A Radical History Of Britain

by Edward Vallance

  Poole, R., ‘French Revolution or Peasants’ Revolt? The Rebellions of 1817 and the Rise of the Mass Platform’, paper presented at Sheffield, Chartism Day, June 2007

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  This book would not have happened without my editor, Richard Beswick, at Little, Brown. The book was Richard’s brainchild and I am very grateful to him for thinking that I might be able to turn a great idea into a decent book. Richard is an ideal editor: hands off most of the time, but ready to offer guidance and advice whenever you need it. He was ably assisted at Little, Brown by his colleagues Zoë Gullen, Stephen Guise and Rowan Cope. At A. M. Heath, my agent Bill Hamilton and his assistant Corinne Chabert helped seal the deal. This book has also taken me a very long way out of my historical comfort zone, seventeenth-century Britain. I am consequently heavily indebted to a number of my fellow historians – Mike Braddick, Malcolm Chase, Steve Hindle, Matt Houlbrook, Matthew McCormack, Robert Poole, Andy Wood – who looked over the chapters and gave me the benefit of their considerable expertise. I’ve also benefited from the generosity of scholars in sharing their work with me. Owen Ashton, Phil Baker, Jason McElligott, Tom Leng and Elliot Vernon all provided me with access to unpublished research. Paul Myles brought the important research of Colin Brent and the late George Hindmarsh on Thomas Paine to my attention. Marios Costambeys and Dominic Sandbrook dug up some helpful references for me. All of the above has been a welcome reminder that academia still manages, despite everything, to be a place where information and ideas can be freely shared.

  Sue Wingrove and Dave Musgrove at BBC History Magazine and Ben Davies at the New Statesman kindly let me inflict my work on their unsuspecting readerships. The book has a blog (www.edwardvallance.wordpress.com) and I am also very grateful to my readers and fellow bloggers for their comments and suggestions: tips of the hat go to Scott Pack, Nick at Mercurius Politicus, Gavin at Investigations of a Dog, Chris at Virtual Stoa, Ralph E. Luker at Cliopatria, Sharon Howard at Early Modern Notes and Chris Dillow at Stumbling and Mumbling. Simon Hooper bigged up my David Davis obsession on the New Statesman’s website. A few others helped and may not have realised it: Nick Harvey asked me when he was slightly less than sober what I thought the most radical moment in British history was (a fair enough question, but one that had failed to occur to me until that very point). Martin O’Neill and Alex Barber both suggested that my original title sounded rather unsavoury. On their suggestion, it was dropped.

  I am also grateful for having such a supportive employer. The University of Liverpool gave me a year’s sabbatical to write and research the book. Less tangible but no less important support came from my Liverpool colleagues, especially two very understanding heads of department, Michael Hughes and Brigitte Resl. This book could not have been written, either, without the help of the staff of the Sydney Jones Library, Liverpool, the Bodleian Library, Oxford, the Norfolk Record Office, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the East Sussex Record Office and, most of all, my home from home, the rare books room of the British Library.

  However, my greatest debt is to my wife, Linnie. To paraphrase Benjamin Disraeli, she is my ‘sternest critic, but the perfect wife!’ Linnie has given up her weekends when she could have been doing something much more interesting instead, to edit and proofread the entire manuscript. The book has been massively improved as a result of her suggestions. Much more than this, Linnie has given me the strength and support to carry this project through to the end: she has bucked me up when I have been feeling low and kept me sane when I was stressed to the eyeballs. My only complaint is that I don’t know how I can fully repay such a debt. A book dedication certainly seems inadequate.

