Mr William Cobbett, Captain Swing, and King William IV

Agricultural History Review

Volumn 45, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 34-48

  Wells, Roger ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 6244295068     PISSN: 00021490     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
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References (127)

1. E J Hobsbawm and G Rudé, Captain Swing, 1973 ed, p 43.
2. J Stevenson, Popular Disturbances in England 1700-1832, 2nd ed, 1992, esp p 269. A Armstrong, Farmworkers. A Social and Economic History 1770-1980, 1988, esp p 75.
3. J Stevenson, Popular Disturbances in England 1700-1832, 2nd ed, 1992, esp p 269. A Armstrong, Farmworkers. A Social and Economic History 1770-1980, 1988, esp p 75.
4. A Charlesworth, Social Protest in a Rural Society: The Spatial Diffusion of the Captain Swing Disturbances of 1830-1831, Norwich, 1979.
5. Curiously, Quinault approvingly cites a contemporary pamphleteer's view that the 'husbandry labourers conceived that...they...were to be the chief objects of effecting a revolution', to assert - without a shred of evidence - that the 'labourers were roused to action by the revolutions across the Channel': R Quinault, 'The French Revolution of 1830 and parliamentary reform', History, 79, 1994, esp 389.
6. W Baring Pemberton, William Cobbett, 1949, pp 155-62.
7. I Dyke, William Cobbett and Rural Popular Culture, 1992, pp 157-9, and notes 20 and 27.
8. If the nation 'be not sick' wrote Cobbett privately, 'when...Kent is getting up a general petition for the postponement of the hoptax, I do not know what will be considered a sign of sickness. Indeed, such a sign of insolvency was never witnessed before': Cobbett to Mr Sapsford, 13 April 1829, Nuffield [College, Cobbett Collection], IV, 38, f I.
9. England in 1830 being a Letter to Earl Grey, 1831, passim; Kent Herald, 9 June 1830.
10. Draft reply by George Courthope to the Poor Law Commission, nd (Dec 1832 or Jan 1833), E[ast] S[ussex] C[ounty] R[ecord] O[ffice], SAS, Co/C/230; Maidstone Gazette, 23 Nov 1830.
11. Although the Kent county election was not contested, with representation split between the anti-Reformer Sir Edward Knatchbull and the Whig Thomas Law Hodges, the latter's sponsor on the Penenden Heath hustings on 9 August urged electors to examine the 'critical state of the country' which was 'Overwhelmed by debt, contracted...by the convenience of those who called themselves the representatives of the people, but who were in fact nominated by the aristocracy, and paid for by the Ministers...That was the canker which consumed us, and while there was rottenness at the root, the branches could not flourish'. Parliamentary reform was vital if electors 'wished to preserve themselves and their families from pauperism, and their country from ruin': Kent Herald, 12 Aug 1830.
12. Ibid, 5, 12 and 26 Aug, and 13 Sept 1830.
13. They convened at the Eight Bells. Sussex Advertiser, 13 and 20 Sept, and 11 Oct 1830; Hastings and Cinque Ports Iris, 27 Nov 1830; Brighton Gazette, 28 Nov 1833.
14. They convened at the Eight Bells. Sussex Advertiser, 13 and 20 Sept, and 11 Oct 1830; Hastings and Cinque Ports Iris, 27 Nov 1830; Brighton Gazette, 28 Nov 1833.
15. They convened at the Eight Bells. Sussex Advertiser, 13 and 20 Sept, and 11 Oct 1830; Hastings and Cinque Ports Iris, 27 Nov 1830; Brighton Gazette, 28 Nov 1833.
16. Cobbett, in London, immediately commenced canvassing for subscriptions: 'It is the pennies of the working people that I want'. His itinerary took in Dartford, Gravesend, Rochester, Maidstone, Tonbridge, Battle, Lewes, Brighton, Chichester, Portsmouth, Gosport, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, between 11 and 26 October which 'I may find...impossible; but I will do it if I can'. In the event he terminated the tour at Lewes, though he additionally performed at Eastbourne: Political Register, 7 and 25 Aug, 4 and 25 Sept, 2 and 9 Oct 1830, and 16 July 1831.
17. Postmaster, Maidstone, to Sir F Freeling, 14 Oct 1830, P[ublic] RO, H[ome] O[ffice] 52/8, f 333. For Cobbett at Lewes, see C Brent, Georgian Lewes 1714-1830, Lewes, 1993, p 200; R Wells, 'Social protest, class, conflict and consciousness, in the English countryside, 1700-1880', in M Reed and R Wells, eds, Class, Conflict and Protest in the English Countryside 1700-1880, 1990, p 184.
18. Postmaster, Maidstone, to Sir F Freeling, 14 Oct 1830, P[ublic] RO, H[ome] O[ffice] 52/8, f 333. For Cobbett at Lewes, see C Brent, Georgian Lewes 1714-1830, Lewes, 1993, p 200; R Wells, 'Social protest, class, conflict and consciousness, in the English countryside, 1700-1880', in M Reed and R Wells, eds, Class, Conflict and Protest in the English Countryside 1700-1880, 1990, p 184.
