23rd November 1812: a shot is fired into the house of a man at Clifton

The Monday 30th November 1812 edition of the Leeds Intelligencer featured a letter to the editor which described an attack on an individual at Clifton who had been, along with others, the subject of an arms-raid 4 months previously.

MR. INTELLIGENCER,—Can you explain to the public the end the Faction have in view in telling us, with reference to the neighbourhood of Huddersfield, that “all is now perfectly tranquil in that district.” Can they be ignorant of the fact that on Monday night, the 23d instant, about ten o'clock, a shot was fired into the house of John Wilkinson, of Clifton, cardmaker, which shot passed thro’ the window-shutters, struck the back of the chair in which Mr. Wilkinson usually sits, and broke some glasses on the opposite side of the room. Mr. Wilkinson, by accident, (I say by Providence) was not at that moment sitting in his chair, or he would have received the ball in his body.—Is Clifton not in the Huddersfield district? or is a transaction which upon the face of it has all the appearance of a cool malicious determinate intention to take away the life of a quiet respectable member of Society, sitting by his own fire side, no interruption of perfect tranquility?

It is not a little remarkable that these same men, who pique themselves upon the accuracy, their penetration, and their early authentic information, took some pains to persuade us that Luddism was nearly, if not totally extinct, about the time when that systematic attack was made on the inhabitants of Clifton, by which they were deprived of their fire arms, and when Mr. Wilkinson’s gun was violently taken from him.—It is not easy to guess what is Mr W's. offence, except that he thinks, and has expressed an opinion, which every body else entertains, that the feat of arms-stealing, performed at Clifton in the summer, was not the work of “foreigners”

VERAX.

20th July 1812: 'Observer' writes to the Leeds Intelligencer about the recent arms raids in Clifton

To the Editor of the Leeds Intelligencer.

SIR—Notwithstanding the very gentle manner in which the Editor of a certain provincial publication treats of the conduct of the Luddites, in his last number, we will venture to assure the Public, that there has not been an instance, during the whole of their infamous proceedings, in which they have acted with greater regularity and precision, or with more determined violence, and terrifying threats, and in their outrage upon the Inhabitants of Clifton, four miles North of Huddersfield, in the night between last Monday, the 13th, on Tuesday the 14th inst.

When we consider the number of the Assailants, their mode of attacking the dwellings of the Inhabitants; the time of night at which the assault was made; the persons, character and number of those who were terrified to yield to their felonious demands; the style of their triumphant return—we hesitate not to say, that the transactions of these arms stealers at Clifton, at the time above mention, afford the most unqualified contradiction to all those declarations and assertions, which go to represent the outrages committed against the public peace and security, as the mere ebullitions of a mob, arising from want of employment, the pressure of distress, or any mere temporary inconvenience.

We put it to the incredulous Member for Bedford, to the inaccurate Mr. B______m, to Ned Ludd himself, or that other Ned, his advocate and apologist, whether there be any thing in the features of this felonious nocturnal outrage, which bears any resemblance to the accidental assemblage of thoughtless riotous men.—Whether it does not exhibit the strongest marks of being a part of an organized digested system of wide-extending, serious mischief. View it in connection with other acts of violence in the West Riding:—with the conflagration at the mill of Messrs. Oates and Co.—The attack upon Mr. Vickerman's property—upon the mill Rawfolds—with the murder of Mr. Horsfall—and you observe the same precision, the same address, the same skill, the same deliberate, cool-blooded, persevering, determined villainy.

In the silent hour of midnight darkness, a band alarmed villains steal into the populous village of Clifton. They watch the dwellings of the inhabitants, and mark them as they retire to rest.—The moment when they are first sunk down to sleep, the villains commence their operations: having lost the hammer they had previously provided, they furnish themselves with another, which they had burst open a Smith’s shop to procure. They assault the door of Mr. Ab. Fairburn, near one end of the village—demand his gun—Mr. F. denies the possession of such an article (it belong to his son)—they persist in their demand, repeatedly assuring him, that they certainly know he has a gun. Mr. F. continues steady—they call for enoch (the great hammer.) The door is assaulted by two violent strokes, (the marks of which are visible enough) Mr. F. opens the door; a number of men present themselves before him, apparently armed with guns, in the military attitude of “making ready.” Mr. F. still declines to deliver up his son’s piece; invites the robbers to search his house for a gun themselves.

They become impatient, one of them presents a piece to his head protesting that if he, Mr F did not instantly produces gun, his brains blown out. — Mr F retires, they charge him to bring no light. He resigns the gun. They load it, bidding good night, and, having fired a piece as in triumph, offer a single, retire.

