What comes to mind when you think of the West Country? Beautiful beaches and coastline perhaps, rich countryside and moorland, great historic sites such as Stonehenge or perhaps the grace of Regency Bath or the stunning design of Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge? You may think of the West Country as the peaceful, quiet corner of Britain where people visit for holidays or spend their retirement.

What may not spring to mind is the Western Rebellion against enclosures, the bloody battles for fair taxes, the Prayer Book Rebellion against an imposed English Bible, the turbulent years of the Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion that ended with the ruthless revenge of Judge Jefferies. You may know little about the radical edge to the region’s maritime past such as the naval mutinies, smuggling and struggle for safety.

The West Country was famous for its wool and cloth but the battles by textile workers is less well known. For generations communities around the South West organised and engaged in riot and uprising, for food, for access, for fair tax and to be heard in a society that denied most people the vote. Women were at the centre of many of these disputes and their battle with poverty and inequality is featured along with West Country women who challenged those that kept them out and held them back.

Trade unionism has many a West Country story to tell, from the Tolpuddle Martyrs in Dorset, the longest strike in Plymouth, the great china clay strike of 1913, ‘Black Friday’ in Bristol and the battle for rights at GCHQ in Cheltenham.

This book features these struggles along with the characters who defied convention and helped organise around dangerous ideas of freedom, equality and justice.

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Nigel Costley started work as an apprentice compositor – one of the last to be trained in ‘hot metal’. While learning the trade it was changing rapidly and he was made redundant twice. It was his union, the National Graphical Association, that helped him find new work and get re-trained as technology marched on.
Nigel was elected Father of the Chapel and then, at 24-years-old, the youngest full-time officer in the union. He spent fifteen years in the role through the most turbulent times for printing and trade unionism.
He particularly championed support for those out of work, inlcuding establishing a unique training cooperative. Having escaped school as soon as he could, Nigel returned to education on a part-time basis, eventually achieving a MSc with Leicester University.
He became South West TUC Regional Secretary in 1996. Nigel is responsible for the way the TUC remembers the Toluddle Martyrs and he has overseen the transformation of the annual rally into a hugely popular celebration of trade unionism.

With Whigs and Hunters, the author of The Making of the English Working Class, E. P. Thompson plunged into the murky waters of the early eighteenth century to chart the violently conflicting currents that boiled beneath the apparent calm of the time. The subject is the Black Act, a law of unprecedented savagery passed by Parliament in 1723 to deal with ‘wicked and evil-disposed men going armed in disguise’. These men were pillaging the royal forest of deer, conducting a running battle against the forest officers with blackmail, threats and violence.

These ‘Blacks’, however, were men of some substance; their protest (for such it was) took issue with the equally wholsesale plunder of the forest by Whig nominees to the forest offices. And Robert Walpole, still consolidating his power,took an active part in the prosecution of the ‘Blacks’. The episode is laden with political and social implications, affording us glimpses of considerable popular discontent, political chicanery, judicial inequity, corrupt ambition and crime.

‘Unrivalled among historians for his distinctive blend of biting irony, probing analytical intelligence, passionate moral commitment and sheer rhetotical skill.’ Keith Thomas

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Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

Part 1 • Windsor

Windsor Forest

The Windsor Blacks

Offenders and Antagonists

Part 2 • Hampshire

The Hampshire Forests

King John

Awful Examples

The Hunters

Part 3 • Whigs

Enfield and Richmond

The Politics of the Black Act

Consequences and Conclusions

i. People

ii. Forests

iii. The Exercise of Law

iv. The Rule of Law

Appendix 1: The Black Act

Appendix 2: Alexander Pope and the Blacks

Note on Sources

Index

The Chartists is a major contribution to our understanding not just of Chartism but of the whole experience of working-class people in mid-nineteenth century Britain. The book looks at who the Chartists were, what they hoped for from the political power they strove to gain, and why so many of them felt driven toward the use of physical force. It also studies the reactions of the middle and upper classes and the ways in which the two sides — radical and establishment — influenced each other’s positions.

