Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-jbqgn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-02T19:20:46.389Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Eighteenth Century Price Riots and Public Policy in England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In an earlier article in these pages I examined the origins of the price-control legislation of the Jacobin phase of the French Revolution, suggesting that it ought, most properly, to be regarded not as a revolutionary innovation, but rather as the re-emergence in a new environment of an old and well-established tradition of popular action to fix fair market prices, and thus maintain living standards, by riot and demonstration. At the same time, and in passing, I indicated briefly that a similar tradition existed in 18th-century England, if anything more strongly marked and more widespread than in France itself. The present article will be concerned with a discussion of the significance of this English tradition.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1961

References

page 277 note 1 Rose, Robert Barrie, 18th-century price-riots, the French Revolution and the Jacobin Maximum, in: International Review of Social History, vol. IV (1959), Part 3, pp. 432445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 277 note 2 Wearmouth, Robert Featherstone, Methodism and the Common People of the 18th Century, London 1945.Google Scholar

page 277 note 3 Beloff, Max, Public Order and Popular Disturbances, 1660–1714, Oxford 1938.Google Scholar

page 277 note 4 Darvall, Frank Ongley, Popular Disturbances and Public Order in Regency England, Oxford 1934.Google Scholar

page 278 note 1 E.g., Wadsworth, Alfred P. and Mann, J. De Lacy, The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire, Manchester 1931Google Scholar; Ashton, Thomas Southcliffe and Sykes, Julia, The Coal Industry of the Eighteenth Century, Manchester 1929Google Scholar; Jenkin, Alfred Kenneth Hamilton, The Cornish Miner, London 1948Google Scholar; Rowe, John [William], Cornwall in the Age of the Industrial Revolution, Liverpool 1953.Google Scholar

page 278 note 2 Barnes, Donald Grove, A History of the English Corn Laws, 1660–1846, London 1930.Google Scholar

page 278 note 3 Ibid., preface, pp. xiv–xv.

page 278 note 4 Ashton, T. S. and Sykes, J., The Coal Industry of the Eighteenth Century (op. cit), p. 126.Google Scholar

page 278 note 5 Cf., for example, Rudé, George, The London “Mob” of the Eighteenth Century, in The Historical Journal, II, 1 (1959), pp. 118CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rudé, George, The Gordon Riots: A Study of the Rioters and their Victims, in: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th Series, vol. 6 (1956)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Rudé, George, Wilkes and Liberty 1768–9, in: Guildhall Miscellany, no. 8, 07 1957.Google Scholar

My own studies of the Liverpool riots of 1775 and the Birmingham riots of 1791 also bear on similar topics: Rose, R.B.: A Liverpool Sailors' Strike in the Eighteenth Century, in: Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, vol. LXVIII, 1958Google Scholar; Rose, R. B., The “Priestley” Riots of 1791, in: Past and Present, no. 18, 11 1960.Google Scholar

page 279 note 1 Cf., Hobsbawm, Eric, The Machine-breakers, in: Past and Present, no. 1, 02 1952.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 279 note 2 For the indication by Rudé, see Rudé, G., The Crowd in the French Revolution, Oxford, 1959, chapter XVGoogle Scholar, “The Revolutionary Crowd in History”, esp. pp. 236–7.Google Scholar

page 280 note 1 Beloff, M., Public Order and Popular Disturbances (op. cit.), pp. 62–4.Google Scholar

page 280 note 2 Barnes, D. G., op. cit., preface, pp. xiv–xv.Google Scholar

page 280 note 3 Supple, Barry E., Commercial Crisis and Change in England, 1600–1642, Cambridge 1959. p. 244.Google Scholar

page 281 note 1 Ibid., p. 245.

page 281 note 2 Barnes, D. G., op. cit., preface, pp. xiv–xv.Google Scholar

page 281 note 3 Ibid., p. 21, no. 20; cf. Beloff, M., op. cit., pp. 63–4.Google Scholar

page 282 note 1 Darvall, F. O., Popular Disturbances and Public Order (op. cit.), p. 95.Google Scholar

page 282 note 2 Ibid., p. 99.