19. Peel to Camden, 16, 18, 22, 25 and 26 Oct 1830, K[ent] CRO, U840/C250/1-7.
20. F S Andrus, 'Extracts from the miscellany and farm accounts of Francis Andrus of Scadbury in the parish of Southfleet', Archaeologia Cantiana, C, 1984, p 376.
21. Cobbett had taken Ashburnham to task for publishing an address arguing that labourers who kept guns at home should not be employed: Political Register, 8 Jan 1831.
22. Ashburnham to Camden, nd, PRO, HO 52/8, f 219. According to Cobbett's own brief résumé, his two-hour peroration introduced few new elements to his customary litany of attacks on press restrictions, notably printing press licences and the newspaper taxes, state pensions, sinecures, taxes, and eulogies on the recent overthrow of the tyrannical Bourbon government; he reported that 'the working people in many of the towns and villages in Kent had subscribed their pennies to the widows of Paris'. He reiterated his advocacy of labourers joining farmers to petition for parliamentary reform as the prerequisite for reduced taxes, and repeated his warning to Wellington that like the French revolutionaries, farmworkers would rather be hanged or shot than starved: Political Register, 23 Oct 1830. His speeches were not denounced by either the local Whig or Tory press: see Sussex Advertiser, 18 and 25 Oct, and Brighton Gazette, 21 Oct 1830.
23. Ashburnham to Camden, nd, PRO, HO 52/8, f 219. According to Cobbett's own brief résumé, his two-hour peroration introduced few new elements to his customary litany of attacks on press restrictions, notably printing press licences and the newspaper taxes, state pensions, sinecures, taxes, and eulogies on the recent overthrow of the tyrannical Bourbon government; he reported that 'the working people in many of the towns and villages in Kent had subscribed their pennies to the widows of Paris'. He reiterated his advocacy of labourers joining farmers to petition for parliamentary reform as the prerequisite for reduced taxes, and repeated his warning to Wellington that like the French revolutionaries, farmworkers would rather be hanged or shot than starved: Political Register, 23 Oct 1830. His speeches were not denounced by either the local Whig or Tory press: see Sussex Advertiser, 18 and 25 Oct, and Brighton Gazette, 21 Oct 1830.
24. Ashburnham to Camden, nd, PRO, HO 52/8, f 219. According to Cobbett's own brief résumé, his two-hour peroration introduced few new elements to his customary litany of attacks on press restrictions, notably printing press licences and the newspaper taxes, state pensions, sinecures, taxes, and eulogies on the recent overthrow of the tyrannical Bourbon government; he reported that 'the working people in many of the towns and villages in Kent had subscribed their pennies to the widows of Paris'. He reiterated his advocacy of labourers joining farmers to petition for parliamentary reform as the prerequisite for reduced taxes, and repeated his warning to Wellington that like the French revolutionaries, farmworkers would rather be hanged or shot than starved: Political Register, 23 Oct 1830. His speeches were not denounced by either the local Whig or Tory press: see Sussex Advertiser, 18 and 25 Oct, and Brighton Gazette, 21 Oct 1830.
25. Peel referred to Cobbett's lectures at the Rotunda in London, where popular radicals of all hues convened, and were watched by Home Office spies. Peel also sought the Crown Law Officers' opinions on whether the reported 'proceedings' of Cobbett, Henry Hunt, Richard Carlile and others, 'contained anything of a 'Seditious or illegal nature': R Wells, 'Rural rebels in southern England in the 18305', in C Emsley and J Walvin, eds, Artisans, Peasants and Proletarians 1760-1860, 1985, pp 134-5, and note 50, sources cited there; C Bouchier, assistant Treasury Solicitor, to the Attorney General, 13 Nov and 18 Dec, and under-secretary Phillipps, Home Office, 15 Nov, Peel to the Law Officers, 10 Nov 1830, PRO, T[reasury] S[olicitor] 2/23, pp 13, 15, 51; HO 49/7, p 406.
26. Home Office rewards were customarily restricted to maximums of £100 in cases of firing at soldiers on duty, though Peel added 'precedents...[are] immaterial in a case like this': Peel to Camden, 18 Oct 1830, KCRO, U840/C250/3.
27. These assurances were received at a pre-arranged meeting at the Home Office on 29 October with two justices from Wingham who were 'pressing for the dispatch of Police Officers', to which Camden was now invited, together with Sir Edward Knatchbull, and any other magistrates Camden wished to include: Peel to Camden, 26 Oct 1830, PRO, HO 52/10, ff 372-3. For the dispatch of policemen to the provinces, see Phillipps to stipendiary magistrates at Marlborough Street, Queen's Square and Hatton Garden, 29 Oct 1830, PRO, HO 60/2, p 64. George Maule's subsequent movements can be plotted from his letters to the Home Office, PRO, HO 40/27 (2), and the Treasury Solicitor's out-letter books, PRO, TS 2/22-4., 3/22.
28. Other office business was 'delayed by the present disturbed state of the Country wh. occupies the attention of my office exclusively': Bouchier to C Ford, 6 Dec 1830, PRO, TS 2/23, p 40.
29. Marchioness of Lansdowne to Lady Frampton, 29 Nov 1830: H G Mundy, ed, The Journal of Mary Frampton 1779-1846, 1885, pp 363-4; R Pollen, Winchester, to Philhpps, 26 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 52/7, ff 25-7.