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Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

Part 1 • 1838-1841

The Politics of the Reformed Parliament

The Chartist Press

‘We, Your Petitioners’

The Newport Rising

Part 2 • Who Were The Chartists?

Leaders and Followers

The Manufacturing Communities

The Women

Traders and Professional Men

Labourers and the Trades

Part 3 • 1842-1850

The Chartists and the Middle Class

The Strikes

The Charter and the Land

1848

Conclusion

Appendix: Location and Timing of Chartist Activity

Bibliographical Note

Notes

Index

In the first elections called under the terms of the 1832 Reform Act the Tory party appeared doomed. They had recorded their worst set of results in living memory and were organizationally in disarray as well, importantly, seemingly completely out of touch with the current political mood. During the intense pressure brought to bear by the supporters of political reform was the use of “pressure from without” and in this tactic the industrial working class were highly visible. Calls for political reform had been growing since the 1760s and given fresh impetus with the revolutions in America and France respectively. The old Tory party had been resistant to all but the most glaring corruption and abuse under the pre-Reform system, not least to the idea of extending the electoral franchise to the ‘swineish multitude’, as Edmund Burke notoriously described the working class. Yet within five years after the passing of reform the Conservatives — the natural heirs to the old Tory party — were attempting to politically incorporate sections of the working class into their ranks. This book examines how this process of making these ‘Angels in Marble’, to use Disraeli’s phrase from a later era, took shape in the 1830s. It focuses on how a section of the industrial working class became the target of organizational inclusion into Peelite Conservatism and ultimately into the British party political system.

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Dr David Walsh was formerly a Research Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, Senior Research Associate, University of Liverpool and Lecturer in History at the Department of History and Economic History, Manchester Metropolitan University.

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 • The Emergence of Political Parties and the Transformation of Toryism

Whigs and Namierites

Eighteenth-Century Gradualists

The Defenders of Orthodoxy

Nineteenth-Century Gradualists

The Inter-disciplinary Approach

The Transformation of Toryism

The Influence of Burke

The Transition to Conservatism

Chapter 2 • The Emergent Working Class and Political Relationships, 1800-1832

Tory Attitudes

The Emergence of the Working Class in the Industrial North-West: An outline of the debate

Working Class Politics before 1820

Working Class Developments in the 1820s

The Working-Class and the Reform Bill

Chapter 3 • The Re-organization of the Conservative Party after 1832

Political Organization before 1832

The Conservatives and the First Reform Act

The Conservatives Organizational Response

Widening the Conservative Appeal

Popular Political Organization: Loyalist Associations

Local Political Organization in the Early Nineteenth-Century

The Middle Classes and Early Political Organization

Chapter 4 • Operative Conservatism: Its Development, Structure, Role and Function

The Middle Classes and Operative Conservatism

The Development and Structure of Operative Conservatism

Aims, Objectives and Financial Basis of Operative Conservatism

Operative Conservatism and Political Science

The Idioms of Politics and the Role of Issues within Operative Conservatism

Operative Conservatives, Radical Tories and Paternalism

Issues and Political Re-alignments

Chapter 5 • Operative Conservatism and Local Political Developments: Three case studies

The Market and County Towns

Developments in Lancaster

The Old Industrial Boroughs, Preston: Economic and Social Background

Municipal Politics

Parliamentary Politics

Operative Conservatism in Preston

Chapter 6 • The New Boroughs

The Economic and Social Structure of Blackburn

Early Working Class Militancy

Reform and Parliamentary Politics in Blackburn

The Political Culture of Blackburn

Political Organization in Blackburn

The Role of Issues and Working Class Politics

Developments in Bolton and the South of the Region

Chapter 7 • Working Class Political Integration and the Conservative Party

Appendices

Bibliography

Index

Once the heartland of British labour history, trade unionism has been marginalised in much recent scholarship. In a critical survey from the earliest times to the nineteenth century, this book argues for its reinstatement. Trade unionism is shown to be both intrinsically important and to provide a window onto the broader historical landscape; the evolution of trade union principles and practices is traced from the seventeenth century to mid-Victorian times. Underpinning this survey is an explanation of labour organisation that reaches back to the fourteenth century. Throughout, the emphasis is on trade union mentality and ideology, rather than on institutional history. There is a critical focus on the politics of gender, on the demarcation of skill and on the role of the state in labour issues. New insight is provided on the long-debated question of trade unions’ contribution to social and political unrest from the era of the French Revolution through to Chartism.

