13th August 1816: Preston weavers use sabotage, attack home of local MP & mill-owner

The Leeds Mercury of 24th August 1816 carried an article from the Preston Chronicle about unrest in Preston on Tuesday 13th August 1816, much of it targeted at the local mill-owner & MP for Preston, Samuel Horrocks:

We are sorry to state that in consequence of the manufacturers being necessitated to reduce the wages on some descriptions of cotton goods, a disposition to break the peace was manifested, by a party of weavers parading the streets of this town, on Tuesday last, and in some cases, destroying the shuttles of such as were inclined to continue at their work. Towards evening they had accumulated to a considerable body, and after consulting together they proceeded to the house of Mr. Horrocks: not finding him at home, some of the part, chiefly boys and women, commenced an attack, by breaking the windows of the house, and tearing up the shrubs in the grounds; but these outrages, not being seconded by the main body, were but of short duration. Next morning they assembled in still greater numbers at the outskirts of the town. They were met by a great posse of serjeants and corporals of the Lancaster militia, stationed in the town, who in a few hours dispersed the mob, after taking some of the most active into custody. The precautionary views of the Magistrates induced them, on the first indication of riot, to send for a party of military to Liverpool, but order was completely restored before they arrived; and the weavers have now settled themselves quietly to work again.—Preston Chronicle, August 17.

1st June 1816: Ousley Rowley informs the Home Office that recent disturbances at Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, are now over

St Neots 1 June 1816

My Lord

In obedience the Prince Regent's commands to me (as one of the Commissioners of Lieutenancy in the County of Huntingdon communicated to me when in London by your Lordship’s letter of the 24th ulto) to return to the County on account of the then disturbed state thereof, I immediately did so, and feel much satisfaction in the honor of informing your Lordship, that owing to the Magistrates directly repairing to Ramsay, (which place & its neighbourhood the riots were confined,) and their prompt exertions there, the populace immediately dispersed; and part of the Yeomanry Cavalry assembling with much alacrity, and repairing to that part of the County, no further risings have been attempted, and all is Tranquil.

Two of the ringleaders (viz) Wm Tibbs a Bricklayer and Wm Barrit a Hodman or Labour, both of Ramsey were committed to the County Gaol; and John Breese a native of Ramsey who has lately served as a private in the marines, who was one of the most forward & violence upon such occasion, fled, but has returned & surrendered and has this day been committed to the County Gaol.

It may be well to observe that part of the effects which were stolen by some of the rioters Littleport (viz) 12 yards of Linen & four yards of woollen Cloth were found (by virtue of a Church warrant) in the house of one Meese a Labour at Ramsey, brought there by a boy, a son of Meece’s, and who says, that he found the same upon the road between Littleport & Ely, and brought the same to his father's, from whence he has been taken by an Ely Constable & since committed to Ely Gaol.

Captain Hamel of the 1st Guards with thirty privates arrived at Huntingdon yesterday.

There is now a recruiting party at Huntingdon under the Command of Captn Ginger of the regulars, and certain of the County Militia there in Number thirteen, which with the Yeomanry Cavalry, & considering the peaceable state of the people, should your Lordship find occasion for Captain Hamel’s services elsewhere, there can be no doubt of the County being kept in a state of Tranquillity.

I have [etc]
Ousley Rowley

[To] The Right Honble
Lord Sidmouth
&c &c &c

29th May 1816: Riots continue at Halstead, Essex

Following the liberation of 4 prisoners at Halstead, Essex and the riot that had ensued the day before, more rioting occurred in the evening of Wednesday 29th May 1816. Once again, the Kentish Weekly Post of 14th June 1816 took up the story:

The next evening they collected in greater numbers, many parties having been observed to join them from the neighbouring villages, armed with bludgeons, &c. In order to prevent a recurrence of the excesses of the preceding evening, the Halsted cavalry were under arms; who, after the Riot Act had been read, made several charges on the mob, but without effect, as the insurgents retreated into the church-yard, which rendered their efforts to disperse them fruitless; and having been violently assailed by stones, &c they found it necessary to retreat; upon which the scene of breaking windows ensued, to the great annoyance of the inhabitants, to the amount of 60 or 70 came forward, and offered themselves in aid of the civil power, by being sworn in as additional constables; and in the evening divided themselves into companies, in order to guard the avenues of the town, and prevent any suspicious persons from entering it; by which judicious measure no assemblage took place—all was quiet and tranquil, and from that time there has not been the slightest appearance of tumult or disorder. In justice to the inhabitants of Halsted, says the Chelmsford Paper, it ought to be observed, that very few of them, and these of the very lowest order, and consisting chiefly of women and children, were at all concerned in these disgraceful excesses, the mischief having principally arisen from some misguided person collected from the neighbourhood.

28th May 1816: 4 prisoners liberated at Halstead, Essex, & a riot ensues

After the arrest on Monday 27th May 1816 of 5 prisoners for the breaking of a threshing machine at Sible Hedingham, Essex, on the 20th May, the authorities took them to be held in custody at nearby Halstead the following day, 28th May. The Kentish Weekly Post of 14th June described what happened:

We are concerned to state that a riot commenced at Halsted, in Essex, in the evening of the 28th ult. by the mob liberating four prisoners who were about to be lodged in Halsted house of correction, for destroying some machinery at Sible-Hedingham. One of the constables who was conducting them to prison, having taken shelter in the house of a tradesman, it was furiously attacked, and the windows of the shop, &c. broken, and otherwise damaged. The mob then continued their outrages during the remainder of the evening, by an almost indiscriminate attack upon the windows of the principal inhabitants. 

24th May 1816: Labourers from Outwell, Norfolk, march to Upwell for "Bread, beer & blood"

Peacock (1965, p.116) has a good description of events at Outwell & Upwell in Norfolk on Friday 24th May 1816:

Between nine and ten o'clock on Friday, 24th May, a crowd of about twenty labourers from the village of Outwell marched the few miles to Upwell.' Bread (beer), and blood were again their aims, and incidents very similar to those at Brandon, Downham Market and Littleport took place. According to Robert Atkins, a constable, the crowd assembled at Outwell and was led by William Lister who was armed and who was heard to say, "Damn all constables and farmers." John Massey, who had gone to the village from Upwell, said to the crowd, "Come along and I'll fill your Belly with Beer and your Pockets with Money." 

The crowd were met on the outskirts of Upwell by the Rector, the Reverend William Gale Townley. He remonstrated with them but was told by William Dawson that they were starving, and had no fears. "Here I am," Dawson told the Vicar, "between Earth and Sky—so help me God. I would sooner loose [sic] my life than go home as I am. Bread I want and Bread I will have." The crowd went on to the house of Daniel Dawson, a baker, who gave them bread "under Impressions of fear and to prevent Persons so tumultuously and riotously assembled from committing Depredations or Violence on his Premises". They then went to The Duke's Head, but the publican was in bed. John Lawrence, "Gentleman", argued with the crowd which, like that at Downham, showed little real spirit. Lawrence called Thomas Sheppard, a constable, to disarm Bowers of a bludgeon and three labourers were taken into custody and eventually lodged in Wisbech gaol. From a bill paid to an Ely constable for apprehending William Lister, which included expenses for a journey to Boston, it would appear that some got well away.

24th May 1816: Sir H.B. Dudley updates the Home Secretary from Ely

Ely Friday Evening

My Lord

On my arrival here I found that my Brother Magistrates had entered into an indirect amnesty with the Principal Insurgents, the mischievous terms of which your Lordship will see in the publication enclosed. The consequence has been what might have been easily foreseen: that the Insurgents feeling themselves thus triumphant, fell back to Littleport last night from those of this Town, where they recommenced their outrages with savage activity, and after levying contributions on all the Inhabitants, and destroying considerable property in Dwellings, [Stacks] Guineas &c are preparing as I understand to advance to join the mal-contents of this place this evening. A troop of Royston Yeomanry, we pressed on as we returned will arrive in half an hour; so that what with irregular cavalry we have here consisting of a detachment mentioned Enclosed in another. I have no doubt but we shall defeat them, but I am not inclined to think from all I learn that we shall be able to advance against them, to effect their complete overthrow, & secure the numerous Desperadoes that must be brought to [illegible] punishment until the arrival of a further military force.

