The East Anglian Agrarian Riots of

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The East Anglian nairargA Riots of
822
yB PAUL MUSKETT
1816, 183o--32, I835-36 in 1843-45 when 250 fires were reported in
~'~ TEARS like
Vwere exceptional only in the Norfolk and Suffolk, had some of the
JL amount of violence that took place. features of a concerted campaign of intimida-
No year in the first half of the nineteenth tion, but an examination of those brought
century was a quiet year in the east. Every before the Suffolk assizes shows that perso-
year was violent, and the amount of violence nal revenge, exhibitionism and juvenile
that took place was very great indeed." A J vandalism lay behind the fire raising as much
Peacock provides a necessary corrective to as any desire for social justice. It should be
the sentimental picture of the agricultural noted that culprits in these categories were
labourer stoically enduring his lot until more likely to be caught, and that the fires
driven to the point of desperate revolt, but in provided a pretext for bringing in the village
emphasizing the general level of violence ne'er-do-wells. Convictions were often
there is a danger that the particular features of obtained on circumstantial evidence, and
agrarian riots, sa opposed to other forms of great exertions in extinguishing a blaze was
rural protest, are obscured. Distinctions looked on sa highly suspicious. 3 The up-
have to be made between the various forms surge of incendiarism in the years of the
of violence and care taken when attempting major riots cannot be discounted, but the
to correlate them. reservations over the motives of the arsonists
Food riots, machine breaking and the have to be kept in mind. Poaching also
protests over tithes, wages and the Poor presents problems as 'an index of growing
Laws were all public activities; the partici- poverty and social tension'. 4 The Game
pants believed they were acting in a just Laws were resented, and their maintenance
cause, and sometimes deliberately intro- by the squires and parsons on the magisterial
duced an element of spectacle. One group of bench must have furthered a sense of
machine breakers in 1822 was accompanied injustice, but the Laws also created the
by a small band, and when they found a poachers' market, by prohibiting the sale of
machine near Attleborough removed it to birds shot with proper authorization.
the town centre before breaking it up. In a Poaching was not simply a matter of finding
!atcr incident a machine was loaded on to its meat for the pot, it was a business interprise
carriage and then dragged triumphantly carried out by large armed gangs, ready to
from Winfarthing to Shelfanger where it was maim and murder to avoid capture and
sunk in I4 feet of water. 2 protect their catches.
Other types of social protest, such sa There was a correlation between poacher
arson, poaching, sheep stealing and cattle and arsonist in I843-45, but a connection
maiming, need to be looked at with circum- between open protest and clandestine prac-
spection. The great outburst of incendiarism tices cannot be presumed, except in so far sa
'AJ Peacock, 'Village msilacidaR m East Anglia', inJ p Dunbabin
,)de( Rural tnetnocsiD ni htneete,tiN Century Britain, ,579x p .93 D3 Jones, Crime, ,tsetorP Community dna eciloP ni Nhteteenth Century
~Norwid, Mercury (NM), 9 March ;2~:8z Bury Gazette (BG), 52 ,,tiatirB ,289x p .64
rebmetpeS .228x E4 J Hobsbawm dna G Rud6, Captain Swing, ,o791 pp .06-953
THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW
they are responses to poverty, unemploy- conform to a pattern of deprivation and
ment and exploitation. The I822 disturb- seems to have owed more to established
ances differed from those o f 6181 and 381 o in precedents. Norwich, Ipswich, Bury and
being more concentrated geographically, Colchester had a long history of food riots,
and less diffuse in their objectives. and close examination of the coincident
The 1816 risings had assumed three main troubles in the surrounding villages shows
forms; traditional food riots at Brandon, that the agricultural labourers were taking
Downham Market, Littleport and Ely; independent action. 7
machine breaking in Suffolk and Essex; and The most distinctive characteristic of the
incendiarism to the south and east of Bury. riots in Suffolk and Essex was the destruction
There were also wages riots at Swaft'ham of machinery, and threshing machines were
Bulbeck and Wattisham, attacks on over- the targets of incendiary attacks at Cockfield
seers at Ramsay and Warboys and a number and Clare. Threshing machines had been in
of riotous assemblies in the Norfolk Fens. At use since and sa early as 18oo the
1786 ,
Bury the machine breakers' target was a hciwroN yrucreM was recommending their
spinning jenny and in Ipswich the trials of adoption sa a means of preventing waste,
rioters were the catalyst for violent protests reducing labour and checking fraud.
