14th April 1812: Rioting, loom-breaking, arson & 'General Ludd's Wives' in Stockport

After the isolated incidents of the past few days in Stockport, Tuesday 14th April 1812 saw sustained disturbances in the town, with thousands of people taking part. The targets on this day were the ringleaders of bourgeois opposition to weavers demands for a minimum wage over the previous decade (Glen, p.177).

By 8.00 a.m., large crowds of people were seen collected on the outskirts of the town. The first target was the largest commercial concern in the area - the Mansion of Peter 'the Great' Marsland on Eaton Lane had all of its windows smashed by a mob. At Underbank, another house was attacked (possibly that belonging to John Bentley), and the crowd then proceeded up Hillgate, smashing the windows of a house belonging to a Mr Hindley of Hindley & Bradshaws. Next came the factory belonging to William Radcliffe, which had been subject to an arson attack only a few weeks before: this time, the crowd smashed all of the windows there.

In the midst of all this was Thomas Garside, a local Mill owner. Displaying a combination of vanity, foolhardiness & stupidity, he left his house to remonstrate with the crowd in front of a factory. Someone pointed him out and said loudly "kill him, he is a spy" and the crowd set about him, throwing stones at him en masse. Garside knew his days were numbered if he remained in front of the crowd, and on the end of the stones raining down - he ran into the crowd, using his stick to land blows and fight his way through. Eventually, he managed to get away, and headed for some cottages in the hope of finding sanctuary, but many shut their doors in his face or simply refused to open them. Eventually, Garside found a woman in one of the cottages was willing to shelter him, and he had time to catch his breath, being covered in blood and without his hat (which he later considered the be the greatest indignity). But the crowd had followed Garside, and now started to gather outside the cottages. According to Garside, he left the cottage because he feared for his Samaritan's life in sheltering him there, but whatever actually happened, Garside was soon outside again, exposed to the wrath of the crowd, who now surged forward towards him. Garside was on the on the verge of being lynched when an authoritative figure in the crowd came forward, raised his hand and ordered the crowd to stop. They obeyed, many of them copying his stance, and the man came forward to Garside telling him he must go, and that no-one would harm him. The crowd was now silent and parted to allow him through and to escape.

Garside was clear when he later reflected that the Stopfordian working class were overwhelmingly behind what had taken place in Stockport that day. He rewarded the crowd's granting of mercy by writing to the government, hinting at the need for martial law, strong reprisals and summary justice.

But now at nearby Edgeley, the home to many Irish handloom weavers, the properties and dwellings of other mill owners came under attack. Earlier in the day, at 9 o'clock that morning, a crowd had assembled there outside the gates of the factory belonging to John Goodair. Goodair himself was away in London, having possibly fled after being shot at in his house 10 days before, but his wife was at the family home at Edgeley and watched what was occurring with horror - the crowd jeered at her, shouting at her to open the windows, and throwing stones. Unlike Garside, she had the sense to not engage and remained behind locked doors. After an hour, the crowd moved away to join the rioting in Stockport.

But later, she observed from her window that the crowd were returning. She later estimated that around 3000 people were headed towards Edgeley. As they drew closer, she observed something strange - at the head of the crowd were 2 men dressed in women's clothing, whom she later heard being called General Ludd's Wives.

Mrs Goodair knew that she had to flee with her family. She closed all the windows and locked the doors, and was gathering her children in the parlour with the family nurse when her gardener rushed in, urging them all to flee now to avoid the crowd. They just managed to slip away from the gates before the crowd arrived. The crowd set about the Goodair's cottage, with many of them carrying away belongings of all kinds, and as Mrs Goodair drove away to the home of Edmund Sykes, who owned a large bleach works in Edgeley. She glanced back to see flames coming from her house and the crowd giving three cheers.

Goodair's mill was next: part of the crowd smashed all the windows, while others went inside and broke all the Steam Looms, with the semi-completed cloth in them being cut to pieces. Another 3 cheers broke out, and some in the crowd shouted out "now for Sykes", venturing to where Mrs Goodair had just fled.

By now, the military had started to arrive, and prevented the crowd from doing any damage at Sykes'. Mrs Goodair was whisked away to the Buckley Arms in Stockport, her carriage escorted by four Scotch Greys.

Later in the day, the local Magistrates ordered all public houses in the area to be closed.

13th April 1812: Prelude to disorder - shots fired into the house of William Radcliffe at Stockport

In the evening of Monday 13th April 1812, shots were fired into the house of William Radcliffe, a manufacturer who used Steam Looms in Stockport. Radcliffe's premises had been the subject of an arson attack the previous month. Another manufacturer, John Goodair, had been targeted in a similar fashion 9 days before.

20th March 1812: William Radcliffe's factory set alight in Stockport

William Radcliffe of Stockport was the inventor of a dressing machine which had served to facilitate the smoother working of power looms, which up until that point had proved to be a machine too problematic for general use. It was then arguably not coincidental that an attack on his business premises should herald the brief but spectacular course of Luddism in the North-west of England.

Radcliffe's factory-cum-warehouse stood on Higher Hillgate Street in the centre of Stockport. Between 2 and 3.00 a.m. on Friday 20th March, a large crowd of around 500 people had gathered outside it. Windows were smashed and 5 torches were thrown in in an attempt to burn down the premises. The crowd then dispersed.

At the same time as the windows were smashed, a woman who lived opposite was getting out of bed. She observed the torches being thrown into the building and wasted no time in raising the alarm, waking Radcliffe who lived in a house adjoining his factory. He summoned help and was able to extinguish the fire before it got out of control.Three large club-like sticks were found lying outside the building.

The following day, handbills offering a £200 reward were posted by Radcliffe, and with the help of a local (and soon to be notorious) solicitor John Lloyd and the Rector of Stockport, Charles Prescot (also a JP and Clerk to the Magistrates) Radcliffe sent a memorial to the Home Office requesting the issuing of a royal pardon for informants. Lloyds' covering letter dripped with the contempt he held for the situation of working people when he stated "every proper attention has been paid to the distresses of the weavers and measures taken for their alleviation - I did not expect gratitude neither could I anticipate violence."