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CIVIL UNREST IN THE BLACK COUNTRY 1750 - 1837
(Part Two: The Colliers' March of 1816)
by David Cox
The period between 1815 and 1822 was one of the
most difficult and troubled in British economic and social history
- George Barnsby refers to it in his classic book, The Working
Class Movement in the Black Country 1750-1867 as the 'Long Depression'.1
The wars with France had finally ended, and hundreds of thousands
of soldiers and sailors had returned to the home country, thereby
increasing the scarcity of food and employment.
In 1816, although over 16 million tons of coal were mined, over
one half of the total public revenue was immediately swallowed up
by payment of interest on the National Debt. Brian Murphy, in A
History of the British Economy 1740-1970, remarks that '1816
and 1817 were grim years for the iron-masters. More than one splendid
fortune turned to dust…' 2
This obviously had a concomitant effect on those employed
by the iron-masters. Once again, the scene was set for public unrest
at both the price of staple foods and the scarcity of employment.
However, the form of protest was gradually changing - George Barnsby
states that: From 1815, permanent and highly sophisticated forms
of organization appeared whose members and leaders were working
class people. The "mob" continued to play an important
part in political and economic struggles, but response to injustice
and repression was no longer entirely dependent on the vagaries
of mob reaction. 3
The reaction of the Bilston colliers and ironworkers seems partially
to substantiate this view; although a "mob" was still
involved in the immediate protests, the subsequent creation of
relief funds for the downtrodden does seem to indicate a more
sophisticated form of organization - however, these funds seem
to have been largely the response of the concerned middle class
rather than the working class.
The late eighteenth and early nineteenth century had been a time
of particular unrest and uncertainty with regard to food riots
- as Douglas Hay remarks:
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industrial region of South Staffordshire was particularly
likely to erupt in food riots…[There was] also a heavy
concentration of occupations (such as that of collier) which
had a reputation for collective direct action, in the form
of riot, sabotage or other direct intimidation of employers
and authorities, and the concentration of particular trades
in certain parishes helped generalise the phenomenon. 4 |
Increasingly intolerable distress faced by the colliers and ironworkers
of the Black Country finally caused their despair to spill over
in mid-1816, when groups of unemployed colliers decided to drag
waggons containing Black Country coal to London and Liverpool
in an effort to publicize their plight. Three waggons, each weighing
in excess of two tons, were dragged by hand from the outskirts
of Bilston to Oxford. From there, the three groups split, with
one heading to Maidenhead, another to St. Albans, and the third
to Beaconsfield.
The Times of Friday 5th July 1816 contained the following account
of the 'Colliers' March':
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colliers and labourers in the iron-works from Bilston, who
have advanced towards London, have, it is said, at length
been stopped by messengers from Government, advising them
to wait at some distance from town until the result of their
petitions shall be known. Government will doubtless give every
possible attention to their petition; but it is utterly impossible
that such wild projects should be attended with any beneficial
result, which might not be much better obtained by remaining
at home, and stating their grievances in writing to those
who have it in their power to afford them relief. What good
can possibly be obtained by losing many days labour, and incurring
the expense of a long and tedious journey, it would puzzle
the promoters of this ill-advised scheme to say. The waggon
which was to proceed by the route of Oxford, has already reached
the vicinity of Henley-upon-Thames; and another was reported
yesterday to have reached the neighbourhood of St. Albans.
In all that is stated about these unfortunate men, we do not
learn that they have any wish to encourage riot or disorder.
They foolishly entertain the opinion that the Prince Regent
can order them employment, and they pride themselves upon
being willing to work for an honest livelihood. Such is the
curiosity excited to see these extraordinary petitioners,
that many persons have actually left town in the expectation
of meeting them. |
This was the first of a series of reports that The Times carried
on the 'Colliers' March'. On Saturday 6th July 1816, it published
an 'eyewitness' account of the progress of the waggon that had
reached Maidenhead:
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morning (Thursday), Mr Birnie from Bow Street, accompanied
by 2 officers, arrived at the Sun inn here, and after consulting
with Sir William Hearn, and other Magistrates of this place,
swore in several extra constables; and as a matter of precaution,
ordered a party of military to be under arms. (see Figure
1) This done, they sent forward the officers from Bow Street
to meet the waggon that was approaching from Henley; it was
met on Maidenhead Thicket, […] and the crowd attending
it, on being informed that they would not be permitted to
proceed, instantly stopped, and conducted themselves with
the greatest propriety. The waggon, which was 2 ton, 6cwt
and 12lb, was drawn by 41 men; and a leader or overseer rode
on horseback and directed the whole. As soon as it was understood
by the magistrates that the party wished to act in the way
most agreeable to the lawful authorities, a negotiation was
entered into, and the coals were permitted to be brought in
here by four of the party and their leader, and were deposited
with Wm. Pyne esq., who will distribute them among the poor
of Maidenhead […] The men refused to sell the coals,
but gave them up as requested to Mr Pyne, and received a very
handsome present instead. Mr Birnie, Sir Wm. Hearn, Mr Pyne
etc went out and negotiated. The poor fellows were perfectly
satisfied, but refused to go until the magistrates signed
a paper that they had conducted themselves properly. At Henley,
the day before yesterday, they behaved so well that the Mayor
permitted them to go wherever they pleased in the town, and
they had upwards of £40 given to them at that place.
