Aspects of Chartism: The Sheffield Plot 11 January 1840 1

A group of Sheffield Chartists led by Samuel Holberry[1] had collected weapons. They planned to meet and seize the Town Hall and the Fortune Inn, besides setting fire to magistrates’ houses. They were to be backed by men from Eckington, Rotherham and Barnsley, while riots were to take place in Nottingham and Dewsbury. Much secrecy surrounded the plan, and Holberry threatened to kill anyone who backed out. The plot was betrayed by James Allen, the landlord of the Station Inn, Rotherham. He overheard some of the plans and reported them to John Bland (the Chief Constable of Barnsley) and to Lord Howard (the Lord Lieutenant). Many arrests were made, including Holberry, who was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment. Allen was forced to leave the country, while Bland and Howard kept their roles quiet. In February 1840, five hundred special constables were sworn in at Sheffield alone to deter threats of rioting. R.G. Gammage, author of History of the Chartist Movement 1838-1853, writing in 1854, said[2]:

“At Sheffield things began to look ominous. Large meetings assembled in the open air at night, at which not a word was spoken. Several persons were arrested in connection with these meetings, which were dispersed by the military.” Gammage takes the story forward[3]: “About the same time [January 1840] a large number of the Chartists of Sheffield were arrested for conspiracy and administering illegal oaths. The principal witnesses against them were persons who professed to have been engaged with them in the conspiracy. One Thompson deposed that a large number of persons were formed into classes, and that they had provided themselves with arms, and fixed upon a plan for taking some, and firing other, parts of the town. That they had agreed to strike down every policemen and watchman that they might meet, and catch the soldiers before they could fire upon them. The barracks were to be fired, and the insurgents were to possess themselves of the Town Hall and Tontine, which they were to defend with the barricades. After the evidence had been given, Samuel Holberry, William Booker, Thomas Booker, John Clayton, Samuel Bentley, John Marshall, Thomas Penthorpe, Joseph Bennison, and William Wells, were fully committed for trial, Mrs Holberry, a very interesting woman, was also arrested; but the evidence against her not being sufficient, she was discharged.”

In the mean time, a further uprising was thwarted at Bradford, and further arrests were made. Gammage says of the trial[4]: “On Monday, March the 16^th [1840], the Yorkshire assizes commenced, before Mr Justice Erskine and Mr Justice Coleridge when the Sheffield Chartists were brought to trial. The court presented from the outset a very animated appearance; the gentlemen of the legal profession attending in large numbers both for and against the prisoners. Holberrry, the two Bookers, Duffy and Wells were first indicted for conspiracy and riot. By way of supporting the evidence against the prisoners, a large basket full of hand-grenades, and other combustible materials, was placed upon the table, and a great number of pikes and daggers were also produced. The evidence went to prove that these were found in possession of the prisoners at the time of their arrest. The charges appeared to weigh most heavily against Holberry, who did not, when arrested, deny, but on the contrary, admitted, that his object was to upset the Government, and he professed his willingness to die for the Charter. The principal witnesses for the prosecution were Foxhall and Thompson, who were admitted as Queen’s evidence, and who had taken an active part in the proceedings of the accused. The Attorney General prosecuted, and Sir Gregory Lewin, Mr Watson, and Mr Murphy defended the prisoners, and dealt in strong terms on the evidence of the witnesses; but after Justice Erskine had summed up, the jury found all the prisoners guilty. William Wells, John Clayton, John Marshall, Thomas Penthorpe, Joseph Bennison, and Charles Fox were charged with similar offences, and pleaded guilty. Robert Cox, George Gullimore, James Bartholomew, Joseph Lingard, Thomas Powls, and Joshua Clayford, who had been out on bail, were also indicted for riot and conspiracy. Mr Baines and Mr Wortley prosecuted; Mr Murphy and Mr Wilkins defended the prisoners in able addresses, and succeeded in procuring a verdict of acquittal. John Marsden was indicted for riot, and attempting to liberate from prison Peter Foden, one of the arrested Chartists, to which charge he pleaded guilty. William Martin was indicted for sedition. Messrs Baines and Wortley conducted the prosecution. The prisoner was most eloquently defended by Mr Watson, but the result was a verdict of guilty.

The assizes continued, with Feargus O’Connor next up before the court to face charges of newspaper libel. According to Hovell[5]: “He called, or proposed to call, fifty witnesses to prove that he had never advocated physical force, though it does not appear that this point was at all material to the question. He was condemned to eighteen months’ imprisonment, but actually served only ten, being released on account of bad health.”

The Bradford Chartists then faced the court charged with offences of riot and conspiracy. Gammage says[6]: “On the 21^st of March the Sheffield and Bradford prisoners were brought up to receive sentence. Holberry was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, and bound over in fifty pounds, and two sureties of ten pounds each, to keep the peace after the term of his imprisonment should expire. Thomas Booker was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, and bound to keep the peace in thirty pounds, and two sureties of ten pounds each. William Booker, his son, was imprisoned for two years, and bound over to keep the peace in the sum of twenty pounds. James Duffy was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, and bound over in the sum of twenty pounds and two sureties of ten pounds each. William Wells received a sentence of one year’s imprisonment, and was bound over in the sum of twenty pounds. Marshall, Penthorpe, and Bennison, were each sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.