  INDEX

  Abbot, George, Archbishop 131, 132

  Abbott, Robert 142–3

  Abergavenny, Lord 82

  Adams, Daniel 264

  Adams, Mary 189

  Adams, Robert 345, 346

  ‘Agitators’ 159, 160

  ‘Agreement of the People’ (1647): on franchise 161–4; influence 201; Leveller manifesto 32, 126, 160; new version (Officers’ Agreement) 169–71; petition to Fairfax 167; Putney Debates 32, 160, 161–5; on rights 165–6, 197, 201

  Ainsworth, Laura 492

  Aiscough, William 81, 85, 91

  Aitken, Robert 214

  Aldrich, Thomas 105

  Alfred the Great 1–5, 10–11, 12, 393;

  Code of 10, 386

  Allan, Peter 232

  Allen, John 294

  Allen, William 168

  Anabaptists 107, 143

  Anderson, Perry 13

  Anne, Queen 195, 197, 201, 205, 206, 551

  Anonimalle Chronicle 56, 61, 68–9

  Anti-Corn Law League (ACLL) 378, 397, 402–3, 408, 439–40, 473

  Appleton, William 67

  Ardwick Bridge 318–19, 323

  Argyll, 8th Earl of 145

  Argyll, 9th Earl of 195

  Artificers, Statute of 298

  Arundel, Richard, Earl of 51

  Arundel, William, Earl of 88

  Ashton, Margaret 525

  Asquith, Herbert: conciliation bill 500–1; forcible feeding policy 494; franchise bill proposals 502, 505–6, 522; Lloyd George relations 529; opposition to women’s suffrage 482–3, 484, 498, 501, 523; resignation 523; and WSPU activities 484–5, 489–91, 497, 508, 511

  Association for Preserving Liberty and Property 198, 258–9

  Aston, Sir Thomas 143–4

  Atkins, Lord 40

  Attlee government 16, 540–1, 543

  Attwood, Thomas 355, 374, 380, 399

  Australia 8–10, 263, 364–5, 422

  Bache, Richard 213

  Bacon, Miles 322

  Bacon, Nathaniel 13

  Bacon, Roger 73

  Bacon, Thomas 319–20, 322

  Bagehot, Walter 392

  Bagguley, John 313

  Bagley, Thomas 79

  Bain, Alexander 419

  Baines, Jennie 491

  Baird, John 347

  Baldwin, Stanley 533, 534, 536

  Balfour, Arthur 482

  Balfour, Lady Frances 471

  Ball, John: career 57–8; ‘Great Society’ 54; name 59, 118; trial and sentence 76; words 55, 58–9, 119, 144

  Ballarat Reform League 10

  Bamford, Samuel 313, 327, 330, 332, 336

  Bampton, John 53

  Banbury, Sir Frederick 523

  Baptists 156, 157, 167, 177

  Barker, Joseph 418

  Bastwick, John 132, 133, 140, 193

  Bates, Jack ‘the Blaster’ 232

  Battisford, John 73

  Bax, Ernest Belfort 11, 456

  Baxter, Richard 150

  Beale, Dorothea 443

  Beaufort, Cardinal 81

  Beaumont, Augustus 373

  Beaumont, Viscount 84, 89

  Becker, Lydia 445

  Bedford, Earl of 132, 136

  Beerbohm, Max 486–7

  Bell, Robert 216

  Belling, Robert 55–6

  Bellingham, John 301

  Benbow, William 313

  Benn, Sir Ernest 36

  Benn, Tony 123, 126–8, 199, 543, 545

  Bentham, Jeremy 286, 295, 351–2, 356

  Besant, Annie 452–3, 461, 525

  Bevan, Aneurin 541

  Beveridge, William 529, 539, 540–1

  Bevin, Ernest 539

  Bill of Rights Society 209

  Billington-Greig, Teresa 469, 470, 475–8, 481, 498

  Binns, John 272, 274

  Birley, Sir Hugh 329, 333, 357–8

  Birmingham: Bingley Hall (1909) 490–1, 493; Chartist convention 381, 382; Mechanics’ Institute 407; parliamentary borough 379; Political Union (BPU) 355, 374, 375, 377, 379; reform meeting (1866) 436; riot (1791) 255–7