30. Maule to Phillipps, 8 and 15 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 4.0/27 (2), ff 62-3, 68-9.
31. Grey to Holland, 23 Nov 1830, B[ritish] L[ibrary] Add Mss, 51555, ff 79-81.
32. Indeed ministers also decided that all depositions respecting Swing offences received by the Home Office, and the Treasury Solicitor, should be inspected by the Crown's Law Officers: Grey to William IV, 23 Nov 1830, Earl Grey, ed, The Reform Act 1832. The Correspondence of...Earl Grey with... William IV and...Sir Herbert Taylor, 2 vols, 1867, I, pp 3-5; CCF Greville, ed, The Greville Memoirs, 5 vols, 2nd ed, 1874, II, p 73; Hobsbawm and Rude, Captain Swing, p 218.
33. Indeed ministers also decided that all depositions respecting Swing offences received by the Home Office, and the Treasury Solicitor, should be inspected by the Crown's Law Officers: Grey to William IV, 23 Nov 1830, Earl Grey, ed, The Reform Act 1832. The Correspondence of...Earl Grey with... William IV and...Sir Herbert Taylor, 2 vols, 1867, I, pp 3-5; CCF Greville, ed, The Greville Memoirs, 5 vols, 2nd ed, 1874, II, p 73; Hobsbawm and Rude, Captain Swing, p 218.
34. Indeed ministers also decided that all depositions respecting Swing offences received by the Home Office, and the Treasury Solicitor, should be inspected by the Crown's Law Officers: Grey to William IV, 23 Nov 1830, Earl Grey, ed, The Reform Act 1832. The Correspondence of...Earl Grey with... William IV and...Sir Herbert Taylor, 2 vols, 1867, I, pp 3-5; CCF Greville, ed, The Greville Memoirs, 5 vols, 2nd ed, 1874, II, p 73; Hobsbawm and Rude, Captain Swing, p 218.
35. On the decision to appoint Special Commissions, the Home Office informed the Hampshire magistracy that 'It will be a good point to catch an Incendiary, and very little has yet been done in that way in any of the Counties': Phillipps to Richard Pollen JP, 25 Nov, and Maule, 7 Dec 1830, PRO, HO 41/8, pp 128-9, 419.
36. Battle protesters demanded increased wages for parish employees from the assistant overseer, who subsequently fled, and then regrouped on 1 Nov to intimidate Sir Godfrey Webster from imprisoning their leader: Sussex Advertiser, 8 Nov 1830.
37. Phillipps to Maule, and to F Claridge, Sevenoaks, 1 and 8 Nov; Peel to Camden 26 Oct 1830, PRO, HO 41/8, pp 24-5, 28, 52/8, ff 372-3.
38. Maule 'understood him to say' that the sentences 'could not have been otherwise under the circumstances which circumstances he was not at liberty to disclose'.
39. Maule to Phillipps, 1 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 40/27 (2), f 54.
40. Maule to Phillipps, 1 and 2 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 40/27 (2), ff 54-7; Maidstone Gazette, and Hastings Iris, 2 and 6 Nov 1830.
41. Maule to Phillipps, 5 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 40/27 (2), ff 58-9.
42. Maule to Phillipps, 2 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 40/27 (2), ff 60-1. Cf the argument in the Sussex Advertiser, 8 Nov 1830.
43. Maule to Philhpps, 5 and 7 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 40/27 (2), ff 58-61.
44. Deposition of William Hooper Bailey, butcher, 30 Oct. depositions against Price, Nov 1830, KCRO, Q/SBe/121, 124; Maidstone Gazette, 4 Jan 1831.
45. W Brock, The Great Reform Act, 1973, p 127.
46. Barton to Melbourne, and Phillipps to Barton and Bellingham, 26 and 30 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 41/8, pp 250-2, 52/10, ff 431-2.
47. Bellingham to Melbourne, 4 Dec 1830, PRO, HO 52/10, ff 445-6.
48. Brighton Herald, 13 Nov 1830. According to others 'The staying away of the King from Guildhall has caused a great Sensation - A great Mob is said to be...gathering at Battel to overawe the Military by Numbers': E J Curteis, and H Mascall, to H B Curteis, both to Nov 1830, ESCRO, AMS 5995/3/13-4.
49. Courthope to Lord Lieutenant Egremont, and to Peel, 7 and 11 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 52/10, ff 390-1, 618-9.
50. Maule to Phillipps, 8, 11, 12 and 15 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 40/27 (2), ff 62-71.
51. Balbiac, Battle, to Lord Fitzroy Somerset, 15 Nov, Courthope to Phillipps, 14, 15 and 16 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 52/8, ff 190-4, 52/10, ff 400-8.
52. BPP, 1834, Poor Law Commission, Appendix B, answer of Giles Miller, Goudhurst, to q 53; Affidavit, T T Hodges, Benenden, and G N Collingwood, to the Home Office, both 11 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 52/8, ff 166-9, 171-3; for copies of two handbills separately produced by London radical printers, Hetherington, and Harrison, PRO, HO 52/8, ff 320, 344.