—The information in the annexed Letter addressed to your Lordship, was about to be sent off on my arrival.—

Your Lordship may depend upon nothing being left undone on my part that can contribute to the restoration of the public tranquillity.—I have heard of five or six insurgents being connected in this town from Littleport as [illegible] to the main body expected from that place.—We are going instantly in search of them.—

I write in the midst of a noisy & alarmed Committee so that I fear I shall have scarcely made myself intelligible to your Lordship.—

Your Lordship will hear from me again tomorrow without fail

I have [etc]

Bate Dudley

PS. The continuing Outrages at Littleport are so alarming that, I am induced to make a Dash at the Insurgents without loss of time

[Ely Friday evening 24th May 1816]

24th May 1816: Further disturbances at Downham Market - arrests follow

Peacock (196, p.92) gave a brief description of further disturbances at Downham Market on Friday 24th May 1816:

On the Friday (after the Littleport riots had been forcibly put down) there was a scare in Downham Market. Another visit was expected from the Southerey labourers because the concessions the magistrates had agreed to on Monday had not been kept. It is said that the labourers demanded an allowance of 2s. a day for the two days they had spent rioting. By this time it must have been perfectly clear from what had happened at Ely and Littleport that the concessions would not be kept, and that the full force of the law would descend upon those responsible for the riots. Nevertheless, there was some violence and the Yeomanry were sent for again. Four troops arrived and during the early evening guns were seized and the rioters released on Tuesday were again taken into custody. Seven were committed for trial on the Saturday and more were brought in over the weekend.

24th May 1816: Ely Magistrates write to the Home Secretary about the disorder there

My Lord,

In Addition to the Report, which we did ourselves the Honor of communicating to you, by our Brother magistrate—the Reverend Mr [Lomas?], we feel it is our Duty to state further for your Information, that a Detachment of the First Light Dragoons, consisting of Captain [Methuen] & sixteen privates, has arrived here; but that they are by no means sufficient to quell the turbulent Spirit of the riotous populace, who, tho’ dispersed for the present still continue to exhibit the strongest Symptoms of a dangerous Disposition, which we can are apprehensive will again break out with encreased Violence, as all the Reports from the neighbouring Villages confirm; one of them Littleport, which is only five miles distant, being in the intire pawn of the Rioters, who are levying Contributions upon the peaceable Inhabitants, & are threatening Destruction to the Village—We therefore earnestly intreat you to send us a sufficient force to aid the exertions of ourselves & the peaceable Inhabitants of the place, to save us from the Dangers with which we are surrounded & from the Destruction with which we are threatened. We respectfully suggest, that nothing short of two full Troops of Horse will enable us to answer for the peace of this Town & neighbourhood, & that a piece or two of Artillery would be particularly serviceable, as some of the Rioters are armed with large fowling Guns, whose Tubes are from seven to ten feet in length, & will carry from one to two pounds of Shot, & will kill at a Distance of one hundred or perhaps two hundred yards—We have the Honor to be,

Sir,
your most obedient Servants.
Peploe Ward DD.
John Vachell

Ely, May 24th 1816

[To] The Right Honble Lord Sidmouth
&c &c &c—

24th May 1816: Risings at Ely & Littleport are suppressed by the military

Friday 24th May 1816 was the final day of the labourer's uprising in Littleport & Ely, in Cambridgeshire. Once again, Peacock (1965, pp.pagenos) gave a good description of events using various sources:

Friday, 24th May was the most eventful day in the story of the East Anglian riots. The Ely magistrates had sent for troops to Bury, and had deputised Law "to convey the intelligence" of what had been going on to the Home Secretary. He left for London shortly after the attack on Cooper's house. En route he called on the Royston Yeomanry Cavalry and a detachment of these was sent to Ely. Later, he went to see Lord Sidmouth and asked for regular troops to be sent to the troubled city. 

Sidmouth did not seem to think that troops were needed but sent to ask an associate of his, Sir Henry Bate Dudley, to go back with Law and take charge of operations to pacify the troubled districts.' Dudley agreed and met Law the following day. They set out for Ely early on Friday morning. 

Bate Dudley and Law arrived in Ely at 2.30 p.m., with another forty-two of the Royston Volunteer Cavalry under Captain Wortham, to find the place in an uproar. (Vachell and Peploe Ward had written to Sidmouth, asking for no less than "two full troops of Horse and a piece or two of artillery" to add to the Royston Yeomanry and a seventeen-strong detachment of the 1st Regiment of the Royal Dragoons who were there under the command of Captain Methuen.) Methuen was at first held in check by the frightened magistrates in the same way that Lieutenant Goodenough had been at Brandon. The Dragoons paraded the streets but at about eleven o'clock an incident developed when John Hassett dashed from a crowd of twenty or more hostile labourers and assaulted Joseph Heamers, one of the soldiers. Grabbing the man's sword, Hassett was alleged to have said, "Damn your Eyes I have got your sword and will fight any of you you Bugger". Following this, fighting took place and Methuen's men arrested some labourers, including Wilson. Wyebrow and some of his friends from Downham, but they somehow contrived to escape. This was the first stirring against the crowd for which Daubeny and Seymour, two J.P.s, were responsible. Bate Dudley, however, told Sidmouth that the mob had destroyed "dwellings, stacks and granaries" and blamed "My Brother Magistrates who had entered into an indiscreet amnesty with the Principal Insurgents". His written accounts of the troubles were highly coloured and penned, of course, to glorify his own part. 

Nevertheless he did act with promptitude and considerable bravery although he had the troops to back him up that the unfortunate Ward and Metcalfe earlier had not. 

Ely was brought quickly under control by the new arrivals and Bate Dudley was told of the troubles elsewhere. "The continuing outrages at Littleport are so alarming," he wrote to Sidmouth almost immediately after he arrived in Ely, "that I am determined to dash at the insurgents without delay." About ten more people were recruited from the populace and then Dudley and Law, at the head of "20 of the Royston Yeomanry, the Detachment of the 1st Royal Dragoons and some inhabitants of Ely, and part of the staff of the Cambridge Militia", went "full charge" to Littleport. 

A number of colourful stories gathered around the story of the attack on Littleport, none of which can be substantiated, but most of which are worth repeating. The Rev. E. Coneybeare, for instance, said that the rioters were hunted by a Hanoverian Regiment who combed the district "with true German thoroughness", whereas in fact these troops had left the country long before May. 

"Local tradition still hands down the tale of the poor thatcher," he recorded, "who was engaged on the roof of the great tithe barn at Ely (the largest in the kingdom) at the moment when a detachment of these foreigners was marching past. The usual thatcher's cry to his assistant, 'Bunch! bunch!' was interpreted by the German officer in command as an insult to his troops. On the instant he halted them beside the barn, and gave the order to fire. Pierced by a dozen musket balls, the unhappy thatcher rolled from the roof, his body falling upon the great folding door of the barn, which happened to be half open. There it hung, dripping with blood for over three days, the officer swearing that anyone who dared to remove it should share the same fate, as an example to all to behave with due respect to their oppressors." 

Another writer painted a fanciful yet dramatic picture of the events of Friday and a clash with Methuen's troops. The armed waggon certainly had not been taken to Ely again. 

Next morning a report was circulated that the horse soldiers were coming. The waggon that was brought by the rioters on the previous day was placed at The Lamb corner, and upon it were placed heavy wash guns, charged heavily with slugs, and manned by pot valiant fenmen trained to command the road. Others with forks, cleavers, knives, and bludgeons had assembled, swearing they would cut down every soldier as he came up. About noon a cry was raised, "They are coming", and a troop of Dragoons from Bury came up the Gallery at a sharp trot, their carbines at hip, swords gleamingin the sunlight. The bright helmets, with the rattle and clank of horses' feet and military trappings were too awful for the warlike fenmen and their supporters; they bolted in wild confusion in all directions, some making off for Littleport, others creeping out of Ely the best way they could. Sir Bates [sic] Dudley was sent down also by Government to check further violence. Some of the princi¬pal rioters were soon overhauled, hoisted in a waggon, and thrashed through the streets. Dudley's ride, as it was called, spread terror throughout the fens, and a wholesale dread of incurring the wrath of Sir Dudley. 