They left Bilston with three waggons in company, and parted
at Oxford. One waggon was to be at Beaconsfield last night,
and the other at St. Albans […]. |
These accounts of the good behaviour of the protesters helped
publicise their cause, and seemed to prick a few middle-class
consciences. Letters from middle-class gentlemen from Coseley
and Birmingham appeared in The Times, carrying accounts of the
terrible suffering being endured by the colliers and ironworkers:
When I have told these poor creatures
that the parish must find them food or labour, they have replied,
'Sir, they cannot do either', and some […] have said, 'We
would rather die, Sir, than be dependant on the parish'. […]
Some, I believe, have really died of starvation […]. An insufficiency
of wholesome nourishment […] produced diseases which terminated
in dissolution.
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The picture on the right is of Sir Richard Birnie, Chief
Magistrate of Bow Street 1821-32. According to most accounts,
Birnie was a dedicated and reasonably humane magistrate
during his tenure at Bow Street.
Further letters of support and thanking those who had
donated to the relief of the poor of the area were published
on the 29th and 31st July.
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Sir Richard Birnie, Chief Magistrate
of Bow Street 1821-32
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On 5th August another letter was received:
The distress, Sir, is beyond everything
that has been described […]. I know, Sir, that other districts
are in distress; but our sorrows are of an earlier date, and consequently
of longer standing than those of any other county. Before the
peace was concluded our staple manufacture - our iron-works -
began to fail; and without help the pressure on our neighbourhood
is insupportable.
Richard Smith, of Tibbington House, near Birmingham, was the
author of this letter. He, along with Reverend B.H. Draper of
Coseley, helped co-ordinate the relief fund that had been created
to help the distressed. Despite funds being received from such
illustrious donors as Francis Freeling, Secretary General of the
Post Office, the distress unfortunately continued unabated throughout
the rest of the year. George Barnsby remarks that 'in
Christmas week the Wolverhampton soup kitchen was issuing 4,200
quarts of soup weekly'. 5
In the following year the Reverend Doctor Luke Booker, JP and
Vicar of Dudley, warned of seditious material
'…designing demagogues scattering their noxious notions over
the prurient minds of an unwary people'. 6
Although the popular agitation in the Black Country area did
diminish by the end of the decade, unrest in the area flared up
again spasmodically throughout the second quarter of the nineteenth
century. The most serious unrest took place in 1831, sparking
real fears of a nationwide revolution and these riots are covered
in depth in a three-part article by J. Robert Williams (The Blackcountryman
vol. 7 nos. 3 & 4, vol. 8, no. 1, 1974/5).
With the benefit of hindsight, this popular agitation can be
seen as the early stirrings of working class demands for a fairer
and more democratic society. That there was no popular widespread
revolution in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century
is perhaps somewhat surprising; despite the popular image of working
class unrest, the majority of the population remained remarkably
law-abiding and deferential to their unfortunate lot in society.
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Notes
George Barnsby, The Working Class
Movement in the Black Country 1750 to 1867 (Wolverhampton:
Integrated Publishing Services, 1977), p. 4
2 Brian Murphy, A History of the British Economy 1740-1970
(London: Longman, 1973), p. 444
3 George Barnsby, The Working Class Movement in the Black
Country 1750 to 1867, p. 4
4 Douglas Hay, 'Manufacturers and the Criminal Law in the
Later Eighteenth Century: Crime and "Police" in
South Staffordshire', Past and Present Colloquium: Police
and Policing (1983)
5 George Barnsby, The Working Class Movement in the Black
Country 1750 to 1867, p. 4
6 ibid, p. 6
Acknowledgements
University of Birmingham Library
Dr John Archer, Edge Hill College, Ormskirk
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