How serious was the threat of radicals?

• Lord Liverpool:

  • born 1770 - died 1828
  • dates in office -> 1812 -1827
  • After the assassination of Spencer Perceval in 1812, the Earl of Liverpool was asked to form a government.
  • Few expected him to survive in office very long, as at first his government seemed very insecure -> Whig party was weak and disunited, and he was able to draw on the talents of individuals such as Sidmouth, the Duke of Wellington, Castlereagh and Canning.
  • During the 1820s Lord Liverpool’s policy became increasingly liberal, and a period of economic prosperity began
• Luddism:

  • many working men saw their livelihoods threatened by the introduction of machinery
  • militant, destructive groups
  • smashed new machines, committed arson
  • based themselves on the fictitious Ned Ludd
  • direct response to the change of production
  • Horsefall (mill owner) was murdered in Yorkshire 1812
• Luddism cont'd:

  • short term -> the transition meant poverty and hardship for many ordinary workers
  • long term -> increase in production and wealth in Britain
• Luddism: government response

  • 1812 -> the death penalty was introduced for machine breaking by Liverpools predecessor Spencer Perceval
  • 12 000 troops were stationed in industrial areas
  • spies + informants reported to the authorities
  • 1814 -> movement was quashed
• Why was luddism significant?

  It demonstrated that industrial change was causing hardship. Showed that workers could organise themselves and that controlling them would need a lot of man power. Highlighted how poor trading conditions and high food prices could lead to dangerous levels of unrest.
• The Queen Caroline Affair 1820:

  • George III died in 1820 and his son George IV became King
  • his estranged wife wanted to take her place as queen but George barred her from his coronation and tried to get the government to pass a bill to end their marriage -> he claimed that she was immoral as said by Lady Douglas, although he had introduced her to his mistress
  • public sided with her -> always been popular with the public, whereas George and Lord Liverpool’s government were unpopular oppressed- a victim of a corrupt aristocracy
• The Peterloo Massacre 1819:

  • parliamentary reform meeting at St.Peter's field in Manchester
  • attracted an enormous but peaceful crowd of about 60 000 people
  • organised by the leaders of the Manchester Patriotic Union -> Henry "Orator" Hunt invited to speak about reform
  • magistrates, who had been nervous before the event, were alarmed by the size and mood of the crowd and ordered the Manchester yeomenry to arrest the speakers immediately after the meeting had begun
  • 15 were killed (one being and infant rode over by cavalry) and 400 wounded
• Why was it called Peterloo?

  It was called Peterloo in mocking reference to Waterloo. It caused public outrage.
• The Cato Street Conspiracy 1820:

  • Thistlewood hatched a plan to murder the entire British cabinet
  • believed the Lords of Parliament were the architects of all the suffering in the country
  • would kill them as they dined at Lord Harrowby's house
  • py George Edwards relayed information to the spy master, Home Secretary Lord Sidmouth. In exchange for his service, Sidmouth gave Edwards the resources to provoke the radical Londoners into action
  • Bow Street Runners had already received a warrant for their arrest and were lying in wait
• The Cato Street Conspiracy 1820:

  • 5 men, including John Harrison, pled guilty to their crimes, and were sentenced to transportation for life and were sent to penal colonies in Australia
  • Five others refused to admit guilt for actions they did not see as criminal. During the trial, conspirator William Davidson used the rights inscribed in the Magna Carta, to justify their radical action
  • Davidson, Arthur Thistlewood, Richard Tidd, James Ings, and Robert Brunt, were convicted of High Treason and were sentenced to being hanged, drawn, and quartered
• John Cartwright 1740-1824:

  • naval officer and later a major in the Nottinghamshire militia -> sympathised with the American Colonist
  • he wrote a book urging parliamentary reform and campaigned for reform throughout his life
• Henry Hunt 1773-1835:

  • prosperous Wiltshire farmer who became committed to the cause of radical democracy
  • known as orator for his powerful speeches
• The Luddite Riots 1811-1817:

  • workers were apart of three trades: the croppers (woolen cloth), the cotton weavers, the framework knitters
  • 1811 -> 1000 frames destroyed (£6000)
  • 1812 -> 10 killed
  • 1817-> 17 hung
• The Spa Fields Meetings in London 1816:

  • 3 separate meetings --> 15th November, 2nd December, 9th December
  • second ended in a riot ->Spenceans hoped to use the gathering as a ‘test-run’ for a full-scale rebellion, to gauge how much popular support they might command
  • Hunt was the main speaker -> invited by the Spencean Philanthropists, and he urged for universal suffarage
  • Thistlewood and Preston were more extreme and wanted to overthrow the monarchy
  • several hours of rioting
  • marched on the Royal Exchange
• The March of the Blanketeers 1817:

  • marching to London to petition the Prince Regent over the desperate state of the textile industry in Lancashire and the recent suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act
  • set off from Manchester
  • 600 men walked in groups of 10 all with petitions to help their industry
  • 200 arrested at stockport
  • 13 leaders sent to prison -> nothing came from the petition
  • Manchester magistrates formed the short-lived Manchester and Salford Yeomanry, intended to combat any future attempts at insurrection. It became infamous two years later for its role in the Peterloo Massacre.
• The Derbyshire Rising 1817:

  • encouraged by gov. spy Oliver
  • 300 stocking makers and quarry men from Derbyshire led by Jeremiah Brandreth
  • seize Nottingham Castle -> 14 miles away
  • said all would rise
  • 3 leaders executed
  • Derbyshire Insurrection of Unemployed
• William Cobbett 1762-1835:

  • farmer's son from Surrey who was a solider and became a journalist
  • Political Register of 1802 -> pro government
  • he became more radical and from 1812 it was a low-cost pamphlet urging reform
  • imprisoned from 1810-1812
  • fled to the USA -> 1817
  • supported the reform of parliament
  • break the oligarchy
• Thomas Spence and the Spencean Philanthropist:

  • Thomas Spence was a self-taught radical teacher from Newcastle
  • produced and sold radical pamphlets and helped to form the London Corresponding Society
  • arrested and imprisoned 5 times
  • believed in abolishing landlords and aristocrats
  • universal suffrage
  • assisting the poor especially children
  • Spencean Philanthropists was outlawed in 1817
  • his life of persecution and poverty was an inspiration to later radicals