While preparations for an attack on Littleport were being made, the labourers there were celebrating in the usual manner. Most of their time was spent in drinking with what money was left over from Thursday, and there were only a very few half-hearted incidents like those of Thursday. South went back to Josiah Dewey's and threatened him with a gun saying, "blast you, I have a good mind to shoot you in your House", and Cammell and Rutter led a crowd to the house of James Horsley, a thatcher, and demanded £5. Much of the spirit the labourers showed the previous day seemed to have gone, and they went away after Horsley had promised them that he would go along to Dennis's public house, a promise which he did not keep. James Luddington, a J.P., also argued with a crowd led by Joseph Irons, who went away from him empty-handed but threatening to return with "the foreman" (Dennis). William Walker was also threatened and told by Robert Langford that the mob was reassembling and that, unless he handed over money and gin, his house would be burnt down. It was generally believed that a plan was afoot to fire Littleport and Ely later during the day. Bate Dudley certainly thought so, and William Crow was reported to have heard James Lee say that "If the overseers of the parish will not come forward this day (Friday) and pay all us [sic] two, shillings per day for yesterday and today then woe be to Littleport tonight". Asked if he meant fire, he replied, "Yes", and told Crow to spread the news around. Long after the riots were over, reports appeared in the East Anglian newspapers saying an attempt to start something had actually been made in Ely. 

"The design of the Littleport rioters to destroy the town of Ely by fire," it was reported, "has been manifested by a discovery, made within these few days, of a quantity of combustible materials, which were found in the warehouse of a Mr. Garratt, a respectable grocer of that place, secretly laid immediately under the floor where he kept his casks of gunpowder: amongst these combustibles was a piece of charcoal, the fire of which appeared to have been providentially extinguished from the want of air." 

When Bate Dudley and Law arrived at Littleport at about six o'clock in the evening, most of the labourers were in The George. Robert Stevens, a local surgeon, said that the Fighting Parson dismounted and commanded them to give themselves up. Cammell became abusive and Bate Dudley tried to grab him, but broke off the encounter when either Rutter or Daniel. Wilson, the blacksmith, hit him over the head with an iron bar. The prosecution brief of "The King versus Daniel Wilson" in the Cambridgeshire Record Office describes this undignified treatment of the victor of so, many duels thus: 

N.B. The truth is that Sir H. B. Dudley attended by the Military went to the door of The George public house and commanded the Rioters to surrender upon which Cammell came out and stood in the Door way and said come on you Piccadilly Butchers (alluding probably to the military) upon which Sir Henry collared him and it was during the struggle between Sir H. B. Dudley & Cammell that this assault took place. 

Shortly after the assault on Bate Dudley, shooting began. It is not clear who fired the first shots, but the labourers, were no match for the military. John Simmons, one of the Dragoons, was knocked off his horse and a sergeant's knee was injured when he, too, was unhorsed. Thomas South seriously injured a soldier named Wallance, a Waterloo veteran, who eventually had an arm amputated and became a pensioner on the Littleport poor rates. These were all the injuries among Bate Dudley's party, but among the labourers casualties were greater. Thomas Sindall was captured and then shot through the head by William Porter while trying to escape, and a colleague had part of his jaw taken away by a sabre cut. Isaac Harley was badly shot but lived to regret that "having three waistcoats on, prevented his death that day". 

Most reports of the incidents at Littleport said that two labourers were killed during the fighting, but Sindall was undoubtedly the only fatality. Bate Dudley told Sidmouth there were two and every journal and newspaper wrote in the same way, The Morning Post, for instance, saying so in the very issue that reported the Coroner's inquest on Sindall. W. H. Barrett says that, according to tradition, two soldiers were also killed and not found until their bodies were dug up during excavations forty years later. It is inconceivable that their disappearance would have escaped comment at the time, however. 

The labourers scattered after the affray outside The George, chased by the soldiers. Fifty-six were taken into custody that evening and a further forty-two were brought in on the Saturday. The chase was not without its drama and the Dragoons compared favourably with those at Norwich. 

"We understand that after the firing ceased at Littleport," noted the Norwich Mercury, "two privates of the First Royal Dragoons, being in close pursuit of two daring offenders on one of the banks of the River Ouse, and the latter having taken to a boat and crossed the river, immediately gave their horses to, a bystander and elevating their pistols with their left hands above the water, swam across the river with their right arms, to the opposite bank, and secured the two men, the river is of a great width." 

All over the weekend labourers were taken in and examined by the magistrates. The two Harleys and John Dennis, for instance, who had £25 in notes with him, were caught on the 25th at West Dereham. Many were sheltered by other labourers, one of whom was eventually fully committed to the Special Assizes for doing so. This was David Stimson who was visited by James Smith of Eriswell, Suffolk, constable, 

who on his oath saith that on Saturday Evening the twenty-fifth day of May instant he went to the house of the Prisoner David Stimson who, resides in Burnt Fen in the Parish of Mildenhall in the County of Suffolk for the purpose of searching the said house after some Rioters who were suspected to be concealed there that the said David Stimson told him this informant that he had, had half a Dozen secreted there the night before and that he would secrete them. 

Some of the locals were zealous in their attempt to bring the labourers to book. One of the bills paid by the magistrates of Ely was for £1 3s. 5d. "Expenses for the apprehension and keeping in custody Thomas Tippell alias Gibbons on suspicion of being Jefferson a Littleport Rioter who was absconded". 

Some of the labourers who ran from Ely, Downham and Littleport got well away, and Bow Street officers were employed to apprehend them. Aaron Layton was one who was caught in London. William Gotobed also got to the capital, but was never caught. He eventually returned to Littleport several years later after his wife and family had become chargeable to the parish and the locals had petitioned on his behalf. His brother, Thomas, had also not been, caught by the time of the trial and Stephen Saunderson was, another who went to London, got clean away and was never brought to book. 

About eighty prisoners were eventually caught, sent before Bate Dudley and the other magistrates and fully committed for trial. It was decided to try them at Special Assizes, which, it was hoped, would attract great attention and serve as a warning to rioters in other parts of the country. According to Sidmouth it was successful in doing this. 

The Home Secretary also changed his mind about the need for sending more troops to the troubled areas. He had stopped the disembodying of the West Norfolk Militia on the 18th May and promised to send troops to Brandon the following day. Hearing that Ely Cathedral was in danger and that "reports from neighbouring villages" confirmed there was "a riotous disposition" prevailing, he despatched three troops of cavalry (100 men), two six pounders and three companies of the 69th Regiment there under the command of Major General Byng. He also ordered the Lords Lieutenants to go to their respective counties, expressed grave dissatisfaction at the behaviour of the magistrates, and ordered the following proclamation to be displayed prominently in all the trouble spots. 

Sidmouth's decision, to send troops to East Anglia and the magistrates' firmness—although belated—almost certainly prevented the riots spreading further. On the very day that the shooting took place in Littleport, there had been troubles elsewhere. There had been every indication that the affair there was but the beginning of a really widespread rebellion.

23rd May 1816: Littleport labourers march on Ely, where rioting commences

Peacock (1965, pp.100-106) continued to give a good account of the proceedings in Cambridgeshire on Thursday 23rd May 1816: 

Dennis and the labourers reassembled at The Globe Inn, where their plans for the following day (which incidentally was Ely Fair day) were laid. It is more than likely that someone was sent to Downham, a few miles away, to tell the inhabitants there to make their way to Ely the next morning, and probably a reckoning of who had and who had not been forced to part with cash was made with a view to rectifying any oversights. Certainly Richard Burridge and Richard Nicholas went along in the very early hours of Thursday morning and robbed Mary Morley, Ann Cutlack, a farmer's wife, and Isaac Taylor, who was told that "the mob which were then collected together at Littleport were going to Ely to take the Town up to Government". It was also decided to obtain arms, and Littleport was searched for ammunition and firearms of any kind. John Green and Beamiss went again to Wiles' shop (it is interesting to note that, until Dennis appeared on the scene, the powder and shot were untouched) and took 7 lbs. of gunpowder and a barrel containing 56 lbs. of shot back to The Globe, where Francis Torrington contributed another 5 lbs. of gunpowder he had taken from one of the Cheesewrights. William Murat and John Warner knocked up John Rust, a labourer who shot wildfowl, and relieved him of two guns worth £10, while Burridge and Henry Mainer, wearing handkerchiefs and scarves taken from Vachell, took another, worth £5, from Elizabeth Stimson. Robert Salmon took a gun from Cutlack and relieved Thomas Waddelow of another. Somewhat later, an armed William Gotobed held up Robert Whitworth (or Whitmore) and robbed him of a gun and two pitchforks, saying he was off to join the crowd. Dennis was seen by numerous people distributing shot at The Globe from about one o'clock onwards, and Mary How said the labourers had some target practice in the early hours. In all, the Treasury Solicitors; were told, seventy-three offences were committed in Littleport during Wednesday and the early hours of Thursday, 23rd May. 