over the Corn Laws.5 Machines did not come into general use in
East Anglia until after I8O5, when a trans-
II portable model, worked by one or two
The Board of Agriculture's report on horses, was developed and the smaller
conditions in I816 presented a sombre farmers could either invest in one or hire it.
picture of the situation in East Anglia. There were entrepreneurs who leased
Tenants were quitting their holdings in the machines on a fairly large scale, and men who
face of high rents, mortgages and loans would spend a lifetime's savings on a single
which could not be met sa grain prices machine which they would rely on sa a
dropped. 6 Diversification and the intensive source of income when they were past being
application of new techniques were even- able to perform heavier work. s
tually to enable producers to take advantage The machines could be operated by
of urban expansion and industrial growth, women and children, and so saved on wages,
but in the immediate post-war years only but they were first brought into use to
those with adequate capital could afford to compensate for a labour shortage, and the
take the long-term view. Most farmers direct financial advantage over hand
thought in terms of rate and tax reductions, a threshing was slight. A letter to the hciwroN
moratorium on rents, increased protection yrucreM questioned the continued use of the
against imports, and cutting of labour costs. machines at a time of high unemployment,
Moves towards retrenchment coincided and claimed that 'corn may be thrashed sa
With the return of men from the war and the cheap by hand as by machine'. James Buck
rise in the labour force resulting from thought that 'the threshing machine ought
population increase. Witnesses to the Board not to be found in populous places amidst a
drew attention to the plight of the labourers numerous poor'. 9
on parish relief and anticipated the troubles, VOutwell, egdirbmaC Chronicle (CC), 13 August ;3971 Home Office
but the actual locations of the riots did not (HO), 53124 52 July 1795; Halstead, egdirbmaC recne,~(lletnI (CI), 51
August t795; Ramsay, HO 42/35 52 July; Wisbech, HO 42/35 3
August; Stowmarket, Bury Post (BP), 52 July 1795; Melton, SRO
A5 J Peacock, Bread or Blood, t965, pp 09-82. Norfolk Chronicle HA 365/2 5 December ;2971 Clare, London Gazette, t5 November
(NC), I8, 52 May 18t6; NM 2oJanuary, 3 August 18t6; Su.~lk ;oo8x Great Bardfield, London Gazette, 8 July t8oo, HO 42/50,
Chronicle (SC), 72 April 18t6; NM 4 March 1815. Suffolk RO Swaffilam Bulbeck, HO 42/51 42 September .oo8x
(SRO), HA 247/5/48. SNM 8x October x8oo; Hobsbawm & Rud6, op cit, pp 359-63; SC
G6 E Mingay (ed), The Agricultural State of eht Kingdom, ,6181 ,o791 72 April ;6181 NM OI August I816; NC aoJuly .6181
pp I9o-2, I97, 3oi, 325. 9NM 51 June ;6x81 Agricultural State qf eht Kingdom, p .391
EAST ANGLIAN RIOTS I822
Despite the doubts and the riots, machines distressed, men labouring for ninepence or a
were kept on, the farmers believing it was shilling a day'. Rodwell spoke of 'a great
essential to put their grain on sale before the number of hands, in consequence of the
markets became satiated. times, thrown out of employment and
Small owners and occupiers on the heavy maintained by the parish at a very small
clay loams of the Norfolk-Suffolk border, pittance indeed'. There were 480 in the local
especially those in the Waveney valley, were workhouse: ten years earlier there had been
under particular pressure. The soil needed 200. ~ i
deep ploughing and good drainage if it was to
produce competitive yields, and this meant III
capitalinvestment. Landowners and farmers Overt protests after 1816 were few, but there
persisted with improvements, but when was a fierce gleaning disputein 1820 between
grain prices fell to their lowest level so far in the poor of Hoxne and Eye hundreds, both
1281 even the most optimistic lost heart. areas much involved in the 1822 troubles,
Average prices can be misleading, for the and in Loddon there was a riot directed
price varied markedly according to quality against the overseers and churchwardens.