53. Prosecution brief against Inskipp, PRO, TS 11/1007/4051; Bellingham and Barton, to Melbourne, 26 Nov, Postmaster, Battle, to Freeling, 27 Nov and 1 Dec, Freeling to Phillipps, 29 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 52/10, ff 431-7.
54. Political Register, 11 Dec 1830; Sir C M and W Burrell, to Melbourne, 25 Nov, W Burrell to Melbourne, 19, 21 and 28 Nov, C W Burrell to Phillipps, 5 Dec, T Sanctuary to Peel, 18 and 19 Nov, T Broadwood to Peel 21 Nov 1830, undated extract from letter to daughter of W Davies, PRO, HO 52/10, ff 534-7, 542-5, 548-9, 552-8, 565-6; deposition of J Mitchell, 3 Feb 1831, PRO, Assi[zes] 36/2;
55. Brighton Gazette, and Sussex Advertiser, 25 and 29 Nov 1830;
56. Hastings Iris, 19 Feb 1831.
57. The policeman, Johns, identified an informant, labourer Stedman allegedly 'sworn to secrecy' who refused to reveal names unless given a fresh identity well away from Horsham. The Home Office refused both John's request to bring Stedman to London for interrogation, and to reward him; the investigation was subsequently abruptly terminated by Melbourne: Phillipps to C M Burrell, 29 Nov, 9, II and 13 Dec, C M Burrell to Melbourne, 3 Dec 1830, PRO, HO 41/8, pp 198-9, 448-9, 473-4, 41/9, p 17, 52/10, ff 561-2.
58. Sussex Advertiser, 29 Nov 1830; Phillipps to C M Burrell, 29 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 41/8, pp 198-9; letters to Sanctuary from, Peel, Phillipps, and W Burrell, 19, 20 and 25 Nov; Sanctuary to Captain Trotter, and under-sheriff Medwin, 24 and 25 Nov 1830, Bodleian Library, Ms Top Sussex, C2, ff 10, 14, 18, 20, 22. The Battle correspondent for
59. The Times, 13 Nov 1830, reported that farmers were 'nearly as bad off' as their labourers, and viewed arson with 'comparative indifference...even...on their own farms; the corn and hay destroyed may be nominally theirs, but they are really the landlords to whom they are pledged for arrears of rent'. Courthope to Phillipps, and to Peel, 4 and 16 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 52/10, ff 401-8.
60. Mrs E Beard, Keymer, to her sister at Maidstone, 19 Dec 1830, ESCRO, AMS 5774/4/4.
61. Resolutions of East Sussex magistrates' meeting, Lewes, 1 Dec 1830, PRO, HO 52/10, ff 595-6; Sussex Advertiser, 29 Nov and 6 Dec 1830.
62. The possé's investigation of Goodman was instigated by two members, the architect John Vidler and draper John Sargent, not the professional policemen Clements: Bellingham to Melbourne, 3 and 4 Dec 1830, petition for reward, Vidler and others, 11 Jan, Maule to Messrs Slater and Sargent, 18 March 1831, PRO, HO 52/10, ff 444-6, TS 3/23 p 387, 5/18, pp 233-6; The Times, 24 Dec 1830.
63. Prosecution brief, and indictment, PRO, TS 11/1007/4051, Assi 35/270/5.
64. Richard Pennells was found guilty, recommended to mercy by the jury, and the death sentence was commuted to one month's imprisonment: The Times, 24 Dec 1830; indictment, PRO, Assi 35/270/5.
65. Mayor of Arundel, and Olliver, to the Home Office, 30 Nov and 4 Dec 1830, PRO, HO 52/10, ff 295-6, 299-300; The Times, 22 Dec 1830.
66. Maule to Phillipps, 17, 25, 26 and 30 Nov, and 6 Dec, Phillipps to Maule, 30 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 40/27 (2), ff 73-4, 83-6, 89-90, 93-4, 41/8. pp 256-7.
67. A seventh, a lass in domestic service accused of firing her employer's house, can hardly be counted as a Swing protester.
68. Maule to Phillipps, 28 and 29 Nov, 10 and 16 Dec, Phillipps to Maule, 16, 17 and 18 Nov, Peel to Postmaster-General, 16 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 40/27 (2), ff 89-94, 101-4, 41/8, pp 48-9, 55, 59-60; The Times, 17 and 25 Dec; B Reay, The Last Rising of the Agricultural Labourers, 1990, pp 75-7.
69. Maule to Phillipps, 28 and 29 Nov, 10 and 16 Dec, Phillipps to Maule, 16, 17 and 18 Nov, Peel to Postmaster-General, 16 Nov 1830, PRO, HO 40/27 (2), ff 89-94, 101-4, 41/8, pp 48-9, 55, 59-60; The Times, 17 and 25 Dec; B Reay, The Last Rising of the Agricultural Labourers, 1990, pp 75-7.
70. Phillipps to Maule, 30 Nov, Maule, London, to the landlord of the Crown Inn, Reading, and to Freeling, 22 and 24 Dec, Maule, Reading, to Phillipps, 28 Dec, C Bouchier to P Gibbon, 13 Dec 1830, PRO, HO 41/8, pp 256-7, 40/27 (2), ff 105-6, TS 2/23, pp 47, 62, 64.