  Birrell, Augustine 501

  Black, Clementina 457

  Black Death 48–9, 77

  Black Friday (1910) 500–1

  Blackheath: Cade’s rebellion 88–92, 94–5, 97, 99, 1
21; Peasants’ Revolt 60, 99, 121

  Blair, Tony 430–1, 531

  Blake, William 14, 213, 252, 262

  Blandford, Marquess of 354

  Blanketeers 312–14, 318, 319, 326

  Blatchford, Robert 465, 470

  Bodichon, Barbara 443, 444

  Boehme, Jakob 185n

  Boggart Hole Clough 464–5, 472

  Bonar Law, Andrew 482, 506

  Booth, John 306

  Botero, Giovanni 137

  Boucherett, Jessie 444

  Boudicca, Queen 7, 439

  Bradenham, Lionel 50

  Bradford, Yorkshire: defence (1642) 138; Irish arrivals 145; rioting (1848) 422–3; rising (1840) 368

  Bradlaugh, Charles 435–6, 479

  Brady, Robert 28, 33

  Bragg, Billy 11, 127, 546–7

  Brailsford, H. N. 496, 497, 499, 500, 521

  Brailsford, Jane 499

  Brand, Robert 108

  Brand, Thomas 291, 293–4

  Brandreth, Jeremiah 320–4

  Brantingham, Thomas, Bishop 52

  Brent, Colin 210

  Brewes, Sir John 74

  Brierley, Ben 360, 429

  Bright, Jacob 445, 446, 448, 463

  Bright, John 445

  Bright, Ursula 449

  Brine, James 364

  Brinton, Thomas, Bishop 60 Briouze family 22, 23

  British Association for Cooperative Knowledge 371

  British National Party (BNP) 546–7

  British Union of Fascists (BUF) 536, 540, 543–4

  Brittain, Vera 524

  Broadhurst, Henry 457

  Brooke, John 257

  Brooke, Robert Greville, 2nd Baron 134, 149

  Broomhead, William 239

  Brothers, Richard 252

  Brougham, Henry 291, 314

  Brown, Gordon 11–12, 38, 549

  Brunt, John 346

  Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of 141

  Buckingham, Humphrey Stafford, Duke of 75, 88, 89

  Bukberd, Ralph 79

  Burdett, Sir Francis: duel with Paull 290n; finances 271, 287, 288; imprisonment 292–3, 342, 350; parliamentary career 287–8, 290–2, 294; Pentrich rising 320, 323; reform movement leadership 307, 310, 311, 314, 325–6, 350; reputation 292, 295–6, 311; views on reform 309, 341

  Burford, Oxfordshire 125–8, 178n, 201

  Burgh, James 34

  Burke, Edmund: career 225–6; on French Revolution 227, 233, 234–5; on Glorious Revolution 227, 233; Hazlitt on 246; on Magna Carta 39; Paine and 213, 230, 232–5; Reflections 227–8, 230, 232–3, 247; Wollstonecraft and 228–9

  Burley, Sir Simon 56

  Burnett, Judge 270

  Burns, John 461

  Burroughes, Jeremiah 157

  Burton, Henry 132, 140, 193

  Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk:

  ‘Commotion Time’ 104, 107–8;

  Peasants’ Revolt 72–3, 76

  Buss, Frances Mary 443

  Bute, Lord 33, 207

  Butler, Josephine 449, 450, 463

  Butler, ‘Rab’ 540

  Butterwick, Sir John 64

  Byng, General 329

  Byron, George Gordon, Lord 294, 304–5

  Byron, John, Lord 148

  Cable Street, Battle of (1936) 536, 537, 543, 544

  Cade, Jack: background 87–8; on Blackheath 88–90, 91; body quartered 95; death 94–5, 96; depiction of 119; feted as noble 91; followers 88, 91–3, 104; in Henry VI 45; legacy 122, 144; in London 92–4; name 87, 94, 118; pardoned 94