Having armed themselves, the labourers looked around for a means of transporting themselves and their firearms into Ely. They went along to the farm belonging to Henry Tansley and took a waggon and three horses from his stable. According to George Stevens, the mob was ready to start the march at three o'clock in the morning but the waggon had not then been got ready. Eventually it was loaded up so that it looked like a primitive tank, and was driven by George Crow. "They had armed themselves", a description said, 

with the most dangerous and offensive weapons, such as Bludgeons, Pitchforks, Muck Cromes, Fork Shafts headed with short iron spikes, Fowling pieces and Fowler's guns, the tubes of which latter are from 7 to Io feet in length, carry about 2 lbs. of shot, and will kill at a distance of 150 yards. 

The procession, headed by the armed waggon and John Walker, "carrying a pole in his Hand by way of a Signal", set out for Ely during the early hours of Thursday morning. One last piece of violence was committed in Littleport when Isaac Harley and Thomas South caught sight of William Martin in the street. They demanded that the farmer should accompany them to Ely but he refused. Harley threatened to kill him and South knocked him down, but they left him behind. Another farmer, an old man named William Poole, was not so fortunate. He was working in a field near the turnpike road that led from Littleport to Ely when he saw an armed party on the road. In spite of protests that he could hardly walk, Burridge and Thomas Armiger forced him to join them. Quite a large number of others were similarly pressed into going. 

The authorities had been warned of the approach of the crowd from Littleport, and a magistrate, the Rev. William Metcalfe, met them, on the outskirts of Ely, sometime between five and six o'clock. He asked the crowd to stop but Crow, driving the waggon, said, "Go on, go on, we will go into the market place." 

A crowd, estimated by one observer at 500, collected in the market square outside The White Hart Inn, where a number of the magistrates (all clergymen) had gathered. Metcalfe and the Rev. Peploe Ward asked them what they wanted and received the usual replies. Richard Rutter added a demand for beer at 2d. a pint to the now familiar cry for flour at 2s. 6d. and an allowance or wage of 2s. The magistrates, who were by this time scared out of their wits, invited a deputation, led by John Lee, into the inn to discuss their claims and the following paper was eventually drawn up. 

The Magistrates agree, and do order that the overseers—shall pay to each family Two Shillings per Head per week, when Flour is Half a. Crown a Stone; such allowance be raised in proportion when the price of Flour is higher, and that the price of Labor shall be Two Shillings per day, whether Married or Single and that the Laborer shall be paid his full wages by the Farmer, who hires him. 

During the deliberations in The White Hart the Rev. Henry Law, another magistrate who had been asked by Ward to hurry to Ely, entered the room. He wrote a number of letters, now in the Cambridge University Library, justifying his part in the proceedings and they help determine what went on on that day. Law approved of the concessions. He told Sidmouth that increased relief from is. 6d. to 2s. "to the poor families receiving parochial relief was justified ... My Lord, because the price of grain had become much higher (in May 1816) than when the foresaid allowance was made (November 1815)". 

The concessions were welcomed by the delegates, but they asked for one thing more—"forgiveness for what had passed". This was not acceptable to all the magistrates and an argument developed. Law told the Home Secretary that he warned the magistrates, as did Lieutenant Goodenough at Brandon, that they were acting ultra vires. "I resisted the compromise about to be made to the rioters," he wrote, "and I stated, that I would not agree to such terms which were contrary to law, reason and common sense, and I told the Mob, that he [Peploe Ward] had no power to hold out such a promise of pardon to them for that if they had offended against the Law, so their offences they must be accountable." The delegates' reply to Law's prevaricating was "then we have done nothing we will agree to nothing we will have Blood before Dinner". This was enough for the majority of the J.P.s and they agreed that "No person to be prosecuted for anything that has been done to the present time; provided that every Man immediately returns peaceably to his own Home". A statement of the magistrates' concessions was printed in an extraordinarily quick time and copies are still in existence. Vachell, writing to Law, said that he hoped that Sidmouth would be told of the way the magistrates were coerced. "... you know," he said, "that they were the absolute prisoners ... at the mercy of a most ferocious armed rabble without any means of defence. Every allowance, I trust, will be made for their complying with terms, to which in fact they were compelled to agree." 

The result of the meeting with the magistrates was announced to the crowd who responded with great cheers and many, including those who had been forced along, returned to Littleport with the armed waggon. Rayner Brassett, who had hidden and so avoided being taken to Ely, had followed the crowd there sometime afterwards with one of the Cutlack family and had returned to Littleport by nine o'clock. Shortly afterwards a group, including South, Jefferson and Little Easey, called on him and demanded food and beer. He accompanied them to The Globe and told Robert Johnson, the publican, to let the crowd have whatever beer they wanted. Brassett returned home but was soon called on by John Sparrow (who turned Crown witness) who said that more of the labourers had gathered at The Crown and that they, too, wanted food. The treasurer went along there and found Sparrow, Chevell, Beamiss and others drinking a barrel. Realising that the whole of Littleport was given over to carousing, he then called at The George, where John Lee and Burridge gave him more money, and at The Turk's Head, where he ordered another barrel—"the Mob", he told the magistrates, "said that all the Public Houses should be treated alike". He paid for what had been consumed so far out of his own pocket because, he said, Chevell knew what was in the handkerchief and he dare not touch it except in that firebrand's presence. 

At noon Chevell and six or seven others called on Brassett. Adding two pounds more, Chevell counted out the hoard which amounted to £43 4s. 0d. He then turned to his colleagues and "proposed ... that all the Publicans should fare alike and that the whole of the money should be spent on victuals and drink". They then departed and Brassett dutifully went his rounds settling with the landlords. At the end of the day a balance of £6 7s. 1d. remained which "was spent by the Mob in Victuals and Drink on the Friday morning". Brassett said that he acted his part simply through fear, a contention which rings true in his case. 

Not all the labourers had returned to Littleport. While those that had were drinking, many of their colleagues were rioting in Ely. 

After hearing of the magistrates' concessions, a section of the Littleport crowd—which had been, joined by some of Ely's "refractory inhabitants"—began demanding beer from the local publicans. By about 8.30 they were joined by labourers from Downham and they made their way to the house of Henry Rickwood. "Rickwood," a prosecution brief said, "is a Miller, and resides at Ely and he seems to have been considered by the Rioters as peculiarly deserving of their marked attention." Henry Chapman summed up the general belief about millers when he said, "the corn is got into the great People's hands—Damn them—if they [we?] are all of one mind we will take it away from them". 

Mr. Rickwood was not at home when John Dennis, who described himself as cashier, demanded "£50 as a douceur for saving [the] house and premises from destruction". Gotobed fired a gun into the place and Mrs. Rickwood sent her son, William, to see Robert Edwards, the Chief Constable of the Hundred of Ely and the agent for Mortlock's bank, to obtain the sum demanded. 

William Rickwood saw Edwards and told him of the crowd's demands. The constable began walking back to the miller's house but en route met the labourers with Mrs. Rickwood. At first he refused to give them money and made the mistake of brandishing his constable's staff, whereupon he was set upon and beaten by James Gammen into changing his mind. He asked whom he was to pay the money to and Dennis—who had tried to restrain, the crowd—said that he would "go in for Littleport" ; Flanders Hopkin went in representing the Downham labourers, and Stephen Saunderson those from Ely. Edwards handed the three £16 each and had one shilling left. Asked who should have it, Dennis replied that it had to be "divided equally". Edwards placed the amount to Rickwood's debt. 

A great number of women were in the crowd milling about the streets of Ely and Sarah Hobbes, a soldier's wife and the only woman actually tried at the Special Assizes, was particularly active. According to John Bacon, a constable, she led the crowd through the churchyard and away from Edwards' house saying "come along, come along . . . we will go to Cooper's, he is a bigger rogue than Rickwood". 

