Friday, 29 April 2016

29th April 1816: The Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk writes to the Home Secretary about the disturbances in the County

Newmarket
April 29. [1816]

My Lord

In consequence of the communication I had with your Ldship upon the representation you received, from a gentleman in Suffolk, a riotous disposition which had shewn itself among the lower orders of people in the neighbourhood of Bildeston, in this County, I have now the honor of enclosing, for your Ldships information, two reports, the one from the four Magistrates acting in the Division in which Bildestone is situated, the other from the Magistrates assembled at the Quarter Sessions at Bury St. Edmonds this day.

It will be painful to your Lordships to know, from such authorities, that the distress of the common people of that part of Suffolk is so great, as to have led them to the commission of certain outrages; but I trust your Lordships will be assured, from the tenor of the documents which I have enclosed, that the utmost vigilance will be used by the magistrates in suppressing riotous combinations wherever they may be discovered, & in apprehending, so that they may brought to trial for their offences, any promoters of mischief, or disturbers of the public tranquillity:

I have the honor to be
your Lordships
most Obet
& faithful Sert

Grafton

[To] Viscount Sidmouth
&c &c &c

This letter can be found at HO 42/149.

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