and area. In November I82I wheat was on This happened soon after the introduction of
sale at Woodbridge, Sudbury and Ipswich at new scales of relief for men working on the
between 5I/- and 56/- a quarter, while at roads, which gave married men with three
Stowmarket it ranged from 3o/- to 60/-. children I/4d a day and single men Iod. 2t
These figures are of limited use, since there The total crime figures were rising steeply:
might well have been no buyers for the committals for Suffolk rose by 73.3 per cent
poorer quality grains. o1 in the five years 1815-2o, and the increase for
The labourers derived small benefit from Norfolk was lO6.5 per cent over the same
falling grain prices, since whatever form of period. The Norfolk magistrates were con-
wage subsidy was adopted the supplement sidering the organization of 'an establish-
was tied to the price of bread. Scales of relief ment that will give vigour and effect to the
tended to be revised in accordance with the exertions of the magistrates in preventing
growing inability or unwillingness of the robberies, burglaries, larcenies, poaching,
ratepayer to contribute. J H Rodwell and and felonies of various description', u The
Robert Harvey, witnesses before the 182I visiting justices at Wymondham, Swaffham
Select Committee on Agricultural Distress, and Aylsham bridewells recommended the
both owned land on the Norfolk-Suffolk early installation of tread-wheels to deter
border. According to Harvey 'In four crime. The Swaffllam magistrates lamented
parishes in which I am concerned, take nine the delays that had already occurred,
out often occupiers of land, they have very as they are every day more convinced of the evils
much reduced their number of labourers'. arising from the want of employment. The prison is no
He preferred taking on extra men to paying longer a place of terror, and in consequence of it (and
owing greatly to this cause as the visitors think,) the
higher rates, but he paid them only I/9d a
number is every year increasing: there are now no
day, d3 less than the average for I8OO-I4.
fewer than eighty three prisoners, notwithstanding the
The custom of providing beer had been operation ofthelast Vagrant Act very few vagrants are
ended 'in conformity with the general among the number.
practice of the neighbourhood'. Discharged Prisoners were packed three and four to a
farm workers were 'on the roads or found cell, and there was no way they could be
occasional employment sa' roundsmen. We
"Report qf the Select Committee on Agricultural Distress, 18z1, pp 3 3-
have a description that some are dreadfully
,24 .7-28
"-NM 3 Septenlbcr ;o281 NM 3 February ;1281 NC 3 March .1281
3, Report of the Select Conunittee on Criminal Conunittals, ,7281 p ;26
'°BG 41 November, 91 December .1281 BG 91 December .2281
THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW
classified according to Home Office arms of two keepers, the jaw of another, and
recommendations.~4 both thighs of a fourth in a fight at
In February I822 it was asserted in the Shropham. A month later a servant of Mr
Commons that Bury gaol housed 200 Smith of Frenze Hall, Thelverton, was badly
prisoners, 'and of these sixty were confined beaten by poachers; Frenze lies a mile from
for poaching, and it was a fact that some Diss. Open protest had failed, and it is
committed the offence in open day for the possible that poaching was seen as an
purpose of being sent to prison'. John alternative. Whether rioters were penalized
Orridge, the governor, disputed this, but by by their employers cannot be known, but
his own account there were 151 prisoners and two of the Foxhall rioters were later arrested
14 convicted under the Game Laws. There for poultry and pig stealing, and James
were 78 committals for poaching in 1822, Gayfor, acquitted of sending a threatening
and the case would seem to be made for using letter, was taken in for possession of stolen
these offences as a guide to social dis- pigs. 7i
content, i s John Orridge attributed the record num-
A difficulty is that there is no correlation ber ofcommittals for poaching in 1822 tO 'the
between the villages where poachers were want of employment and the inadequacy of
active and the villages involved in the 1822 the price of labour'. 8I This verdict was
riots. Costessy had a notorious gang of seconded by Joseph Crannis, committed
poachers, housebreakers and poultry twice to Bury gaol. Left alone in the
thieves, it was within the main Norfolk riot reception room for half an hour, he had time
area, but played no part in the troubles. 6~ The to draw three pheasants on the wall and to
poachers would naturally be most active on write a poem.