William Cooper kept a flour and grocery shop, and was regarded as a profiteer as bad as the unfortunate Willets elsewhere. The crowd of about 200 angry men and women began to call for "a crow or a mattock" to pull the shop down when Law and Metcalfe, the two magistrates, pushed their way forward. They managed to dissuade the mob from destroying the building but a cry of "five pounds, five pounds" was set up. The terrified Cooper handed over a note to Metcalfe who dutifully passed it on to Dennis. At this stage, the Ely labourers pushed William Atkin and Aaron Layton, a tenant of Cooper's and a master bricklayer, forward, saying that they wanted to be treated the same as the Littleport people. Cooper handed Layton, who later claimed he was acting under duress (a witness said he was "taken from the door of his Mother's by one of the Mob"), another note and the crowd gave him (Layton or Cooper?) "three huzzas and went away". 

From Cooper's shop the crowd went to visit George Stevens, another miller. Dennis demanded £50, but, after haggling for some time, agreed to accept ten. For some reason, Dennis objected to Atkin, who was a carpenter "possessed of some property", acting on behalf of the Ely crowd, and the money was divided between him and Layton. 

The rest of Thursday was given over to rioting and drinking in Ely, the publicans being forced to supply food and drink, as they had at Littleport. Most of the Downham and Littleport people, however, left by the early afternoon, and, after this, the authorities made some show of resistance. Some prisoners were obviously taken for, at three o'clock in the afternoon, Aaron Layton, Walton and Hunt were seen in Littleport asking for help to get them released. This was refused, the locals saying that none of their colleagues was missing and that the waggon had been put away. Later on, Henry Chapman, described as a "yeoman" on one of the briefs, also went to Littleport to ask for help. At five o'clock he was back in Ely, saying this had been agreed to and that "they had got four waggons loaded". This was an exaggeration, but some armed men may have returned. Robert Salmon certainly went and relieved Cutlack of the gun he had returned during the afternoon, announcing that they were off to release prisoners at Ely. Certainly, too, about a dozen were released; this is confirmed by letters from Law and others." 

The Littleport labourers were well satisfied with their day's work and the late arrivals joined in the festivities in the town. Dennis, who had purchased ribands, for the crowd, said exultingly, "we have done everything well they give us credit for it", and there were a few more incidents to record. Henry Mainer went to the unfortunate Tansley, who ranked second only to the Martins as an object of hate, and held him up with a gun. James Wortley and Thomas Smith took a pound from Matthew Waddelow. Apologetically, they told him that he had been overlooked the previous night. 

Downham had not been as quiet as Littleport, and there there were some minor incidents perpetrated on their return from Ely by a crowd led by Flanders Hopkin, John and William Wilson, and Matthew, Thomas and Samuel Seakins. Alice Cornwall was robbed of 4s. and another inhabitant was threatened but was left alone when he gave bread away. The Downham crowd, however, were a spineless lot compared with that at Littleport. A description of an attack they made on the house of Francis Tingey deserves quoting in full. 

The prisoners with many others assembled at the prosecutor's House on the 23rd ult. and demanded Money—The prosecutor having refused to obey the call an attack was immediately made upon his window by the prisoners and their party—The prosecutor's wife then took the Alarm and sent her son Francis Tingey with a Flag of Truce to the Besiegers and he succeeded in saving the Citadel from further destruction by payment of a three shilling piece.

22nd May 1816: Rioting erupts at Littleport, Cambridgeshire

The most serious of the 'Bread or Blood' disturbances in East Anglia took place in Cambridgeshire between 22nd - 24th May 1816, commencing in the village of Littleport on Wednesday 22nd May. Peacock (1965, pp.95-100) gave a good summary using multiple sources:

The incidents involving the Southerey labourers took place on the 20th and 21st May. Having secured the release of their friends, they returned to their village in high spirits and sent out messengers to nearby villages to spread the news of their victory over the magistrates. Among those told were the labourers of Littleport, a few miles away. They, according to one of the solicitors who drew up a statement of the events of the 22nd, 23rd and 24th May, "lost no time in asserting their Rights (as they audaciously expressed themselves)". The "Norfolk Banditti", he said, had "succeeded too well" at Downham Market. 

The labourers at Littleport met in The Globe public house on the evening of 22nd May for a Benefit Club meeting, and, without doubt, the recent incidents at Bury, Brandon, and Downham Market, were discussed by the fifty or sixty people present. According to Johnson, they were expecting the men from Southerey. Undoubtedly, the usual amount of drinking went on, and, when it was realised that their neighbours were not joining them, they issued forth from The Globe and made straight for the house of the Rev. John Vachell, the vicar of Littleport, an extremely unpopular magistrate. 

Vachell was at home when the crowd called. He was told that the labourers, wanted work and bread and he was asked to accompany them to a parley with the farmers. Vachell agreed to do this and the crowd met the farmers in the churchyard. Prominent among the latter was Henry Martin who acted as spokesman and who was described as "a principal Farmer in the Parish against whom some of them (the labourers) had imbibed an animosity", and elsewhere as someone who, was obnoxious "because of his conduct in the -affairs of the parish". (He was an overseer of the poor in 1814.) Martin promised the crowd "2s. per day and flour at 2s. 6d. per stone", exactly the same terms, he said, that he had heard the Southerey people had been awarded. By this time windows were being broken nearby and Martin said that "I was then advised to go home—and did so". 

A crowd led by a man blowing a horn had broken away from those negotiating with the farmers and begun rioting and robbing on a scale not seen at Brandon, Bury or Downham Market... 

One of the first objects of attack was a grocer's shop kept by Stephen and Mary Wiles. The windows were broken and Mrs. Wiles said that the crowd demanded that she should hand over £10. She offered £1 and they then settled for a bank token worth 1s. 6d. [sic]. Aaron Chevell (described usually as a labourer, but in one brief as a tailor), then relieved Stephen Wiles of £8 and the crowd set out for the house of John Mobbs, who was knocked down and robbed by John Easey of £3 "and one loaf of bread worth 1s.". 

From John Mobbs' house the crowd went to that of Josiah Dewey, a retired farmer of over seventy years of age. Aaron Chevell said to the old man, "Now if you will give me a £1 note I will go away", but Dewey foolishly said he did not have one. Chevell told the mob to "Go it". "Little" Easey and Richard Jessop knocked the old man down and about fifty labourers forced their way into the house. Mrs. Dewey was told to go off and borrow for them while her husband was held a prisoner. When she returned and handed the money over she found her house being cleared of anything at all valuable, including sheets, table cloths, stockings, a watch, gowns and a cleaver, which Thomas South appropriated and used with considerable effect later on. The crowd also found 100 guineas and a promissory note which they took. 

The success at Dewey's prompted the labourers to go to practically all the farmers and shopkeepers in Littleport, demanding money. Robert Crabbe took from Henry Tansley, and Jarvis Cranwell, and Thomas Sindall demanded a contribution from John Cutlack junior. Cutlack offered £3, but this was refused and he had to give £5, along with "a piece of paper containing a Minute of his having paid the Money to Sindall". William Beamiss senior, the shoemaker, took £1 from Thomas Waddelow and his son took more from Robert Cheesewright. Later he and Chevell went to Tansley again. Chevell, who was one of Tansley's tenants, anounced "I am at the head of the Mob", and Beamiss told the crowd "that he was cashier" and that "the old fellow [Tansley] has got the money, let us lug it out". The farmer handed over another £2. George Kidd was also visited twice, Thomas South deciding that the 6s. he had given the first time was not enough. South, wielding his cleaver, was also mainly responsible for robbing Robert Whitworth, a farmer, and entering the house of Mrs. Elizabeth Little and taking 10s. Aaron Chevell also took £1 4s. 0d. from George Aldis, a surgeon, and returned later to enquire whether or not the note was a good one! Henry Luddington, a magistrate, was one of the few people spared, he having persuaded Beamiss to leave his house alone. 

