Radicals in 1811-1820 Flashcards
Why were the radicals less active before 1815?
They didn’t want to seem unpatriotic or against the government in a time of war
Why were the radicals more active after 1815?
The socio-economic state of Britain was falling and the working class were more united because they thought of themselves as a class not individuals
Who were the Luddites from 1811-17?
They broke machines, burnt mills and sometimes attacked mill owners and some were killed.
They were a group of croppers that didn’t want to lose their good paying jobs to machines or have a pay cut.
They were called Luddites because they left behind threats signed by Nedd Ludd, along Ludd or General Ludd
What happened in Spa-fields in London 1816?
They were a small extremist group called the Spenceans who wanted public ownership of land and they me up in Spar fields to hear Henry Hunt speak.
2 Spenceans roused a small crowd to break into gunsmith shops to arm themselves and a distillery and got drunk.
They protested for a few hours and looted and raised the French Revolutions flag.
The rest of the Spenceans waited at the field for Hunt to come and he talked about lowering taxes and reforming Parliament.
What was the March of the Blanketeers in March 1817?
4000 gathered in St Peters Field in Manchester, where they would organise a protest March to London to present a petition to the Prince Regent.
They wanted Parliamentary reform, abolishment of the corn laws and to reinstate Habeus Corpus. Some wanted change with trade, unemployment, rent and high taxes.
300 set off for the March and it was supposed to be peaceful, but some women would call to overthrow the Gentry and used violent language.
On the way they made speeches in passing towns and either took lodges from houses or under hedgerows with their blankets to cover themselves. Only 1 made it to London after the rest were disheartened or didn’t have enough
What is the Pentrich Rising?
The government had spies they would encourage and rile up political organisations to get them to act and be caught. W.J Richards, or Oliver, combined a group in Petrich Derbyshire to join a March in Nottingham that will be joined by other cities like Hull and Leeds.
They marched and were lead by Jeremiah Brandrath, who promises the marchers a lot of rum, beef, bread and 100 Guineas after they successfully took down the government.
In Nottingham they found soldiers to arrest them not the support they were looking for.
45 were tried for treason, 3 including Brandrath were hung and 30 were sent to Australia.
What was the Peterloo Massacre in 1819?
The St Peters field in Manchester where 50-60,000 people waited to listen to Henry Hunt talk.
The government told the local magistrate to ignore the protest because it is peaceful but they didn’t get the message in time and instead told the local forces the yeomanry to attack the protesters.
15 died and 400 wounded.
The government congratulated the magistrate to dissuade others from doing it, which turned people against them.
What is the Cato Street Conspiracy of 1820?
Authur Thistlewood was part of the Spar Fields riots and was angered at the Peterloo Massacre so he challenged Lord Sidmouth to a duel so he was arrested a
After getting out of jail he was involved in a conspiracy to blow up the Cabinet
He and others plotted it on Cato street but they had a spy who told the government and they were arrested and 5 including Thistlewood were hung and 5 were sent to Australia.
What are the 6 Acts in 1819 and their effect?
- Magistrates could search houses for weapons
- Meetings couldn’t be more than 50 people
- Stop delaying blasphemous trials
- Newspapers had a stamp duty of 6d (to stop peasants from getting radical ideas)
- Magistrates could destroy any anti religious or anti government books
- Unauthorised military training was illegal
It was more of a threat and wasn’t used a lot, so it would calm down.
What happened to Habeas Corpus in 1817 and it’s affect?
The right to a free trial was stopped for a year and they arrested 44 people, 37 of which went to jail, 1 was released under special circumstances, 1 was released and 3 died in custody. The rest were freed by January 1818.
It was more of a threat and wasn’t used a lot, so it would calm down.
What is the Seditious meetings Act in 1817 and what was its affect?
People couldn’t meet in groups more than 50 for 1 year and made mutiny in the army punishable by the death penalty
It was more of a threat and wasn’t used a lot, so it would calm down.
How to argue that Liverpool didn’t handle the Radicals well and why?
His rules were ineffective and sparsely used
He didn’t get the right information from the spies and acted too harshly
How to argue that Liverpool did handle the Radicals well and why?
He was given exaggerated information from his spies who wanted money so would encourage political opponents
He didn’t have any real effective way to deal with the Radicals from his lack of an army or communication throughout the country.
He wasn’t as harsh as he could have been and his laws were only there for 1 year