  Cade’s rebellion: attitude to King 89, 112; on Blackheath 88–92, 94–5, 97, 99, 121; Lollards 58, 81; in London 92–4, 113; memory of rebellion 117; military success of rebels 93, 106; radical event 119–22; social background of rebels 98–9; social impetus 97–8

  Calamy, Edmund 150

  Calvin, John 251

  Cambridge, John 72

  Cambridge, Statute of (1388) 76, 77

  Cameron, David 550

  Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry 476, 482, 483

  Canning, George 315, 341, 354

  Canterbury: Cade’s rebellion 88;

  Cheyne’s rebellion 85;

  ‘Commotion Time’ 104;

  Peasants’ Revolt 56–7

  Carles, Joseph 257

  Carlile, Richard: bust 344; call to arms 341, 343; Hunt and 349, 372;

  imprisonment 341, 342; influence 371; at Peterloo 328, 336; publisher of Hone’s work 317n; views 336, 341, 349, 392, 399

  Carlyle, Thomas 417

  Caroline, Queen 348–9, 367

  Carpenter, William 373

  Carson, Edward 510

  Carter, Samuel 427

  Cartwright, John: death 350; imprisonment 342; London Corresponding Society 237; reform tactics 291, 293–4, 296–9, 300, 312, 326, 379; reform views 218–19, 314, 352, 386–7; support for Burdett 288, 291, 293–4, 307; writings 218, 290–1, 350, 352

  Cartwright, William 306

  Cash, Bill 545

  Castle, John 322, 346

  Castlereagh, Lord 337, 341, 344, 431

  ‘Cat and Mouse Act’ (1913) 516, 517

  Catholic Relief Act (1829) 354

  Cato Street Conspiracy 345–7

  Cavendish, Sir John 64, 72

  Cavendish, Sir William 102

  Cecil, Lord Robert 504, 523

  Chagos Islanders 40–3

  Chakrabarti, Shami 546

  Chamberlain, Neville 534, 538–9

  Champion, Henry Hyde 461

  Charles I, King: depiction 7, 11;

  execution 171n, 172–5, 184, 194, 313; fines 140n; Five Knights Case 30–1; Grand Remonstrance 146; his government as slavery 120; Irish rebellion 138, 145; Leveller attitude towards 159, 161, 166, 169–70; Lilburne on 32; ‘man of blood’ 161, 168; pamphlets against 140; peace negotiations 159, 166, 167–8, 169; personal rule 135, 138, 139, 141; plot to kill 175; raises standard 147; recall of parliament 138, 141–2; religious policies 131, 138, 142, 144; Scottish rebellion 138, 144–5; second civil war 168–9; taxation policies 31, 135, 140; trial 170, 172–3, 194

  Charles II, King 171n, 194

  Charles VII, King of France 84, 85

  Charlotte, Princess 324

  Charlton, Thomas, Mayor 92

  Chartist Cooperative Land Society 406, 412–13

  Chartists: aims 9, 14–15, 286, 391–2;

  convention 377–8, 381, 382–3, 386, 392; Declaration of Rights 392; emigration to Australia 9–10; end of Chartism 425–8; imprisonment and transportation 9, 385–6, 423–5; industrial action 401–4; Irish involvement 399, 417; Land Plan 366, 369, 410–14, 415, 416, 426, 430; leadership 383, 386, 387, 393–5, 398, 404, 423–5; legacy of Chartism 428–32, 543; Levellers and 14–15, 123; LWMA leadership 373, 376, 383; Manifesto of the General Convention 386; mass meetings 377–8, 381, 418–19, 424; ‘moral force’ wing 366, 371–2, 386; National Chartist Association, see NCA; National Complete Suffrage Union (NCSU) 406–7; national petitions (1839) 377, 378–80, 381, 383, 389, 397, (1842) 398–400, 410–11, (1848) 380, 418–22; Newport rising 383–7; O’Connor’s role 375–7, 386, 393–4, 408–9, 415–16, 425–6; origins 367, 369–73; parliamentary candidates (1841) 397, 411, (1847) 414–15, (1857) 427; People’s Charter 365–6, 373–5, 407; petitions 378–80, 398–400, 418–22; ‘physical force’ issue 366, 376, 378–9, 381–2, 386, 391, 406–7, 428, 488, 489; Six Points 10, 365, 366, 369, 373–5, 377, 388, 392, 398, 407–8; Songs 408; tactics 366, 377–80, 381–2, 386, 388, 396–8, 406, 414–15, 473; treason trials 384–5; view of liberty 10–11; view of monarchy 10, 392–3; and Winstanley 202; women 358–9, 379, 389, 391