At about nine o'clock the labourers decided to bring some organisation into the proceeding, and Aaron Chevell led a group to the house of Rayner Brassett, a baker and flour dealer who was later charged with rioting, but turned Crown witness. Bras-sett was asked for a pen and paper to put down an account of how much they had obtained, and then the question arose of who was to be treasurer. Taylor, a labourer who appears quite often in the story yet who was never charged, was asked but declined. "Chevell then said let me hold it but the others replied no if Chevell has it we shall never get it again. Brassett shall hold it." The money, some £25, to which more was added during the evening (what happened to Dewey's 100 guineas is unknown), was put into a handkerchief and handed over to Mrs. Brassett. The crowd left to continue levying and wrecking, saying they would call back the following day. 

Thomas South, William Dann and Robert Crabbe then led an attack upon the house of Robert Speechley "a very feeble and harmless character of upwards of 71 years of age". South, brandishing his cleaver, told the people in the house that "he would serve them as he had served Dewey and not leave them a chair to sit upon". He took £2 12s. 0d. from Sarah Butcher, a servant, and William Dann, who was "in liquor", took from Thomas Cheesewright, who had gone into the house after being robbed in the street by William Beamiss. The place was then systematically broken up and glassware worth £20, twenty ounces of silver, linen and a quantity of money were taken. 

By this time the labourers had tasted success and from Speechley's they set out to hunt the unpopular Henry Martin. He lived with his grandparent, Mrs. Rebecca Waddelow, a shopkeeper, and had in fact hidden in the house, although he made his escape as soon as he heard the crowd approaching, shouting for his blood. Joseph Easey led the mob and Mrs. Waddelow, who was said to be "remarkable (7o-8o years) for Piety, Charity and Simplicity of character", sent out her servant, "Little" Sallis, to negotiate with him. Sallis offered Easey £5 to go away but this was refused, Easey saying that he would "have Martin". Richard Jessop was also asked to take the cash, but he, too, refused, "for Martin he would have". The crowd, in which John Walker bearing "an ensign" was prominent, then smashed their way into the house. 

Inside the house the crowd found Mary Cutlack, who was robbed of £3, and William, the brother of Henry Martin. Thomas South, who one report said was a servant of Henry's "whom he would doubtlessly have murdered had he met him ... sought to gratify his disappointed malice upon the Prosecutor (William)". South aimed a blow with his cleaver but missed and the fanner made his escape, along with William Gillett, who had been beaten and said he left "through fear". Thomas Gotobed, who was also anxious to settle with Martin, and others then proceeded to search the house and, not finding their prey, chopped up every piece of furniture they could lay their hands upon. They then "cleared the shop" of food and clothing worth some £50, and George Crow took about £6 in notes. Only one known member of the crowd was not from Littleport. This was Thomas Edgerley, a waterman from Ramsey, who had been working on a gang of lighters that were lying near Littleport bridge. He had joined the rioters and had taken tea and cloth worth £10 from Waddelow's shop, which he kept and eventually sold. 

Henry Martin had managed to get away from the crowd and had met Hugh Robert Evans, a local solicitor and clerk to the magistrates of Ely. The two of them tried to get away from Littleport in a post chaise, but were stopped by William Beamiss, John Hunt and a few others, who demanded money. Evans was relieved of 14s. and Martin, who kept in the shadows and concealed his real identity, parted with 4s. 6d. This was one of the offences chosen to go before the Judges at the Special Assizes, and one of the few that Beamiss was found not guilty of. 

The crowd returned to the Rev. Vachell's house at about eleven o'clock. First of all they demanded money and beer. Two pounds were handed over and they were told they could have a barrel, but Isaac Harley, who was armed with a gun, said this was not enough and threatened to shoot the Vicar and his gardener. Vachell made the mistake of brandishing a pistol and the infuriated crowd, knocking him aside, forced their way into the house. Mr. and Mrs. Vachell and their daughter, "an amicable and interesting young lady in extremely ill-health", managed to make their escape leaving the house to the mercies of the mob. The place was broken up and everything of value was taken, including twenty pounds of flour, silver spoons, "the 5th volume of the Botanical Magazine, a framed portrait of Philip Metcalfe, Esq., and a Bell pull ..." which were discovered in the house of Elizabeth Watson. 

After wrecking Vachell's house, the Littleport labourers took to organising themselves. So far no agreement had been reached with the magistrates as at Brandon and Bury, and, having cowed their own village, they began preparations for an armed march on Ely the following day. There the magistrates could be forced into making the concessions Henry Martin had suggested. 

The incidents in Littleport until about eleven o'clock were not directed by anyone of authority and had simply had revenge as their objective, although the farmers were approached with wage claims early on. At about this time, however, the crowd sent for John Dennis, a licensed victualler, who was sympathetically disposed towards them. According to Mary How, his servant, Dennis was in bed when the crowd first called and she said that they had to go back twice more before he would agree to go. She also said that Christopher Butcher threatened to shoot her master if he would not join, the crowd, but Dennis himself said that he got up and went to the market place because he heard "beer was, to be given". His defence at his trial was that he was forced into joining the crowd, but his actions belie this. It is reasonably certain that he took control of the preparations for the march to Ely.

21st May 1816: Benjamin Barker tells the Home Secretary he has prevented a riot at Rockland, Norfolk

Parsonage Caston
near Watton May 21 1816

My Lord

As I was stepping into my carriage this morning to go a journey I was informed is a great number of persons were collecting riotously in the neighbouring parish of Rockland, on which I immediately mounted my horse and have been six hours amongst them using my best endeavours to prevent any breach of the peace and I am happy to say that I have hitherto succeeded, tho’ a very bad spirit manifested itself in some few persons, which was the more dangerous as on examination I found many cases of very severe distress – I am not a magistrate, and there not being one in the hundred in which I reside, I have no opportunity of consulting with one without a greater delay in this information reaching your Lordship and may be safe

I have [etc]
Benjn Barker.

There is a great ferment in this whole neighbourhood and some mischief has been already done

To the Right Honble
The Secretary of State
for the Home Department

20th May 1816: Riot averted at Mundford, Norfolk

The Bury & Norwich Post of 29th May 1816 briefly reported that a riot had been averted at Mundford, Norfolk on Monday 20th May 1816:

Riots.—Monday se'nnight a mob collected at Mundford, but by the early attention and activity of J. Mosely, Esq. the Swaffham Cavalry, under Capts. Hamond and Tyssen, were mustered, and in a few hours appeared in force, when the Riot Act was read, and entire order was the consequence.

20th May 1816: Serious rioting in Downham Market

Early on Monday 20th May 1816, serious rioting broke out in Downham Market, lasting all of the day. Norfolk. Peacock (1965, pp.87-92) gave a good account of the insurrection using various sources:

On Monday, 20th May ... really serious rioting broke out in Downham Market and the day ended with that town in a state of chaos. It was general throughout the whole area for magistrates and overseers to hold weekly meetings, usually on a Monday, and on that day the representatives of the Hundred and Half of Clacklose were meeting in Downham. The labourers set out to confront them. 

At some time between seven and eight o’clock, a crowd of about sixty began to gather in the little village of Southery, a few miles from Feltwell. Among them, some who “displayed some military knowledge” began to press the fainter hearts in the village into joining them. James Galley, a labourer, was spokesman and he led them to Robert Martin's farm, where labourers were forced to unyoke their horses and join the crowd. A little later they called at the unpopular John Benton's farm and compelled another three men to leave their work. John Stern, a labourer, threatened to break open the barn, but Benton was armed, and the crowd went off towards Downham Market, led by John Bowers blowing a horn. They arrived at Denver at about ten o'clock and pressed more men into their ranks. Stern threatened they would hang anyone who persisted in refusing to join them, and the crowd was in an ugly mood. Sarah More, a labouring woman from Hilgay, was heard to say they wanted "Bread or Blood". Robert Martin, the Southerey farmer, had ridden ahead of the crowd and called on Mr. Dering, a local magistrate, warning him that several hundreds of angry labourers were approaching Downham Market. Dering first of all asked what their demands were, then, sent to Captain Lee, who was about nine miles, away, asking him to assemble the Upwell Yeomanry Cavalry. He then went into town, and tried to enrol the populace as special constables, but "To his great disappointment he found his neighbours little disposed to exert themselves at that period"." John Balding, an overseer of the poor, went out to meet the crowd. 