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Malcolm Chase has published widely on the history of radical politics and the labour movement. He is Professor of Social History at the University of Leeds.

‘It is impossible to do justice to such a broad-ranging work in a short review … he has offered a timely reconstruction of our current knowledge in a thoughtful, innovative and coherent manner. It is a book that deserves to be read from a series which will undoubtedly become an important force in re-invigorating the study of Labour History.’
English Historical Review

‘For far too long, students of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century trade unionism in Britain have been without either a single sure guide to the most important contemporary issues in the field or a reliable introduction to its literature. … Chase has now admirably filled this significant gap. … Chase has written an excellent book. … a fine narrative of the early history of trade unionism and the most up-to-date and authoritative guide to the recent literature and debates in the field.’
Economic History Review

‘This is an excellent book. Malcolm Chase has taken on the task of surveying the plethora of work which in the last twenty years has transformed the study of early British trade unionism and has succeeded with style and real clarity. In a text which rarely falters, he displays not only impressive powers of synthesis, integrating a surprisingly wide range of material, but also a deal of his own new and thoughtful research. As such it fills a major gap on the history shelves.’
International Review of Social History

‘Chase very effectively draws his examples from across the country. Scotland, Wales and Ireland are not ignored. He is particularly good at summarising some of the important areas of recent debate. Chase goes well beyond summarising the literature and has valuable original insights.’
Labour History Review

‘A full-length history of early trade unionism in Britain is certainly needed … Chase is admirably well qualified for the task that he has now completed. … An excellent book concludes with an index that is excellent in itself.’
Historical Studies in Industrial Relations

‘In a field that is known for emphasizing moments of conflict, Chase’s study, which focuses more on continuity, is an excellent corrective. … (his) analysis of the workers’ fraternal organizations is trenchant and up-to-date, with very little to criticize. … Chase maintains an interpretation unique enough to be truly thought-provoking and written vibrantly enough to be truly engaging.’
Albion

‘… an important book. … Chase’s economic style and structure enable him to cover a broad agenda…’
Victorian Studies

Contents

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Introduction

1 Covins and Fraternities: a ‘Prehistory’ of Trade Unionism

2 Trade Associations in the Age of Manufactures

3 ‘No Strangers to the Rights of Man’?

4 ‘A Young and Rising Commonwealth’

5 Across the Frontier of Skill: General Unionism

6 Trade Unionism and the Early Chartist Movement

7 Out of Chartism

Conclusion: Trade Unions in the Early 1860s

Bibliography

Index

The full story of the riots in the Forest of Dean in 1831, and how they were suppressed, is told here for the first time.

The book also gives the background to the riots; it discusses the simple lives of the foresters before the arrival in Dean of the Industrial Revolution, and how they lived in the Forest, pasturing their animals there and using it as if it was their own. It also describes the ancient way the free miners used to mine their iron and coal and how they regulated their mining activities through their Mine Law Court.

It sets out the two main causes of the riots: the determination of the government to enclose large areas of the Forest for growing timber, thus restricting the foresters’ access; and the influx of ‘foreigners’ eager to exploit not only the Forest’s coal and iron resources but also the foresters themselves.

Dominating the story is the enigmatic character of Warren James, the self-educated free miner who led the foresters in their attempt to stave off their increasing poverty and unemployment, and to protect their traditional way life from the threats of advancing industrial change. The tragic account of his unfair trial, his transportation to a convict settlement in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), his reprieve for political reasons, and his death far from the Forest is set against the background of the sordid and heartless times in which he lived.