the larger estates where the owners could
I ma a carpenter by ,edart I never saw ,gnihcaorcni
afford to preserve the woodland and pay the I dah on work no money, which made me go a
wages of keepers, and much of the land in .gnihcaop
south-west Norfolk was owned by small Three neh stnasaehp I dah got, dna homeward I saw
,gnikam
farmers. Nevertheless, some poaching inci-
Two fellows stop'd me ni eht road, os poor Joe saw
dents suggest a growing sense of bitterness in
,nekat
the countryside. A spring gun was fixed to Then to eht Justice they did bring ,em with him I dluoc
fire across the drive at Costessy Park, and not ,liaverp
guns were fired in the vicinity to try and lure roF my mittimus he did sign, dna sent me offto .loag
The stnasaehp I should have ,thguac I have now left rof
the keepers to the spot. At Culford, on the
store,
estate of Lord Cornwallis, one keeper was
And this summer if they have luck, they'll breed plenty
shot and five beaten with flails in an affray more,
with I6 poachers. William Bilson of Great dnA sa soon sa ever the next nosaes od come ,ni
Saxham owed his life to a flash in the pan, and IfI am evila dna not denifnoc I llahs eb ready to ,nigeb
dnA if that I ma taken again the money I will pay,
later in the year there were shooting episodes
roF I llahs never stand for money, while stnasaehp look
involving poachers at Cavenham and Mil- os gay. 91
denhall. It may be significant that in
February 1823 three men from Kenninghall Crannis defies categorization as down-
and three from East Harling, both riotous trodden labourer, rural criminal or social
villages, were responsible for breaking the protester.
Norfolk Archives Office (NAO) C 54/3 Quarter Sessions Minute
,4
Book, January 182e-December ,3281 pp 125-33. 'TNC 91 January 1822; NM 2 February I822; SROI, HA
's BP 27 February 1822; Select Committee on Criminal Committals, 24/5o/19/44 .)2(
,728x p .14 ,s Select Committee llo Criminal Committals, ,7281 p .14
'6NM 5 January .2281 'VBG 3 April .2281
EAST ANGLIAN RIOTS 1822
IV TABLE I
The last months of 182I and the opening of Machine Breaking Incidents, 2281
the new year was a period of great hardship
for the labourers. The harvest had been Date Location
interrupted by heavy rains, and had not 31 / 14 February ,notsruB ,gnissiG gnilpmihS )N(
provided a period of continuous employ- 61 February eyE
ment for whole families. They relied on this 81 February eyE dees( ,)llird gnihtrafniW
to bring in the income needed for rents, new 91 February .eyE dloccO ,)2( llahsteviT
boots and other clothing, and items such sa 28 February ,gnihtrafniW gnihserhT enihcam
tea, tobacco, coals, candles and soap. Wheat dna gnisserd enihcam
was spoilt by the wet, but the farmers 4/5 March ,gnihtrafniW ,hguorobelttA
,mahporhS ,notrettenS dlO
brought it to market 'regardless of condi-
,mahnekcuB ,mahdnomyW yelroM
tion'. Threshing machines were blamed for
,hplotoBtS ,mahnekcuBweN
causing a glut, as well sa denying work to the ,notpaH olB Norton
labourers. Prospects of alternative employ- dleiftarC
4March
ment were curtailed by a prolonged period of 5 March dleifxaL )5(
rain and gales in November and December, tlohtuoS
5-I 5 March
the sodden state of the ground preventing 12 March yagnuB
sowing or 'fallowing the land at the proper ,notdooW ,mahgnihctiD
3 April
season'. 02 dnalgniroP
Despite the obvious distress, the high I4-I7April ,mahtnerW ,daetsneH rettucffahc
crime rate and the precedents of 81 I6, there etagruB
I July
was no anticipation of a second rising. dleifgnideB
5July
Incendiary fires were reported at Buxhall, I7August yeleeW )xessE(
Great Finningham, Ipswich and Nettlestead I I September llahxoF
in January, but these were too dispersed to I3 September notroN
amount to a campaign. ~2 I8 September hguorobelttA
Twenty machines were demolished in I9 September niW gnihtraf
Norfolk on 4 and 5 March but the precise 12 December mahdneM
location of every incident is not recorded.