Balding met the crowd on the outskirts of the town and asked them what they were about. He was told that they intended to see the magistrates and heard some complaints from certain labourers that they were being forced to demonstrate against their will. When the labourers began breaking into Simpson's bread shop and distributing the loaves, he went back to report to the magistrates meeting at The Crown Inn. He stayed there until the crowd assembled outside, in the market place, at twelve o'clock. En route they had broken, into a shop belonging to John Parkinson, whose wife had locked the place and fled in panic. Scores of labourers from Downham had joined them and one report put their numbers as high as 1,500. Women were prominent amongst them, Frances Porter in particular. They broke down Parkinson's door and stole and distributed loaves of bread and 140 lbs. of flour. They also practically denuded the shop of sheeting, shoes, hats, umbrellas and so on. Only 6s. in cash was taken, but the whole of the loot was valued at over 8. Much of it was taken back later in the day, although some of it was sold. Another crowd, led by William Bell, Charles Nelson, Spencer Rayner and Hannah Jarvis, robbed George Thomas of four to five gallons of beer. As yet, however, things had not got completely out of hand and a courageous drover named Richard Gamble forced his way into Thomas's house, locked the cellar doors and turned the mob away. 

A constable on duty outside The Crown took a message to the magistrates and overseers saying that the Southerey people wanted to talk to them. By this time the magistrates had determined to make some concessions and a deputation of eight labourers was invited in. They stated terms exactly like those agreed to at Brandon and Bury and said they wanted work and 2s. a day. They were then asked to go into another room while their demands were considered. When they returned, they were told that "the circumstances of produce being so much lowered in value the Farmers and others could not afford to grant what they wished", but that they agreed to allow 2s. a day and to supply flour at 2s. 6d. per stone "for those that had large families". This led to a tremendous argument, during which the magistrates and overseers displayed considerable courage, refusing to move from their original offer to make their concessions applicable to everyone, as at Brandon. John Bowers, the labourer, was particularly violent towards Robert Scale, an overseer, who told him, "You seem to be very forward with that large stick in your hand, but I am not to be intimidated by that". Bowers replied, "Yes, here's my stick, it never did anybody any harm yet—whatever it might do". 

The magistrates followed the deputation outside into the square and addressed the crowd, asking them to go away. They were in no mood to disperse when they heard of the magistrates' stand, however, and began demanding the release of a gang of poachers who had recently been imprisoned in the town. Stones were thrown and the J.P.s were forced back into The Crown, followed by the crowd. Hare and Pratt escaped, but Dering was chased and eventually found refuge by hiding in the garden of Mr. Wales, the apothecary—whose house (according to one report) was broken up by labourers who were seeking the unfortunate magistrate. Another part of the crowd stayed inside The Crown, which they tore apart. They took flour and other eatables and made Samuel Johnson, the publican, supply them with fifteen gallons, of beer, all of which they consumed during the afternoon. Among those active here was Sindall, the rioter eventually shot at Littleport, and the only person known to have been involved at more than one place in the May riots. 

The afternoon of Monday, 20th May, was given over to plunder and rioting in Downham—albeit here, as elsewhere, little violence was done to individuals (although Dering would have been in trouble had he been found). By this time Daniel Harwood, thirty-two, a native of Gooderstone, who was self-employed doing contract work with his waggon and team for farmers "as is the custom in that part of the country where he resided, near Downham", and Thomas Thody, twenty-two, born, at St. Neots, a married man with two children and then living at Nacton, had become prominent as leaders of the crowd. Thody was one of those who had imbibed at the landlord's expense at The Crown. 

One of the first objects of attack during the afternoon was William Baldwin's flour mill. Thody and Harwood led a crowd to the mill where they relieved William Spinks, a millhand, of the key. Charles Nelson opened the door and the crowd rushed in and helped themselves, distributing, according to Baldwin, flour and seventy bushels of meal to the value of £35 10s. 0d. Elizabeth King and Nelson then robbed Mary Wyer of twenty loaves of bread and John Stern procured 12 lbs. of cheese which he took to The Crown and distributed among his friends. Hannah Jarvis led an attack on Stimson's shop where she cut up some loin of beef and distributed it amongst the rioters. From there she and Amelia Lightharness took a crowd to the shop of Francis Wiseman, a pork butcher. Amelia was heard to say "Here my boys, this is the place for good pork" and the crowd denuded the place, taking 250 lbs. of meat, valued at £9. Zachariah Stebbing, a gardener, said that he noticed William Bell, the yeoman, particularly active. "I noticed Bell," he said, "and thought that a man like him who kept a team of horses of his own should rob his neighbour." From Wiseman's, the crowd went to Samuel Bolton's shop. Bolton had already been forced earlier to give up all his cooked meats and was surprised when the mob called on him again late in the afternoon. He slammed the door and ran to get his guns, but William Fendyke, Harwood and Thody smashed the door in and the crowd helped themselves. Bolton said that Lightharness, Lucy Rumbelow and Anne Fuller were very prominent. Another section of the crowd went off to try to liberate the poachers. 

At about five o'clock Captain Lee arrived with some men of the Clacklose Yeomanry Cavalry. Dering, still hiding in the chemist's garden, heard the troops and climbed over a wall to join, them. He led them on horseback to the market place and there read the Riot Act. As he finished, the part of the crowd which had tried to release the poachers returned and the market place was once again turned into a battleground. Stones, were thrown at the hated yeomanry, who retaliated by hitting out with the flats of their swords. Eventually the crowd dispersed although, according to John Lister, one of the cavalrymen, there were still troubles as late as seven o'clock. The troops and the special constables (seventy had enrolled after the cavalry arrived!) searched the public houses and imprisoned six or seven labourers. Lord Suffield told Sidmouth that, but for the arrival of Captain Lee, Dering's house would have been in flames.

18th May 1816: Despite concessions, further disturbances occur in Brandon

Peacock (1965, pp.80-81) continues his description of the events in Brandon on Saturday 18th May 1816, as they now drew to a close:

Although they had been promised concessions the day before, the crowd reassembled on Saturday. This time they were alleged to have numbered 1,500 and many were armed with sticks, "the ends of which, to the extent of several inches, were studded with short iron spikes, sharp at the sides and points”. They also had a flag emblazoned "Bread or Blood" and threatened to march on London. Willett, from whom they had demanded prime joints of beef at 4d. a pound on the earlier days, was once again the main object of attack, and on this occasion his shop and house were completely destroyed. The mob then went off to Halesworth, but there are no reports of trouble either there or en route. Meanwhile, Willett and the Sheriff of Suffolk had hastened to London to ask the Home Secretary for military assistance to quell the rioters. 

18th May 1816: Rioting at Feltwell, Norfolk

On Saturday 18th May 1816, a riot occurred at Feltwell in Norfolk. Once again, Peacock (1965, pp.86-87) assembled a narrative using more obscure sources:

On the following day, the 18th, trouble broke out in Feltwell, another place which had just been enclosed. (Act 1813, award 1815). A crowd began to assemble at six in the morning, led by Jeremiah Lawrence, Richard Browne and Thomas Pleasance, all labourers from the village, and John Cracknell, described as a "yeoman" of the same place. They went on a tour of the village, armed with pitchforks, demanding money from the local farmers. At the house of William Nurse, his wife was forced to agree to let them drink beer to be credited to her in each of the four local public houses. John Flowers, when approached, said “they should have no Pound Bill of him”, but when told by the crowd that “Mr. Siggar (?) had given them 10s. and Mrs. Clough £6”, replied “I do not wish to be singular, you may take 10s. worth of beer at The Cock”. Flowers seems to have been remarkably brave and polite, although not brave enough to persist in refusing the crowd's demands, as he said he originally intended.  

During the afternoon, the Feltwell labourers destroyed the dams that had been built across some nearby land drains, went “to Mr. Denton's land and there threw down, part of a fence”, and then went to confront Mr. Willett, a shopkeeper. Cracknell was spokesman. He took off his hat and said, "I hope, sir, you will please to give us something". Willett asked how much Thomas Fuller had given them and was told £1. Willett agreed to give this amount and Cracknell seemed disposed to accept, but his colleagues demanded, and got, an extra pound. They then forced George Linnard, a labourer and apparently a "black-leg", to go with them to The Bell where they relieved him of a shilling and sent him on his way. The rest of the evening was spent carousing, according to Mrs. Nurse who eventually got a bill for 30s. for beer consumed at The Bell, The Chequers and The Cock.