page 282 note 3 Ibid., p. 100.

page 282 note 4 Langford, John Alfred, A Century of Birmingham Life, or A Chronicle of Local Events from 1741 to 1841, London 1868, Vol. II, p. 322.Google Scholar

page 282 note 5 Hill, Frederic, Autobiography of Fifty Years in Times of Reform (edited by Constance Hill), London 1893, p. 37.Google Scholar

page 282 note 6 Mather, Frederick Clare, Public Order in the Age of the Chartists, Manchester 1959.Google Scholar

page 283 note 1 Rowe, J., Cornwall in the Age of the Industrial Revolution (op. cit.), pp. 160–1.Google Scholar

page 283 note 2 Using The Times, The Annual Register, and local journals.

page 283 note 3 Ashton, T. S. and Sykes, J., Coal Industry of the 18th Century, p. 125.Google Scholar

page 283 note 4 Barnes, D. G., English Corn Laws, pp. 12, 28 sqq.Google Scholar

page 283 note 5 Ibid., p. 71.

page 284 note 1 Ashton, Thomas Southcliffe, Economic Fluctuations in England, 1700–1800, Oxford 1959.Google Scholar

page 284 note 2 Cf. ibid., pp. 172–3, cf. D. G. Barnes, English Corn Laws, passim.

page 284 note 3 In most cases further indications for these riots are supplied below.

page 284 note 4 Rostow, Walt Whitman, Business Cycles, Harvests and Politics, 1790–1850, in: Journal of Economic History, vol. I, 11 1941, no. 2.Google Scholar

page 284 note 5 See below.

page 284 note 6 Darvall, F. O., Popular Disturbances and Public Order, p. 100.Google Scholar

page 284 note 7 Jenkin, A. K. Hamilton, The Cornish Miner (op. cit.), pp. 151–3.Google Scholar

page 284 note 8 See above.

page 284 note 9 Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Common People (op. cit.), pp. 33–4.Google Scholar

page 284 note 10 Ibid.

page 284 note 11 See below.

page 284 note 12 Annual Register, vol. X, p. 148.Google Scholar

page 284 note 13 Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Common People, p. 37.Google Scholar

page 284 note 14 See below.

page 284 note 15 Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Common People, pp. 36 sqq.Google Scholar

page 284 note 16 Ibid., p. 48.

page 284 note 17 See above and below.

page 284 note 18 Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Common People, pp. 33–5.Google Scholar

page 285 note 1 See below.

page 285 note 2 Annual Register, Vol. IX, pp. 120 sqq.Google Scholar

page 285 note 3 See below.

page 285 note 4 See below.

page 285 note 5 Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Common People, pp. 33–5.Google Scholar

page 285 note 6 Annual Register, vol. IX, pp. 137–40.Google Scholar

page 285 note 7 Ibid., vol. XI, p. 118.

page 285 note 8 Ibid., vol. XV, pp. 90–91.

page 285 note 9 Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Common People, p. 33.Google Scholar

page 285 note 10 Annual Register, vol. IX, pp. 120 sqq.Google Scholar

page 285 note 11 See below.

page 285 note 12 See below.

page 285 note 13 Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Common People, p. 34.Google Scholar

page 285 note 14 See above.

page 285 note 15 See below.

page 285 note 16 See below.

page 286 note 1 Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Common People, p. 21.Google Scholar

page 286 note 2 See below.

page 286 note 3 Cf. Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Common People, pp. 3648.Google Scholar

page 286 note 4 Wadsworth, A. P. and Mann, J. De Lacy, The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire (op. cit), p. 360.Google Scholar

page 286 note 5 Public Record Office, SP 36/136/25Google Scholar; Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Common People, pp. 27, 59.Google Scholar

page 287 note 1 Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Common People, pp. 3335Google Scholar; Jaffray, James, “Hints for a History of Birmingham”, chapter IX (unpaginated item in Birmingham Reference Library)Google Scholar; Annual Register, vol. IX, p. 140Google Scholar; Freeth, John, The Political Songster, or a Touch on the Times, on various subjects, 6th edition with additions, Birmingham, 1790Google Scholar, note to “The Dudley Riot” on p. 28Google Scholar; Hutton, William, History of Birmingham, 3rd edition, Birmingham 1806, p. 388.Google Scholar

page 287 note 2 Darvall, F. O., Popular Disturbances and Public Order, p. 99.Google Scholar

page 287 note 3 Annual Register, vol. IX, p. 119.Google Scholar

page 287 note 4 Rowe, J., Cornwall in the Age of the Industrial Revolution, 160–1.Google Scholar

page 287 note 5 Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Common People, p. 35.Google Scholar

page 287 note 6 Public Record Office, SP 36/135/59.Google Scholar

page 287 note 7 See below.