Those that can be identified were: Wy- being used, but once it became apparent the
mondham )2( Attleborough )2( Shropham 3( farmers were not going to desist voluntarily,
threshers, I drill) Snetterton )2( Blo Norton the action became more militant. At the
(thresher and drill) New Buckenham, Hap- second Winfarthing riot the protesters broke
ton, Winfarthing and Morley St Botolph. through a cordon of constables and farmers,
The total of 25 machines broken in Norfolk and seizing Richard Dogget's machine.
and Suffolk compares with a total of o3 given
They proceeded to demolish the obnoxious engine. A
for the two counties during the Swing riots
desperate attack commenced with bludgeons and all
Captain ,gniwS
(Hobsbawm and Rude, kinds of weapons. One gentleman was felled from his
p 305). horse, and several more who were well mounted were
dellepmoc ot taerter ni lla snoitcerid tsdima a yvaeh
The first machine breaking incidents
egrahcsid of senots dna other .selissim a2
occurred in Norfolk and Suffolk on 31 and I6
February to the north and Diss and around Magistrates enrolled special constables
Eye. At first the labourers were content and enlisted the aid of the local gentry to help
simply to stop the threshing machines from bring in suspects. When a body of rioters was
brought into Diss there was a major
:°BG 3 October ;1281 Ipswich journal (Ij), 8 December ,1281 t 5
yraunaJ ;2281 NM ,5 26January .2281
'~ SC ,5 91 yraunaJ ;2281 Ij 5 yraunaJ ;228I NM 5 January .228x ""BP 72 yraurbeF ;228x NM 9 March ;228x BP H March .2281
THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW
disturbance in the town itself. Fearing announcing positive information that a mob
further unrest the justices applied to the of 60o strong were at that time on their march
Home Office for a directive to be sent to the to Buckenham Green'. The 600 turned out to
Secretary at War requiring him to order be nearer ,o6 a 'motley crew' who could have
some regular troops into the area. Thirty been dispersed by a 'sergeant's guard'. Faced
men of the I6th Dragoons arrived on 8 with drawn swords and loaded firearms, the
March, three days after the worst of the rioters tried to escape into the fields, but
3'-.stoir twenty were arrested and six committed to
These began on 2 March, and it was Norwich Castle. 8~
reckoned that 2o threshing machines were When the prisoners came into Norwich a
broken, dismantled, or stopped from oper- crowd pelted their escort with stones, and
ating in Guilt Cross and Diss hundreds. 42 were not impressed by the threat of shoot-
The Suffolk and Norfolk yeomanry were ing. The Norwich textile workers had
called out, and though there had been reason to sympathize with any protest
concern over 'procuring proper persons to against mechanization and there were wage
act' against the rioters, John Surtees of riots in the city in the summer. The hciwroN
Banham managed to recruit 25o mounted yrucreM dismissed the rioters sa 'loose
special constables. s~ In Suffolk a second disorderly boys' but the anxiety expressed
outbreak at Laxfield was rapidly brought by Mayor Racham and the other magistrates
under control by 'the firm and conciliatory suggests the situation was more serious. 9-~
measures adopted by the inhabitants ...