17th May 1816: Riot at Hockwold-cum-Wilton, Norfolk

On Friday 17th may 1816, there was a disturbance at Hockwold-cum-Wilton in Norfolk. Peacock (1965, p.86) has a good account, using more obscure sources:

Real, violence, however, appeared in the little village of Hockwold-cum-Wilton, just over the border in Norfolk, on the 17th May. Prosecution briefs, were prepared for the Treasury Solicitors to proceed against a number of labourers for incidents there and at Feltwell, a few miles away, and it is mainly from these that the following description is built up.  

A crowd of almost 100 assembled in Hockwold, which, incidentally, was in the process of being enclosed (Act passed 1814, award announced 1818), on Friday, the: 17th May, "and did make Noise, Riot, Rout, Tumult and Disturbance" for over six hours. They gathered early outside the house of the Reverend William Newcombe, where, apparently, they were resisted by James Stark, a carpenter from Stoke Ferry. Stark was confronted by John Howers, one of the labourers who "did beat, bruise, wound and ill-treat him so that his life was greatly despaired of", and then forced him to go with the crowd into the Vicar's house. It is not clear whether Newcombe was robbed but later the crowd, led by Howers, Thomas Newton and another labourer named Wilton, went along and demanded beer from a Mrs. Grace Rolfe, who was forced to part with two quarts. 

17th May 1816: "Bread or Blood in Brandon this day"

Peacock (1965, pp.79-80) continues his description of the events in Brandon on Friday 17th May 1816:

The following day, John Kendle, a deputy overseer, met, on the bridge over the river, a crowd of about fifty labourers led Porter Talbot, a labourer armed with a gun "which had a handkerchief tied round the lock". Kendle asked what they wanted and they replied that Mr. Norman, the miller at Weeting, a half mile away, “had not kept his word and they were going his mill down". Kendle argued with them and promised to see Norman on their behalf, if they would hold their hand. They agreed and the overseer rode off. When he returned with the news that Norman had not put his prices up, however, the labourers had already moved into the town.   

A crowd had started assembling in the market place at about nine o'clock that morning. About an hour later some women came along who announced that their men were following them but had stopped along the Thetford road to collect sticks. Eventually fifty or more, all armed, and led by William Peverett, a labourer, marched into the square carrying white and red flags. Willett, the butcher, who was amongst the crowd, told Peverett that the parish would let them have flour at 2s. 6d. if they would disperse, and asked for a deputation to go along with him to meet the magistrates. Helen Dyer, a married woman, had earlier told Willett that, although she could not read, she had a paper containing the crowd's demands, which she wanted shown to the magistrates. On it was written "Bread or Blood in Brandon this day". 

Lieutenant Goodenough at The Chequers had sent for Burch, the magistrate, as soon as the crowd began to assemble. He asked some of the special constables to go out and arrest Talbot, but they replied that they were too, scared of the mob. When Burch arrived, the Lieutenant asked for permission to go take some of the labourers into custody himself, but this the frightened magistrate refused to allow. Instead, he agreed to see the deputation brought to him by Willett, which included Peverett, Talbot, Henry Malt, John Crane—all labourers and William Arnold, a shoemaker. 

Burch asked John Crane why the crowd had assembled again and what their demands were. Crane replied that "they did not mean any injury but that he could not live with his large family as things were, and they must have flour cheaper". They also asked for the military to leave, saying that they did not like the “Redcoats". The magistrate, by this time scared out of his wits, appeared ready to make concessions, although Goodenough warned him that he was acting improperly. He promised that the military would leave, and saved some face when the Town Clerk of Thetford opportunely arrived with a message from the Mayor of that place demanding the return of the troops because “a mob was assembling there”. Goodenough left and Burch, saying that the crowd's demands would be met, arranged a meeting of "the principal inhabitant” for six o'clock at The Chequers. All this time stones were being thrown outside in the square. 

The crowd began to reassemble outside The Chequers around five o'clock and once again women were very prominent and vociferous. The meeting decided that the poor were to have 2s. a day allowance and flour at 2s. 6d. a stone as Willett had suggested. Burch announced this decision to the labourers and agreed to their demand that it be put in writing. Smythe, Burch's clerk, took the agreements along to the Town Cryer. This was the first time demands of this kind had been formulated and the first time that the magistrates had given in. It was to form the pattern for future incidents. 

The crowd announced that they were satisfied with the concessions, and it does not seem to have occurred to any of them that, having got them by violence, they might not be kept. They told Burch, however, "We must have beer or worse will come of it", and in spite of cries from the women saying, "do not give them any", this was agreed to also—provided they had it in the Ram Close, a field belonging to The Ram Public House. They drank and danced and eventually went back to the square and demonstrated their belief in victory by pathetically singing God Save the King and Rule Britannia outside The Chequers. A section of them committed some acts of violence, nevertheless, and the Riot Act was read for the second time. Henry Spendlove was once again prominent, "forming the men into a rank opposite the windows of the Chequers Inn...". Burrell's windows were broken, John Ablett was stoned, and between twenty and thirty people assembled outside Willett's shop and broke his windows. This was the limit of the damage on Friday, however, and the crowd "did not commit any more riot or disturbance".

17th May 1816: Rioting continues in Norwich

The second day of rioting in Norwich continued on Friday 17th May, and the Bury & Norwich Post of 22nd May 1816 carried the following description:

A Court of Mayoralty was held on Friday morning, when strong measures to preserve the peace were determined on; at Sun-set a Captain's Guard of the West Norfolk Militia were marched into the Hall; the Norwich Yeomanry Cavalry, under Capt. Hudson, assembled at the Swan Inn; a detachment of the 1st Royal Dragoons were under arms at the Horse Barracks; and the Magistrates, Constables, and a number of the respectable inhabitants, at the same time were assembled at the Hall. These demonstrations had, to a considerable degree, the desired effect; nevertheless a large mob collected, who shewed a bad disposition, by breaking a number of lamps, windows, &c. The Magistrates and their assistants therefore proceeded in a body to the Market-place, and the Riot Act was read; several of the mob having surrounded them, and behaving in a disorderly manner, three were taken into custody, and the rest refusing to disperse, after proper time had been allowed them to do so, the military were called in, but were on their appearance received with vollies of stones, and their horses alarmed by throwing a large fire-ball; they soon, however, succeeded in driving their assailants out of the Market, and dispersing them in every direction; several who resisted were committed to the gaol, and before eleven o'clock every thing was quiet.—We are sorry to add, that several of the Yeomanry Cavalry received cuts and bruises from the stones, and one gentleman was thrown from his horse by coming into contact with a post, and the animal falling upon him, he was severely injured, but is now in a convalescent state.

16th May 1816: Rioting commences in Norwich

On Thursday 16th May, the first of 2 days of serious rioting began in Norwich. The Norfolk Chronicle of 18th May carried a report:

Late on Thursday evening, a mischievous and riotous disposition manifested itself here among those of the lowest class, (chiefly youths) who about nine o'clock assembled in the Market-place, and first began to throw fire-balls about, which seemed to have been prepared for the purpose; they afterwards broke the Hall windows, and those of several respectable individuals, and then proceeded to the New Mills, breaking all the City Lamps in their way:—the people at the Silk manufactory being at work, they attacked the windows, and on the lights being extinguished, some of the more audacious broke into the New Mills, (the windows of which they had first broken) and took thereout a quantity of flour, some of which they threw into the river, and some they carried away in the sacks. On their return from the Mills, they broke the lamps, and windows of several gentlemen in St. Andrew's, Bank-street, Tombland, Magdalen-street, and other places, and proceeded to Dr. Alderson's house, who on coming out to remonstrate with them on their highly improper conduct, was knocked down. 

In consequence of these outrages, the Mayor and Magistrates immediately assembled at the Hall, where they continued till a late hour; and the constables and several respectable persons, with staves and torches, proceeded to the New Mills, but the mob had dispersed. 

A picquet of the West Norfolk Militia was stationed before the Hall, and a party of the First Royal Dragoons, commanded by Capt. Phipps, and headed by a Magistrate, went down to Trowse Mills, where it had been reported a party had proceeded, but that happily was not the case; they then returned, and patroled the streets till morning.—Every precaution will be take to prevent a repetition on such violations of the public peace.