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Ralph Anstis was a Londoner who moved to Coleford permanently in 1984 after his retirement from the Civil Service. Over the course of some 20 years, with his beloved wife Bess at his side, he immersed himself in the local history of the Forest of Dean and became a respected author of non fiction and fiction.

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part 1 • The Background

1 Dean and the foresters

2 Riots and disturbances in the 17th century

3 The Forest goes to ‘wreck and ruin’

4 Warren James

5 History of the free miners

6 Edward Machen and the reorganisation of the Forest

7 The tramroads come to the Forest

8 Warren James grows up: the foreigners in Dean

9 Growing unrest

10 Warren James gets involved

11 The Treasury attacks free miners’ rights

Part 2 • The Riots

12 Prelude to the riots

13 The foresters rise

14 ‘Law is at an end in the Forest’

15 Collapse of the riots

16 Principal rioters in gaol

17 Causes analysed

Part 3 • The Trials

18 Preliminaries

19 Trial of Warren James

20 Other Foresters tried

21 Examination of sentences

Part 4 • The Aftermath

22 Transportation for life

23 The hulks

24 The transportation system

25 Van Diemen’s Land, and the voyage out

26 Warren James in exile

27 A Commission looks into matters

28 Warren James’s pardon and death

29 Epilogue

Appendix 1 — The Free Miners After 1838

Appendix 2 — Family Tree of the James Family

Bibliography

Index

In the early 19th century, Henry Hunt became one of the most stirring orators of English Radicalism. His speech following the “Peterloo” massacre cost him three years in prison and gave him a reputation for inciting the rabble to violence. This book considers his place in the radical movement.

This first full-scale biography finally brings to light Hunt’s vital role in molding the English working-class into an effective political force. Converted to the reform cause during the wars against Napoleonic France, Hunt gave popular radicalism a distinctly working-class perspective that countered the contemporary belief in a laissez-faire political economy. Hero of the unrepresented and repressed, scourge of the moderate reformers and gradualists, Hunt set the standard for the Chartist challenge. This work, based on a wide range of primary sources, reassesses Hunt’s influential career and illuminates a formative period in the development of radical politics in England.

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As a student at the University of Sussex in the 1960s, John Belchem developed a research interest in the history of radical protest. After a brief spell in New Zealand, he took up a post at the University of Liverpool in 1980 where he has remained ever since and is now Professor of History and Pro-Vice-Chancellor. Having published widely on the history, culture and character of his adopted city, he aspires to the title of honorary scouser.

Contents

Abbreviations

Introduction

Part 1 • The Making of a Radical

1. Gentleman Farmer

2. Loyalist

3. ‘Bristol’ Hunt and the politics of independence and reform

(i) The Melville affair and the Ministry of All the Talents

(ii) The Bristol election of 1807

(iii) The revival of reform

(iv) The Bristol elections of 1812

Part 2 • The Establishment of the Mass Platform

1. Hunt and the moderate reformers

2. Hunt and the ‘revolutionary party’

3. Spa Fields

Part 3 • Repression, Risings, and Reform, 1817-1818

1. Repression

2. Westminster elections, 1818 and 1819

3. The beginning of mobilization

Part 4 • The Radical Mobilization of 1819

1. The people’s champion

2. National union

3. Peterloo, the courts, and public opinion

4. Peterloo and forcible intimidation

Part 5 • The Revision of Radicalism

1. The ‘Captive of Ilchester’

2. Hunt and the Great Northern Union

3. Carlile and radical counter-culture

4. Cobbett’s desertion

5. Liberation

Part 6 • Reform in the 1820s

1. Radical businessman

2. County politics

3. City politics

4. Popular Westminster

5. Radical organization

(i) Friends of Civil and Religious Liberty

(ii) Radical Reform Association

(iii) Metropolitan Political Union

Part 7 • 1830 and the Development of Radicalism

1. The early months

2. The July Revolution and the revival of the platform

3. The advent of the Whigs; ‘Captain Swing’; and the Preston by-election

Part 8 • Hunt, Working-Class Radicalism and the Reform Bill

1. The ‘Bill of Bills’

2. ‘Re-action’ in the north

3. The general election of 1831, the northern deputies, and radical opposition to the Bill

4. The autumn crisis

5. ‘The poor man’s protector’