71. Ministers entertained 'no fear of being beat' by the Tories, and calculated that they would not 'embark on prosecutions' without Peel's leadership. Peel had already left London for the Christmas break. Lord John Russell to Holland, 22 Dec, John Cam Hobhouse diary, 17 and 23 Dec 1830, BL, Add Mss 51677, ff 102-3, 56555, ff 75-7; The Times, 17, 18 and 24 Dec 1830.
72. Privately, Cobbett's excitement rose to fever pitch over this development at Crowhurst, adjacent to Battle: 'the labourers, and farmers too, in fact, have forbidden the collector of the assesed taxes to take any money out of the parish. That is it! That's coming to the point': Cobbett to Stopford, 26 Nov 1830, Nuffield IV/54, f 1.
73. Political Register, Oct to Dec 1830, esp issues of 27 Nov, 4 and 11 Dec 1830, and 22 Jan 1831. For Home Office annotations, see PRO, HO 52/10, ff 290-7, 333-43.
74. The Prompter, 18 Dec 1830.
75. It derived from the passage in the Political Register, 11 Dec 1830 on which Trevor's motion hinged. The Attorney-General also considered passages in Cobbett's monthly unstamped Twopenny Trash, issues V to VII (Nov 1830 to Jan 1831), but decided against enlarging the indictment to embrace - among other potential inclusions - the incisive observation, 'what defence is there against the torch? If there was but one man in every parish bent on the destruction of consumable property, the property would be a fourth part destroyed'. Cobbett resumed his Rotunda addresses on his return to London, and a report was passed to the Attorney-General: Maule to prosecuting counsel Wightman, and Attorney-General, 7 and 14 Feb 1831, indictment, and annotated copies of Twopenny Trash, Melbourne to the Attorney-General, 15 Dec 1830, PRO, TS 2/23, pp 217, 233, 11/73/237, HO 47/9, P 45; Grey to Taylor, 21 Feb 1831, Grey, Reform Act, I, pp 137-8.
76. It derived from the passage in the Political Register, 11 Dec 1830 on which Trevor's motion hinged. The Attorney-General also considered passages in Cobbett's monthly unstamped Twopenny Trash, issues V to VII (Nov 1830 to Jan 1831), but decided against enlarging the indictment to embrace - among other potential inclusions - the incisive observation, 'what defence is there against the torch? If there was but one man in every parish bent on the destruction of consumable property, the property would be a fourth part destroyed'. Cobbett resumed his Rotunda addresses on his return to London, and a report was passed to the Attorney-General: Maule to prosecuting counsel Wightman, and Attorney-General, 7 and 14 Feb 1831, indictment, and annotated copies of Twopenny Trash, Melbourne to the Attorney-General, 15 Dec 1830, PRO, TS 2/23, pp 217, 233, 11/73/237, HO 47/9, P 45; Grey to Taylor, 21 Feb 1831, Grey, Reform Act, I, pp 137-8.
77. It derived from the passage in the Political Register, 11 Dec 1830 on which Trevor's motion hinged. The Attorney-General also considered passages in Cobbett's monthly unstamped Twopenny Trash, issues V to VII (Nov 1830 to Jan 1831), but decided against enlarging the indictment to embrace - among other potential inclusions - the incisive observation, 'what defence is there against the torch? If there was but one man in every parish bent on the destruction of consumable property, the property would be a fourth part destroyed'. Cobbett resumed his Rotunda addresses on his return to London, and a report was passed to the Attorney-General: Maule to prosecuting counsel Wightman, and Attorney-General, 7 and 14 Feb 1831, indictment, and annotated copies of Twopenny Trash, Melbourne to the Attorney-General, 15 Dec 1830, PRO, TS 2/23, pp 217, 233, 11/73/237, HO 47/9, P 45; Grey to Taylor, 21 Feb 1831, Grey, Reform Act, I, pp 137-8.
78. Bushby, Goodman's fellow capital convict for incendiarism, had targetted his employer Olliver, with whom he had failed to re-negotiate changes to a threshing contract. Bushby reacted by refusing to work, complained of farmers 'driving' their workers, and threatening to appeal to the Bench: The Times, 24 Dec 1830; Maule to the Attorney-General, and to Kell & Co, Battle, 26 and 27 Dec 1830, second petition from Vidler and others of Battle for reward, 20 March 1831, PRO, TS 2/23, pp 71-2, 5/18, pp 353-6.
79. See for example G Spater, William Cobbett. The Poor Man's Friend, 2 vols, 1982, II, pp 475-6; indictment of James and William King, Sussex Winter Assize, 1830, PRO, Assi 35/270/5. Although only one Crowhurst resident signed Cobbett's petition, he had other supporters there: Nuffield XI/8, ff 1-3; Twopenny Trash, I Dec 1831; Political Register, 19 Feb 1831.
80. See for example G Spater, William Cobbett. The Poor Man's Friend, 2 vols, 1982, II, pp 475-6; indictment of James and William King, Sussex Winter Assize, 1830, PRO, Assi 35/270/5. Although only one Crowhurst resident signed Cobbett's petition, he had other supporters there: Nuffield XI/8, ff 1-3; Twopenny Trash, I Dec 1831; Political Register, 19 Feb 1831.