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[1] On Samuel Holberry (1814-1842), see Joyce M. Bellamy and John Saville (eds.) Dictionary of Labour Biography volume iv, Macmillan, 1977, pages 93-96.

[2] R.G. Gammage History of the Chartist Movement 1838-1853, 1854, page 153.

[3] R.G. Gammage History of the Chartist Movement 1838-1853, 1854, page 173.

[4] R.G. Gammage History of the Chartist Movement 1838-1853, 1854, page 175.

[5] Mark Hovell The Chartist Movement, Manchester University Press, 1918, page 187.

[6] R.G. Gammage History of the Chartist Movement 1838-1853, 1854, page 177.

Aspects of Chartism: South Yorkshire

Sheffield[1] relied heavily on the tool and cutlery industries, which were produced mainly in small workshops by “little mesters” (master craftsmen working in small workshops with a few others). In the 18th century as demand for knives began to grow, the Sheffield cutlery industry had the upper hand over all its rivals in the form of natural water power. Sheffield is built at the confluence of several rivers (the Don, Rivelin, Loxley, Porter and Sheaf) fed from the hills. Natural sandstone was also in abundance in the nearby peak hills. Sheffield sits at the edge of these hills making it an easily extractable resource. By 1740, Sheffield became the most extensive user of water power in Britain and probably Europe. By this time, ninety mills had been built (two-third of them for grinding). By 1850, these mills numbered well over a hundred. They could operate grindstones, forge-hammers and rolling mills, a vital part of the production route for knives. Another natural resource, coal which is used to feed the furnaces and forges was also readily available

The town was overcrowded and filthy. Working lives usually started at twelve years of age in Sheffield; in Barnsley’s mines, it was younger. Barnsley’s living and working conditions were generally far worse than other areas. There was a large population of Irish linen weavers in Barnsley. Major problems in this area were caused by the trade cycle, which hit the economy hard. Forms of trade unionism did exist, and memberships were large. The 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act and the building of workhouses helped to spark off Chartism.[2] In 1830, the Sheffield Mechanics’ Anti-Bread-Tax Society was formed. This later allied with the Anti-Corn Law League. On 14^th October 1837, the Sheffield Working Men’s Association was formed and in 1837, the Barnsley Working Men’s Association was formed. The following year, the Rotherham Working Men’s Association was formed.

Chartism in Sheffield was slow to rouse and initially mild in character. As time went on, however, the mood grew increasingly angry, until, in the wake of the failed uprising at Newport, preparations were put in hand to seize control of the town for the Chartist cause. A successful rising in Sheffield would have been significant. An industrial centre with a history of steelmaking stretching back to the Middle Ages, the town was the second largest centre of population in West Yorkshire (after Leeds). Pigot’s 1834 Directory for the county records that between 1821 and 1831 the population had grown from 65,275 to 91,962. Mark Hovell records that on the day after a massive meeting of Manchester Chartists at Kersal Moor on the night of 25^th September 1838[3], “a similar demonstration took place at Sheffield, Ebenezer Elliott being in the chair”. Hovell goes on: “Sheffield definitely and Manchester largely were not strongly moved by the oratorical fireworks of Stephens and O’Connor. The speeches at Sheffield were conspicuously mild. Elliott declared that the objects the people had in view were, ‘Free Trade, Universal Peace, Freedom in Religion, and Education for all.’ Another speaker placed the Repeal of the Corn Laws in the forefront of his programme, followed by ‘a thoroughly efficient system of Education for all,’ ‘good diet for the people and plenty of it,’ and ‘facilities for the formation of Co-operative Communities’.”

By 1838, the memberships had increased sufficiently for the south Yorkshire Chartists to hold their own meetings. In September 1838, one such meeting was held in Paradise Square, Sheffield, with a reported crowd of 20,000 people[4]. Speakers included Ebenezer Elliott (the ‘Corn Law Rhymer’)[5], Michael Beal, Isaac Ironside[6] and William Gill. At this stage, the moral force, self-help Chartists, dominated Sheffield Chartism. After the rejection of the first petition and the collapse of plans for the ‘Sacred Month’, Ironside said that ‘Chartism became a desperate movement’. In Sheffield, there was a change of leadership. William Gill resigned because he said that he “did not want to represent a disunited people”. James Wolstenholme[7] who did not oppose violence replaced him. Elliott left because he got little support for the repeal of the Corn Laws. Gill, Beal and Ironside stayed away from meetings.