It was about one o'clock. A light was seen in one of the windows of the Black Bull, an inn in the same village. They imperiously commanded that the light be put out, and because the order was not instantly obeyed, they fire three or four bullets into the window.—They demand and receive the landlords gun—A similar demand was made at EVERY house in Clifton where there was a gun. Their number might be 30: they got nine or ten guns.

On their attacking the house of Mr. Joshua Goldthorpe, Mr. G. looked out at his window, demanded their business; they ordered him to withdraw his head, and on his delaying to do so, they threatened to blow his brains out, and murder every soul in the house, and fired.

Mr. G. called up his young men, one or two of whom despising their threats, boldly went out, and bid them blow away. They presented their guns and threatened instant death to young Goldthorpe if he did not directly proceed with them to the workshop, at about a quarter of a mile distance, and get them the guns which they knew were in the shop. They guarded him to the shop, received two guns, returned with him to the house, ordered him to bolt the door and keep within, and wished him good night.

The whole of their movements were conducted with the strictest military address and precision—They receive directions from a leader. Such a division was ordered to guard such a pass—Such a number of such a division was commanded to fire. An Enoch (great hammer) of such a division was named, and the great hammer was instantly applied to force the door. Their intelligence also was surprisingly correct. Not a house was assaulted where there was not a gun—not a house passed by where there was a gun. So the houses were not of ready access, yet no blunder was made. The proper doors, and the several rooms were accurately known, or distinctly pointed out to the leader. The body of the assailants might be strangers, but they had well-informed guides.

The Editor of the Leeds Mercury tells his readers that he has seen an official account of these transactions (see Leeds Mercury, 18th July, page 3.) In the same page he professes that to him it is most clear that the views of the deluded violators of the public peace “to the present moment,” have been “confined simply to the destruction of machinery:” at the same time, he has the unblushing impudence to condemn Mr. Wilberforce for attributing the outrageous conduct of the mob, to political causes, to disaffection to Government; and, in what may be called the same breath, he directs his deluded friends to attribute all their distresses—not to machinery, or to the employers of machinery; but, to GOVERNMENT. Mr. Wilberforce, it should seem, is altogether mistaken in attributing the ebullitions of discontent to any disapprobation of Government, excited and promoted by mischievous publications.—Ipse dixit—and Ludd and Co. must gape and gulp it down.

However bro’ Ned may fret and fume at the assertion, Mr. W. is not singular in his opinion of the lamentable effect produced upon the minds of the ignorant and unwary by certain mischievous publications. Many of his constituents, once humble admirers of a certain popular provincial print, now, at length, begin to think for themselves, and are so thoroughly convinced of its mischievous tendency, that in spite of the spies and informers which the Editor of that print has dispersed here and there to catch any chance word that may fall at a public table, in a public company, in a moment of convivial conversation, or in the confidence of friendship; in spite of the threats of prosecution, which he may denounce for the expressing an opinion of the mischievous tendency of such publications the Freeholders of the most disturbed parts of Yorkshire will not cease to declare, to repeat, and to maintain it, that there are certain “mischievous publications” circulated, read, and admired by the mob, which have done more to produce, foment, spread, countenance, and encourage the outrageous conduct of the deluded disturbers of the public peace than either the want of employment, or the dearness of provision, or the distresses of the poor, or the Orders in Council, or than all of these put together.

18th July, 1812.

OBSERVER.

14th July 1812: Extensive arms raid at Clifton, West Yorkshire

The former Black Bull Inn, Towngate, Clifton, today (as seen on Google Street View)

In the early hours of Tuesday 14th July 1812, a group of up to 30 Luddites conducted a number of raids for arms in the village of Clifton in West Yorkshire. The raid was particularly audacious, as Clifton was the home of Sir George Armytage.

It seemed the Luddites had left behind a sledgehammer (or 'Enoch') on a previous visit, and one of their first actions was to procure another from the shop of a local blacksmith.

The Luddites chose to start their raids at one of the ends of the village, at the home of Abraham Fairburn, a cardmaker. Fairburn was knocked up and he stood behind his door asking what they wanted: the men on the other side demanded his gun - he denied having one, but they didn't believe him, and growing impatient threatened to blow his brains out. He then heard a hammer smashing on his door and he shouted for them to stop - he would open the door. As he opened it, a pistol was put to his head and his gun demanded again - this time, he agreed to find it. The Luddites wished him 'good night', and fired a gun into the air.