page 287 note 8 Rowe, J., Cornwall in the Age of the Industrial Revolution, 160–1.Google Scholar

page 287 note 9 Ashton, T. S. and Sykes, J., Coal Industry of the 18th century, p. 119.Google Scholar

page 288 note 1 Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Common People, p. 36.Google Scholar

page 288 note 2 Ward, John, The Borough of Stoke-upon-Trent, London, 1845, pp. 444–6.Google Scholar

page 288 note 3 Lindsay, Jack, 1764, London 1959, p. 271.Google Scholar

page 288 note 4 Beloff, M., Public Order and Popular Disturbances, p. 68Google Scholar. Cf. Barnett, William, History and Antiquities of the City of Bristol, Bristol 1789, p. 696Google Scholar, which dates the riots 1708.

page 288 note 5 Wadsworth, A. P. and Mann, J. De Lacy, The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire, 359–60Google Scholar; Redford, Arthur, A History of Local Government in Manchester, Manchester 19391940, vol. I, pp. 143–6.Google Scholar

page 289 note 1 Langford, J. A., A Century of Birmingham Life (op. cit.), vol. II, p. 311Google Scholar; Freeth, J., The Political Songster, Birmingham 1790, p. 29.Google Scholar

page 289 note 2 Annual Register, vol. XXXV, p. 21.Google Scholar

page 289 note 3 Mercury, Jopson's Coventry, 8 09, 1800, 15 09, 1800Google Scholar. At this date Coventry was a separate county in its own right and not part of Warwickshire.

page 289 note 4 Rowe, J., Cornwall in the Age of the Industrial Revolution, 160–61.Google Scholar

page 289 note 5 Wadsworth, A. P. and Mann, J. De Lacy, The Cotton Trade, p. 359.Google Scholar

page 290 note 1 White, William, Coventry Directory, Coventry 1850, p. 500.Google Scholar

page 290 note 2 Barnes, D. G., History of the English Corn Laws, pp. 3945.Google Scholar

page 290 note 3 Ibid., pp. 80–81. As if as a sequel to the case there occurred in December 1800 the only important recorded example of a price-fixing riot in London. Ibid.

page 290 note 4 Ibid., p. 59.

page 290 note 5 Ibid., passim.

page 290 note 6 Ibid., p. 16.

page 291 note 1 Annual Register, vol. XXXV, p. 21.Google Scholar

page 291 note 2 Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Common People, p. 36.Google Scholar

page 292 note 1 Beloff, M., Public Order and Popular Disturbances, p. 68.Google Scholar

page 292 note 2 Ashton, T. S. and Sykes, J., Coal Industry of the 18th Century, p. 123.Google Scholar

page 292 note 3 Reader, William, History and Antiquities of Coventry, Coventry [1824?], p. 9 (giving date as 09 1765).Google Scholar

page 292 note 4 Annual Register, vol. X, p. 148.Google Scholar

page 292 note 5 Ibid., vol. XI, p. 118.

page 292 note 6 Rowe, J., Cornwall in the Age of the Industrial Revolution, pp. 160–61.Google Scholar

page 292 note 7 Ashton, T. S. and Sykes, J., Coal Industry of the 18th Century, p. 121.Google Scholar

page 292 note 8 Jenkin, A. K. Hamilton, The Cornish Miner, p. 152.Google Scholar

page 292 note 9 Freeth, J., The Political Songster, Birmingham, 1790, pp. 28Google Scholar: “The Dudley Riot”, and 29: “The Colliers' March”.Google Scholar