792: proclamations against seditious writings

= reaction to Tom Paine’s ‘Rights of Man’

= sold 200,000 copies by 1792

May 1794: 41 members of LCS arrested for treason (Thomas Hardy)

= reaction to The Reign of Terror in Paris (1793-4) 16,000 guillotined.

May 1794 - July 1795: Habeaus Corpus was suspended in 1795 as well as the Sediotus Meetings and Treasonable Practices Act

= Reaction to corresponding societies,

= mass meeting Oct 1794 of 100,000 in LDN

= Reaction to King Carriage Attack Oct 1975

1799: Combination Act and banning of the LCS

• legislation forces radicalism underground e.g. secret societies, Luddites.

= Seen as a threat as legislation onslaught led to the impression of Civil Liberties and of political societies.

Pitt and Burke took a leading part intellectually, two men who had previously been associated with modest attempts of reform.

What legislation occured to prevent machine-breaking?

Feb. 1812: law-making machine-breaking a capital offence.

= Frame Breaking Act

= PM, Spencer Perceval was shot and died (1809-12)

July 1812: law-making felonies oath-taking a capital offence.

= Unlawful Oath Act = response of Luddites and Secret Societies.

Summer 1812: 12,000 soldiers employed in main Luddite counties.

April 1812: 23 Lancashire Luddites sentenced death; 21 transportation.

What did the government rely due to the lack of police?

Due to the lack of any kind of police force in Britain until the 1820s and 1830s, the government relied on 3 main efforts to deal with radicals:

1) Use of regular military and local militias, of the kind used in Manchester in 1819

2) Use of Spies, overseen by Sidmoth’s Committee of Secrecy

3) Suppression of knowledge, through stamp duty, but also the royal proclamation against seditious writings.

How did Spies and Agent provocateurs repress radicalism?

1789-1815: newspaper duty put up from 1 ½d. to 4d.

= ‘Tax on Knowledge’

Agent Provocateur, Oliver, incited the Pentrich rising, June 1817.

Castles = Agent Provocateur at Spa Fields.

This led to the execution of Brandreth and the Transportation of 30.

The last words of one ‘This is work of the government & Oliver’

When was the Gagging Acts?

March 1817

What were the ‘Gagging Acts’, March 1817 and its effects?

‘Gagging Acts’ = Treason Act and Seditious Meetings Act

= The same acts passed in 1795 after attacks on the King’s Carriage.

= This was a response to an attack on the Regent’s Carriages (jan 1817)

Treason Act: suspended habeas corpus for the first time since 1795.

Seditious Meetings Act: forbade meetings of more than 50

= These acts expired in July 1818

Acts were overseen by Home Secretary, Viscount Sidmouth.

= William Cobbett left for the US due to the threat of prosecution.

When was the Six Act?

1819

What was the ‘Six Acts’ of 1819 and it effets?

The aftermath of Peterloo was widespread disturbances and protest meetings mainly across the North of England and the Midlands.

Gov had commended the actions at Manchester.

= Lord Liverpool (PM) and Viscount Sidmouth (Home Security) congrats the magistrates.

Acts 1 & 2: banned drilling & permitted searches for weapons.

= Prohibited military drilling and training.

= Military drilling on the moors around Manchester leading up to Peterloo.

Acts 3 & 4: sped up court processes & banned meetings over 50.

= previously happened in 1795 & 1818.

Acts 5 & 6: tougher sentences for libel & put up stamp duty/

= ‘‘Tax on Knowledge.’