Spen Valley Magazine Spen Valley Magazine (draft) | Page 14

Chartists and Plug Rioters
The great Reform Act of 1832 shifted power from aristocrats towards the
middle-classes, but the vast majority were still denied a vote. Agitation
coalesced in 1838 around a People’s Charter. This demanded six reforms
to parliamentary elections.
Chartists saw themselves fighting against political corruption and for
democracy. They attracted wide support. Activists fell into two groups:
supporters of peaceful protest, and those who preferred militancy or
“physical force”. Heckmondwike Chartists met in Cawley Lane quarry for
pike practice. Liversedge Chartists also favoured physical force. They
heard rousing speakers at the Black Bull, Millbridge.
A great rally was planned at the Yew Tree Inn, Roberttown. On Whit
Monday 1839, a quarter of a million people streamed onto Peep Green
Common, Hartshead. They came from across the West Riding, including
20,000 who walked from Todmorden led by a brass band. The Chartist
leaders Feargus O’Connor and Bronterre O’Brien whipped up passions
in support of the Charter. Fearful of revolution, the government sent
spies to mingle with the crowd. There was at least one other huge rally
at Peep Green.
A national petition attracted over 3 million
signatures. But the government was unmoved.
A wave of strikes followed.
Chartism faded as a political movement when economic conditions
improved late in the 1840s. The campaigns did not directly lead to any
legislative changes and it was into the 20th century before everyone
including women had the vote.
The Plug Riots of August 1842 were a protest about working conditions,
food prices and lack of reform. The first attack in Cleckheaton targeted
Anderton’s factory at Providence Place. A mob attempted to draw the
plug from the boiler,[to cut off the steam and shut down the mill], but
they were beaten away. They met little resistance at Roundhill Mill,
Gomersal. Five to six thousand men and women then assailed St. Peg
Mill. Two of the three boiler plugs were drawn before special constables,
a troop of lancers and a detachment of the Yorkshire Hussars arrived.
Fighting broke out on a grand scale. The throng was dispersed without
loss of life.