81. See for example G Spater, William Cobbett. The Poor Man's Friend, 2 vols, 1982, II, pp 475-6; indictment of James and William King, Sussex Winter Assize, 1830, PRO, Assi 35/270/5. Although only one Crowhurst resident signed Cobbett's petition, he had other supporters there: Nuffield XI/8, ff 1-3; Twopenny Trash, I Dec 1831; Political Register, 19 Feb 1831.
82. The Times, 24 Dec 1830; Spater, Cobbett, II, pp 457-8.
83. The Times, 24 Dec 1830; Spater, Cobbett, II, pp 457-8.
84. 7.
85. Taylor to Grey, 15 Jan 1831: Grey, Reform Act, I, pp 60-3; Greville, Memoirs, II, p 106.
86. Taylor to Grey, 15 Jan 1831: Grey, Reform Act, I, pp 60-3; Greville, Memoirs, II, p 106.
87. Taylor to Wellington, 25 Dec 1830, Southampton University Library, Wellington papers, 1/1157/10. The parallel characteristics no doubt included the participation of politicized artisans, and examples of non-local agitators, including the capitally convicted (and executed) James Thomas Cooper who claimed he had attended proceedings at the Rotunda and did nothing to counteract rumours that he was the celebrated radical Henry Hunt. Cobbett supporters were also identified as leading Swing activists, notably in the Sutton Scotney district north of Winchester. See Wells, 'Rural rebels', p 135, and Dyke, Cobbett, esp pp 171-5.
88. Taylor to Wellington, 25 Dec 1830, Southampton University Library, Wellington papers, 1/1157/10. The parallel characteristics no doubt included the participation of politicized artisans, and examples of non-local agitators, including the capitally convicted (and executed) James Thomas Cooper who claimed he had attended proceedings at the Rotunda and did nothing to counteract rumours that he was the celebrated radical Henry Hunt. Cobbett supporters were also identified as leading Swing activists, notably in the Sutton Scotney district north of Winchester. See Wells, 'Rural rebels', p 135, and Dyke, Cobbett, esp pp 171-5.
89. The Times, 1 Jan 1831; Sanctuary to Taylor, 3 Jan 1831, Bodleian Library, Ms Top Sussex C2, f 43; Burrell to Melbourne, enclosing Goodman's second confession, 2 Jan 1831, PRO, HO 52/10, ff 614-6, published in The Times, 3 Jan 1831. Another and even longer version was published in the Brighton Gazette, 6 Jan 1831 and promptly copied by The Times on 7 Jan, acknowledging the Gazette; Sanctuary to Melbourne, 31 Oct 1832, PRO, HO 52/20, ff 1-5.
90. The Times, 1 Jan 1831; Sanctuary to Taylor, 3 Jan 1831, Bodleian Library, Ms Top Sussex C2, f 43; Burrell to Melbourne, enclosing Goodman's second confession, 2 Jan 1831, PRO, HO 52/10, ff 614-6, published in The Times, 3 Jan 1831. Another and even longer version was published in the Brighton Gazette, 6 Jan 1831 and promptly copied by The Times on 7 Jan, acknowledging the Gazette; Sanctuary to Melbourne, 31 Oct 1832, PRO, HO 52/20, ff 1-5.
91. The Times, 1 Jan 1831; Sanctuary to Taylor, 3 Jan 1831, Bodleian Library, Ms Top Sussex C2, f 43; Burrell to Melbourne, enclosing Goodman's second confession, 2 Jan 1831, PRO, HO 52/10, ff 614-6, published in The Times, 3 Jan 1831. Another and even longer version was published in the Brighton Gazette, 6 Jan 1831 and promptly copied by The Times on 7 Jan, acknowledging the Gazette; Sanctuary to Melbourne, 31 Oct 1832, PRO, HO 52/20, ff 1-5.
92. Melbourne to Kemp, 30 Dec, and to Sanctuary, 31 Dec 1830, 8 and 29 Jan 1831, PRO, HO 13/57, PP 60, 74, 148; Taylor, and Medwin, to Sanctuary, both 31 Dec 1830, Sanctuary to Taylor, 3 Jan 1831, Bodleian Library, Ms Top Sussex, C2, ff 37, 41-3; The Times, 1 and 4 Jan 1831.
93. According to this paper nothing said by Bushby in his very short scaffold address could be construed as an admission of guilt: 'Bushby's execution the ist of January 1831', Bodleian Library, Ms Top Sussex, C2, ff 39-40. A combination of Bushby's 'conviction by circumstantial evidence alone' and widespread rumours that he had denied guilt were vigorously, if belatedly, countered by the claim that he had acknowledged responsibility to the chaplain a week before his execution: Sussex Advertiser, 21 Feb 1831.