6. The Days of May

7. Defeat?

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Political philosophers (such as Gramsci) and social historians (such as E. P. Thompson) have suggested that rural customs and ceremonies have much more to them than the picturesqueness which has attracted traditional folklorists. They can be seen to have a purpose in the structures of rural society. But no historian has really pursued this idea for the English folk materials of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: the period from which most evidence survives.

Bringing together a wealth of research, this book explores the view that such rural folk practices were a mechanism of social cohesion, and social disruption. Through them the interdependence of the rural working-class and the gentry was affirmed, and infringements of the rights of the poor resisted, sometimes aggressively.

By Rite represents the results of detailed research in a wide range of sources, including the local Press, Antiquarian and Field Studies papers, county journals, local collections and archives throughout England and Wales.

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“An excellent survey of custom 1700-1880″
E. P. Thompson, Customs in Common

“Bob Bushaway … commenced the work of integrating popular customs into mainstream history…”
Ronald Hutton, Stations of the Sun

Contents

Introduction

1 The Context of Custom

Custom and the Past

Custom and Sources

Custom and Perspective

2 The Community and its Calendars

The Reconstruction of Local Calendars

Local Customary Groups: The Case of Church Ringers

3 Custom and Legitimation

The Chruch

The Manor

4 Custom and Social Cohesion

Harvest and Harvest Perquistes

Calendar Rituals and the Shape of the Community

5 The Rituals of Privation and Protest

Custom, Conflict and Commensality

Protest and the Enemies of the Community

6 Crime, Custom, and Popular Legitimacy

7 The Control of Custom

Appendix 1: The Development of Folklore Studies in England

Appendix 2: The Ritual of the Year

General Index

Index of Places

This book traces the development of agrarian ideas from the 1770s through to Chartism, and seeks to explain why, in an era of industrialization and urban growth, land remained one of the major issues in popular politics. Malcolm Chase considers the relationship between ‘land consciousness’ and early socialism; attempts to create alternative communities; and contemporary perceptions of nature and the environment. He concludes that, far from being an anachronistic, utopian, and reactionary movement, agrarianism was an integral part of the working class experience and of radical politics.

The People’s Farm also provides the most extensive study to date of Thomas Spence, and his followers the Spenceans. New light is thrown on the Spa Fields and Cato Street conspiracies, in which they were involved; but their true significance lies in their contribution to English radicalism — a key factor in shaping the politics of agrarian reform in the 1820s and 1840s.

With a new preface.

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Malcolm Chase has published widely on the history of radical politics and the labour movement. His other books include studies of early trade unionism and of Chartism. He is Professor of Social History at the University of Leeds.

“Marvellous”
John Belchem, Social History, 1990

“A significant contribution to our undersanding of radicalism in the period of the Industrial Revolution”
Harry Dickinson, Times Higher Education Supplement, 1988

“An extremely carefully researched, well-written contribution to our knowledge of Spenceanism and affiliated strands in early nineteenth-century radicalism”
Gregory Claeys, Labour History Review, 1990

“A most important and significant book”
Keith Snell, Agricultural History Review, 1989

“Illuminates many areas of the history of labour and rescues a tradition which has too often been dismissed as pastoral and nostalgic”
Dorothy Thompson, English Historical Review, 1991

Contents

Preface (2010)

1. Agrarianism

2. Thomas Spence: Newcastle, 1750-1787

3. Spence in London, 1788-1814

4. Agrarians and Revolutionaries: Spencean Philanthropy, 1814-1820

5. Agrarian Ideals in Radical Politics: The 1820s and 1830s

6. Precepts in Practice

7. Designed for the Support of Mankind

Bibliography

Index