These early agitations appear not to have been notably successful, however. Hovell recorded that in March 1839[8]: “From Sheffield came a request that a delegate be sent to rouse the workers there. Very little success, the communication adds, had followed attempts to further the Chartist cause in Sheffield, but greater things were expected if the Convention sent a delegate. It was emphatically stipulated that a moral force man be sent.” In September 1839, the Sheffield trade unions decided that they “could not as trade unions support the Chartists or any other political party”.

In July 1839, numerous meetings led to fears of rioting, and magistrates warned the new leaders, Peter Fodden and Charles Fox, that they were breaking the law. The meetings continued. After a meeting on 12^th August 1839, seventy men were arrested. The arrests were followed by stoning of the Town Hall and continued violence. Meetings then went ‘underground’. On 12^th September 1839, an evening meeting attracted over two thousand people. Troops were used to disperse it and a running battle ensued. An account of these events appears in Reminiscences of Old Sheffield, Its Streets & Its People, where a group of men who had lived in the town in the 1840s are recorded in conversation during the 1870s[9].

One, named as Johnson, says: “On the 12^th September, 1839, the Chartists held a “silent” meeting in Paradise square, which was dispersed by the soldiers and police. The Chartists reassembled in ‘Doctor's field’, at the bottom of Duke Street, Sheffield moor, where they were followed by the soldiers and police, and 36 prisoners taken. At the Town Hall, next day, which was guarded by the dragoons, and the doors kept by policemen armed with cutlasses, I saw several anxious mothers inquiring for their missing ones. Amongst the rest was the mother of a young man who has since been an influential citizen in St. George's ward. He was tried at the assizes and acquitted. A night or two after the Doctor’s field meeting, hearing there was to be a Chartist meeting at Skye edge in the Park, my brother and I tried to find Skye edge, but not succeeding, met the Chartists coming away. They marched down Duke Street, singing lustily a Chartist melody: “Press forward, press forward, There's nothing to fear, We will have the Charter, be it ever so dear.-

“But, alas! on turning the corner at the bottom of Duke street, they caught sight of the helmets of the 1^st Dragoons, who were coming to meet them. Instead of ‘pressing forward’ we all ‘pressed’ every way but that, and in two minutes not a Chartist was to be seen. The dragoons on that occasion were under no less a person than Sir Charles Napier, at that time Commander of the Northern District; and I believe the incident is referred to in his life.”

On 25^th September 1839, Wolstenholme and the secretary emigrated. On 25^th November 1839, following the Newport Rising, the police broke up a meeting at the Fig Tree Lane meetinghouse, with Morton being arrested. In Barnsley there had been a greater threat to peace; a newspaper reported that “About three fourths of the population of Barnsley are Chartists, and of the most violent kind”. On 15^th July 1839, threats were made to remove money from the banks. Shopkeepers were also threatened. On 2^nd August 1839, troops were sent to Barnsley and the Riot Act was read. Serious trouble was averted.

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[1] On Sheffield see, C. Binfield and D. Martin (eds.) The History of the City of Sheffield, 1843-1993, volume 1: Politics, Sheffield Academic Press, 1993. Sidney Pollard A History of Labour in Sheffield, 1850-1939, Liverpool University Press, 1959 has some useful material on the situation before 1850. D. Smith Conflict and Compromise: Class Formation in English Society, 1830-1914, a Comparative Study of Birmingham and Sheffield, London, 1982 is a valuable comparative study.

[2] David Hey Yorkshire from AD 1000, Longman, 1986, pages 181-301 provides the most accessible study of South Yorkshire.

[3] Mark Hovell The Chartist Movement, Manchester University Press, 1918, page 119.

[4] Chris Williams ‘Expediency, authority and duplicity: reforming Sheffield’s police, 1832-40’, in Robert Morris and Richard Trainor Urban Governance: Britain and Beyond since 1750, Ashgate, 2000, pages 115-127 is a valuable examination of the nature of politics in Sheffield in the 1830s.

[5] K. Morris and Ray Hearne Ebenezer Elliott: Corn Law Rhymer & Poet of the Poor, Rotherwood Press, 2002 is the most recent biography.

[6] On Isaac Ironside (1808-1870), see Joseph O. Baylen and Norbert J. Grossman (eds.) Biographical Dictionary of Modern British Radicals since 1770, volume 2: 1830-1870, Brighton, 1984, pages 259-261 and Joyce M. Bellamy and John Saville (eds.) Dictionary of Labour Biography volume ii, Macmillan, 1974, pages 201-207.

[7] John (or James) Wolstenholme was born in 1804 at Dunfields near Sheffield. He was a file-maker and delegate to the first Chartist Convention. He left Britain in September 1839, “for America, with all their tools, to escape arrest” (Sheffield Iris, 1^st October 1839) and was reported in Westbury, Connecticut. He is believed to have returned home in 1850.

[8] Mark Hovell The Chartist Movement, Manchester University Press, 1918, page 130.

[9] R.E. Leader Reminiscences of Old Sheffield, Its Streets & Its People, Sheffield, 1896, chapter xi.