94. Wellington saw the king towards the end of the month: Taylor to Wellington, 2 Jan 1831, Southampton University Library, Wellington Papers, 4/1/3/4/1; Sanctuary to Webster, and reply, 3 and 4 Jan 1831, Bodleian Library, Ms Top Sussex C2, ff 48-9; Ellenborough diary entry, 26 Jan 1831, A Aspinall, ed, Three Early Nineteenth Century Diaries, 1952, p 42; Wellington to Buckingham, 1 and 26 Jan 1831, Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, ed, Memoirs of the Courts and Cabinets of William IV and Victoria, 2 vols, 1861, I, pp 187, 200.
95. Wellington saw the king towards the end of the month: Taylor to Wellington, 2 Jan 1831, Southampton University Library, Wellington Papers, 4/1/3/4/1; Sanctuary to Webster, and reply, 3 and 4 Jan 1831, Bodleian Library, Ms Top Sussex C2, ff 48-9; Ellenborough diary entry, 26 Jan 1831, A Aspinall, ed, Three Early Nineteenth Century Diaries, 1952, p 42; Wellington to Buckingham, 1 and 26 Jan 1831, Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, ed, Memoirs of the Courts and Cabinets of William IV and Victoria, 2 vols, 1861, I, pp 187, 200.
96. On Inskipp's conviction, the foreman of the Sussex Assize Grand Jury successfully supplicated a government reward for Moneypenny: Sir John Shelley, Lewes, to Melbourne, 24 Dec 1830, Bouchier to Bellingham, 5 May 1831, PRO, HO 52/10, ff 607-8, TS 2/24, p 146.
97. Inskipp prosecutor's brief, PRO, TS 11/1007/4051; Melbourne to Sanctuary, 6 Jan 1831, L C Saunders, ed, Lord Melbourne's Papers, 1889, pp 126-7.
98. Some proof...of some fire having been set or some property destroyed must be given or it is contended this Indictment cannot be supported': defence notes on indictment by solicitor Faithfull, Nuffieid XXI, 9/1, ff 1-2. The prosecution contended that the 'tendency' of Cobbett's passages 'In the first place to excite a suffering people, but at all events a people whose minds were inflamed, to a repetition of crime', a somewhat awkward line of attack, as it implicitly acknowledged that intense incendiarism predated Cobbett's publication on 11 December 1830, and therefore could allege only that they encouraged repetition. Ironically, the fire for which Goodman was convicted, occurred on 2 December: Trial of William Cobbett, Strange, 1831, p 6.
99. Carlile claimed that his Prompter 'has not circulated in the agricultural districts', yet while asserting - before any trials for arson - that there was no evidence implicating labourers, he insisted that if that proved to be the case, husbandry workers 'have more just and moral cause for it than any king or faction, that ever made war, had for making war'; Carlile also argued that in the event of Grey's taking 'severe' repressive steps, the labourers should 'use their congregated strength to put down the Earl': The Prompter, 18 and 25 Dec 1830. Not surprisingly, the Treasury Solicitor thought Carlile would be easily convicted, and brushed aside Carlile's private entreaties: Bouchier to T Stafford, 30 Dec 1830, and to Carlile, and 3 Jan 1831, PRO, TS 2/23, pp 76, 79.
100. D le Marchant, Memoir of John Charles, Viscount Althorp, 1876, p 328. See also pamphleteer Edward Gibbon Wakefield cited in note 4 above.
101. J L and B Hammond, The Village Labourer, 1966 ed, pp 313-4.
102. Twopenny Trash, 1 June 1832.
103. Faithful to Cobbett, 18 April 1831, Nuffield g/n, ff 1-2.
104. Recognizances for copies of The Times of 24 Dec 1830, 3 and 7 Jan 1831, to be produced in court, Nuffield 9/16, f 9; Trial of Cobbett, pp 13-6, 18-20; Spater, Cobbett, II, pp 476-8; Twopenny Trash, 1 Dec 1831; Political Register, 16 June 1832.
105. Recognizances for copies of The Times of 24 Dec 1830, 3 and 7 Jan 1831, to be produced in court, Nuffield 9/16, f 9; Trial of Cobbett, pp 13-6, 18-20; Spater, Cobbett, II, pp 476-8; Twopenny Trash, 1 Dec 1831; Political Register, 16 June 1832.
106. Recognizances for copies of The Times of 24 Dec 1830, 3 and 7 Jan 1831, to be produced in court, Nuffield 9/16, f 9; Trial of Cobbett, pp 13-6, 18-20; Spater, Cobbett, II, pp 476-8; Twopenny Trash, 1 Dec 1831; Political Register, 16 June 1832.
107. Recognizances for copies of The Times of 24 Dec 1830, 3 and 7 Jan 1831, to be produced in court, Nuffield 9/16, f 9; Trial of Cobbett, pp 13-6, 18-20; Spater, Cobbett, II, pp 476-8; Twopenny Trash, 1 Dec 1831; Political Register, 16 June 1832.
108. Recognizances for copies of The Times of 24 Dec 1830, 3 and 7 Jan 1831, to be produced in court, Nuffield 9/16, f 9; Trial of Cobbett, pp 13-6, 18-20; Spater, Cobbett, II, pp 476-8; Twopenny Trash, 1 Dec 1831; Political Register, 16 June 1832.