The Luddites next appeared at the home of Joshua Goldthorpe, another cardmaker. Joshua senior was in bed, and was woken by shouting and banging on his front door. He got out of bed, went to his window and pulled the curtain and shouted "what do you want?" - he peered out to see 14 or 15 guns pointing up at him - the men demanded his 2 guns - he said he hadn't any in the house, and shouted for his family. The men outside levelled more threats. Joshua senior went back to the window, but was warned if he peeped again, they would fire, and followed this up with a shot in the air. While this was going on, Goldthorpe's son, Joshua junior, had gone downstairs and opened the front door: he explained the family's guns were at their workshop, a quarter of a mile away. Undaunted, the Luddites posted a guard at the Goldthorpe house and took him to the shop to procure the weapons. When they returned, they noticed a light at the nearby Black Bull Inn which annoyed the Luddites: Joshua junior was brought to the front door of his house, but found it locked - one of the Luddites said "damn you, open the door", and when it eventually was, the family were warned to re-lock the door and not to open it again for at least two hours.

At the Black Bull Inn, the inkeeper George Pratt was asleep. He was brought sharply out of his slumbers by a number of shots from pistols outside. He went downstairs to the parlour to see what the fuss was and heard angry voices "put that light out". He had left a candle burning inside and went to snuff it out. Returning, the voices demanded his gun: Pratt protested he not dressed and he could not see in the dark - a voice said "no clothes, no light, fetch your gun". Pratt complied, and opening the front door was ordered to deliver the gun up to the men butt-end first. One of the men said that he would get it back - Pratt asked "when?", and the reply came "very soon". After wishing him good night, one of the men went to the window of the parlour, where Pratt's wife and child were, and asked them if they were alright, apologising for the shots fired earlier.

The Luddites also appeared at the home of William Armitage, another cardmaker. Armitage told them his gun was in his workshop, and the Luddites went with him to fetch it. They knew he had had two guns, which startled Armitage, and he said one belonged to his uncle and it had been returned. Armitage was ordered back into his house, and one of the Luddites asked him if he had got the Enoch and the gun which had been found nearby recently - he said he had not, and the men wished him good night and left.

On the same evening, the Luddites also raided the homes of John Wilkinson, William Earnshaw & Crispin Wilkinson in a similar manner, procuring a gun from each of them.

12th April 1812: Late night visitors in the Spen Valley

At Hightown, Sarah Naylor was still awake and pottering about well after 1.00 a.m. She heard a knock at her door: someone must have seen her light on. She went to the door, opened it and saw a stranger, with others at a distance behind him. He asked if she had a man's hat she could borrow? - he promised to return it as soon as he could, as he lived locally. She agreed, being a kindly type.

Later, at the village of Clifton further to the west, Mary Brook was in bed. She was not yet asleep when she heard a knock at her door. She was wary of opening it given the hour, but decided to go to the window as someone might need help. The few people there were strangers to her. They asked if she would sell them some refreshment, and offered her threepence for whatever she could provide, which she considered was more than reasonable. She offered them the nearest things to hand: some muffins and a pitcher of water, which she passed through the window to them, asking them to leave the empty pitcher on the step when they had finished. She wondered to herself where anyone would be going at this time of night and then went back to bed.

7th February 1812: Letter from “General Lud” to "Unknown Stranger", Clifton

Unknown Stranger I have intrusted thees Articles into your Care and I do insist that you will see that they are Restored to their respective oners it is with extream Regrat that I infom yow hou thay Came into my hans when I came out with my men their weir sum joind us that I Never had ad with me before and it wear these Villinds that plundred but ass we wear goin out of Clifton one of my Men came and told me that he Beleivd that those Men ad got somethinck that they had no Buisiness with I theirfore gave horders that they should be searchd and what we found on them we left the things at the Lown End and I hope that the oners has got agen we were gust agoen to have hang’d one of the Villends when we weir inforned that the Solders weir at hand and we thort it Right to Retreat.

N. B. The Men that had the things weir entire strangers to my horders or they Never dworst not have tuch’d one thinck but they have been punished for their for one of them have been hangd for 3 Menet and then Let down agane I ham a friend of the pore and Distrest and a enemy to the opressers thron 

(signed) GENERAL LUD

26th January 1812: Frame-breaking early and late in the day across Nottinghamshire

In the early hours of Sunday 26th January, Luddites struck at Clifton, breaking 20 stocking frames there and a week after the last attack in the small village of Ruddington, breaking 14 frames there. The aftermath of the attack left only 2 functioning frames in Ruddington.

However, the alarm had been raised, and Hussars stationed at Nottingham, as well as the Bunny troop of Yeomanry Cavalry proceeded to the area and blocked all the bridges crossing the river Trent. Seeing their obvious escape routes blocked, the Luddites stole a boat, apparently called 'Aaron's boat', near to Clifton, and used it to cross the Trent. Upon reaching the opposite bank and before fleeing into the night, they discharged their pistols into the air.

On Sunday evening, Luddites visited Bagthorpe and Underwood, breaking up to 45 frames there. They also broke 1 frame at Bulwell, but 7 of the Berkshire Militia were stationed nearby and a gunfight ensued when the Militiamen came across the Luddites after they had done their work. The Luddites escaped, leaving behind a hammer and a shoe.