  Cheyne, Sir John 84

  Cheyne, Thomas 84–5

  Chichele, Henry, Archbishop 79

  Chidley, Katherine 152, 155, 162n

  Christian Socialists 453, 539

  Church, Corporal 125–6

  Churchill, Sir Winston: in general strike 533; second premiership 542; on suffrage issues 472, 504; wartime premiership 40, 539, 5
40; WSPU activities 497, 520

  Citrine, Walter 537

  Clarke, William 160

  Clarkson, Laurence 131, 150, 157, 191

  Clayton, John 385, 397

  Cleave, John 374

  Clive, Robert, Lord 5

  Clotworthy, Sir John 137

  Cnut, charter of 73

  Cobat, John 73

  Cobbe, Frances Power 443

  Cobbett, William: in America 278, 315, 316–17; libel conviction 295; and Paine 278; on Peterloo 328; Political Register 288, 292, 295; reform views 288, 290, 311, 315, 318

  Cobden, Richard 403, 440

  Cobden Sanderson, Anne 440, 478, 480, 481

  Cobden Unwin, Jane 440, 463

  Cobham, Surrey 181, 183, 184–5

  Cochrane, Thomas, Lord 291, 320

  Cock, John 79

  Codd, Thomas, Mayor of Norwich 105

  Coggeshall, Ralph of 24, 27

  Coigley, James 274

  Coke, Sir Edward 28–9, 30, 439

  Coleridge, Samuel Taylor 248

  Collet, Sophia Dobson 443

  Collins, John 382, 385, 389

  Combination Acts (1799, 1802) 287, 297–8, 352, 364

  Committee of Friends to Parliamentary Reform 291

  Common Wealth Party 539

  ‘Commotion Time’ (1549): attitude to King 112; background 111–12; and Cade’s revolt 97; demands 106–7; ending 108–11; leaders 101, 106–7; legacy 100, 117–18, 122; Mousehold Heath camp 104–7, 117, 121; in Norfolk 103–7; punishment of rebels 110–11; radical event 119–22; reasons for revolt 102–3, 104, 112–13; rebel tactics 105–8; Somerset’s response to crisis 113–15; widespread crisis 101–2, 103

  Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) 530, 532–4, 538, 542

  Contagious Diseases Acts (CDAs) 448–50, 515

  Continental Congress 214, 217

  Cook, Henry 355

  Cook, John 194

  Cooper, Selina 458, 467

  Cooper, Thomas 406, 427

  Cooper, William 430

  Coppe, Abezier 150, 189, 192

  Corio, Silvio 522

  Cornerd, Thomas 73

  Corporation Acts 255

  Corrupt Practices Act (1883) 450

  Cotton, John 133

  Couldwell, Abel 314

  Counter-Terrorism Act (2008) 545, 547, 548–9, 552

  Coutts, Thomas 287

  Covenanters 138, 140, 144, 167

  Craggs, Helen 511–12

  Crawford, W. Sharman 373, 374

  Cresswell, Elizabeth 391

  Criminal Law Amendment Act (1885) 450

  Cripps, Sir Stafford 538, 539, 543