109. P Mandler, Aristocratic Government in the Age of Reform. Whigs and Liberals 1830-1852, 1990, p 33.
110. For further evidence see Wells, 'Rural rebels', pp 136-7, and 'Social protest', p 163.
111. Hobhouse diary, 9 July 1831, BL, Add Mss 56555, f 162.
112. Political Register, 16 July 1831.
113. Ministers were also anxious to compromise the orators who had turned the Rotunda into 'a formidable base of [metropolitan] working-class disaffection': J H Weiner, Radicalism and Freethought in Nineteenth-Century Britain: The Life of Richard Carlile, 1983, p 175.
114. 7.
115. Political Register, 16 June 1832; Dyke, Cobbett, pp 197-8; I Newbould, Whiggery and Reform, 1830-41: The Politics of Government, 1990, p 53.
116. Political Register, 16 June 1832; Dyke, Cobbett, pp 197-8; I Newbould, Whiggery and Reform, 1830-41: The Politics of Government, 1990, p 53.
117. Political Register, 16 June 1832; Dyke, Cobbett, pp 197-8; I Newbould, Whiggery and Reform, 1830-41: The Politics of Government, 1990, p 53.
118. Political Register, 22 Jan 1831.
119. Phillipps to R Cracroft, Lincoln, 13 Jan 1831, PRO, HO 41/9, P 337.
120. In June 1831, Henry Hunt was shouted down in the House of Commons when he contradicted the Chancellor of the Exchequer's claim that incendiarism had ceased: The Times, 28 June 1831. A southern commentator observed that it was 'after' 1830 that 'the system of incendiarism...was...carried to such an alarming extent': 'Censor' in the Sussex Advertiser, 28 March 1836.
121. In June 1831, Henry Hunt was shouted down in the House of Commons when he contradicted the Chancellor of the Exchequer's claim that incendiarism had ceased: The Times, 28 June 1831. A southern commentator observed that it was 'after' 1830 that 'the system of incendiarism...was...carried to such an alarming extent': 'Censor' in the Sussex Advertiser, 28 March 1836.
122. Political Register, 12 Feb 1831; Spater, Cobbett, II, p 608 and note 86; Wells, 'Social protest', pp 159, 170-3; D J V Jones, 'Thomas Campbell Foster and the rural labourer: incendiarism in East Anglia in the 1840s', Social History, I, 1976; J E Archer, 'By a Flash and a Scare'. Arson, Animal Maiming, and Poaching in East Anglia 1815-1870, 1990, chaps 4-7; R C Russell, Three Lincolnshire Labourers' Movements, Barton on Humber, 1994, chap 1.
123. Political Register, 12 Feb 1831; Spater, Cobbett, II, p 608 and note 86; Wells, 'Social protest', pp 159, 170-3; D J V Jones, 'Thomas Campbell Foster and the rural labourer: incendiarism in East Anglia in the 1840s', Social History, I, 1976; J E Archer, 'By a Flash and a Scare'. Arson, Animal Maiming, and Poaching in East Anglia 1815-1870, 1990, chaps 4-7; R C Russell, Three Lincolnshire Labourers' Movements, Barton on Humber, 1994, chap 1.
124. Political Register, 12 Feb 1831; Spater, Cobbett, II, p 608 and note 86; Wells, 'Social protest', pp 159, 170-3; D J V Jones, 'Thomas Campbell Foster and the rural labourer: incendiarism in East Anglia in the 1840s', Social History, I, 1976; J E Archer, 'By a Flash and a Scare'. Arson, Animal Maiming, and Poaching in East Anglia 1815-1870, 1990, chaps 4-7; R C Russell, Three Lincolnshire Labourers' Movements, Barton on Humber, 1994, chap 1.
125. Political Register, 12 Feb 1831; Spater, Cobbett, II, p 608 and note 86; Wells, 'Social protest', pp 159, 170-3; D J V Jones, 'Thomas Campbell Foster and the rural labourer: incendiarism in East Anglia in the 1840s', Social History, I, 1976; J E Archer, 'By a Flash and a Scare'. Arson, Animal Maiming, and Poaching in East Anglia 1815-1870, 1990, chaps 4-7; R C Russell, Three Lincolnshire Labourers' Movements, Barton on Humber, 1994, chap 1.
126. Political Register, 12 Feb 1831; Spater, Cobbett, II, p 608 and note 86; Wells, 'Social protest', pp 159, 170-3; D J V Jones, 'Thomas Campbell Foster and the rural labourer: incendiarism in East Anglia in the 1840s', Social History, I, 1976; J E Archer, 'By a Flash and a Scare'. Arson, Animal Maiming, and Poaching in East Anglia 1815-1870, 1990, chaps 4-7; R C Russell, Three Lincolnshire Labourers' Movements, Barton on Humber, 1994, chap 1.
127. Political Register, 12 Feb 1831; Spater, Cobbett, II, p 608 and note 86; Wells, 'Social protest', pp 159, 170-3; D J V Jones, 'Thomas Campbell Foster and the rural labourer: incendiarism in East Anglia in the 1840s', Social History, I, 1976; J E Archer, 'By a Flash and a Scare'. Arson, Animal Maiming, and Poaching in East Anglia 1815-1870, 1990, chaps 4-7; R C Russell, Three Lincolnshire Labourers' Movements, Barton on Humber, 1994, chap 1.