A riotous disposition has within a few days manifested
Several landlords have written to their
itself amongst the peasantry in various towns in
tenants requesting them to decline the use of Norfolk in this neighbourhood, and still exists in the
threshing machines on their respective alleged purpose of destroying threshing machines, and
lands. 6-' A willingness to adopt this stra- this disposition has produced a feverish temper in the
lower classes of the inhabitants of this city) °
tagem might have terminated the riots
throughout the border region, but the There were further riots after the trials
authorities were alarmed and tended to think when the men convicted of machine break-
more in terms of repression than concession. ing were moved off to the bridewells at
Colonel Ray, commander of the Eye Swaffham, Wymondham, Walsingham and
yeomanry, described the disturbed area sa Aylsham. it had been feared an attempt
would be made to rescue the rioters before
fast approaching the state of our Irish neighbours, and
indeed, if an immediate check is not put to the the trials, and the magistrates formed a
proceedings of the evil disposed in this district, I fear special committee for the duration of the
the contagion will spread and become a most emergency. The West Norfolk Militia were
formidable evil. Threatening letters are circulated
mobilized and the Norwich Light Horse
among us most liberally, and the firebrand, the most
Yeomanry stationed in the local barracks. ~3
formidable of weapons, is the portion of those who
persist in the use of threshing machines or anyway are No rescue bid materialized, and although
obnoxious to the party, 7~ there were rumours of further gatherings by
the labourers it was felt safe to stand down
By the time Ray reached Diss the area was the yeomanry during the second week of
quieter, but on the afternoon of 5 March 'we March. :3 There were numerous incendiary
were gratified by the arrival of an express attacks in February and March, and some of
• 3 NM 9 March ;aa81 HO ;a331/71/o4 HO ;a3/71/o4 HO 41/6 ,3 ,4 7 ORSS~ AH ;78/5/742 NM 9 March .a281
hcraM ..:a81 :gAnuual Re¢ister, ,2z81 pp t22-3; IJ 9 March ;2281 BP 3I hcraM
~4NM 9 March t82z; HO 4o/I7/3t 7 March .2281 .2a81
ORSs~ HA 24.7/5/85; HO .a3/7x/o4 a°HO 40/I7/IO.
~6SC I6 March .2zSx a'BG 02 March ;2281 HO 6/14 7 March ;2281 NAO C 3/45 p .631
ORS7a HA 247/5/85. a21j 9 March .228I
EAST ANGLIAN RIOTS 1822 7
the villages in the main riot areas were visited most of the farms at Norton, Hadiscoe,
affected, including Diss, Attleborough, Aldeby, Thurlton Crofts, Raveningham, Hales Green
etc. in Norfolk, for the purpose of ascertaining
Botesdale, East Harling and Eye. The main
whether any machines were at work. They however
concentration of fires lay to the west of Eye,
did not offer any violence to the farmers where they
in villages where there were no reports of
called, but contented themselves with impressing all
machine breaking. 33 the farming hands as they proceeded on their visits) 7
The Loddon yeomanry had to be called
OUt on 12 March when parties oflabourers The final episode in the I822 disturbances
assembled at Broome and Ditchingham. A was at Mendham on the Waveney, midway
threshing machine was broken in Bungay between Diss and Bungay. George Rant had
the same week, but there were no serious his threshing machine 'dismembered' before
outbreaks until 3 April. On that day a posse of peace officers arrived and took 6
machines were broken at Ditchingham and supposed ringleaders into custody. 83
Woo&on; 02 men were arrested and brought
to Bungay, and in anticipation of further V
disturbances, the magistrates swore in spe- Before the riots the East Anglian press had
cial constables and sent to Norwich for published letters critical of machinery and
military assistance. These precautions were had expressed concern for the plight of the
not totally effective, for the troops were agricultural labourers. Once the troubles
mobbed outside the Three Tuns and the Riot started the tone of the reports became more
Act had to be read before the crowd would hostile. Thrashing machines were 'far from
disperse. 43 superseding the use of manual labour . . .
The incidents recorded in the remainder of more instead of fewer hands have been
April seem to have been minor affairs, the employed where they have been resorted to'.
work of individuals or small groups. The 'Some of the individuals who were
July cases, however, were full-scale riots; apprehended in Norfolk were single men,
there were no arrests following the outbreak and constantly earning from IO/- to 12/- a
at Burgate, and it needed a full turn out of week, wages which at the present moment
magistrates, constables and volunteer far- cannot justify a murmer of complaint.'
mers to check the riot at Bedingfield. 53 Machine breaking and arson were 'not
Sizeable groups were also involved in the unaccompanied by other indications of the
September riots. When a posse of dragoons, most savage ferocity'. Labourers had been
constables and magistrates went to Winfar- stirred up by 'the artful and malignant
thing to arrest the machine breakers, 'a representatives ofpoliticalincendiaries'. The
tumultuous mob . . . behaved with brutal Bury Gazette quoted with approval an article
violence, and evinced a spirit of daring from the Sun suggesting the risings were a
insubordination'. The Woodbridge yeo- conspiracy designed to divert troops from
manry had to be brought in to deal with the Ireland. All the papers carried the Norwich
Foxhall rioters, after the constables had been Mercury account of parties of up to 005
beaten off, and even then the arrests were labourers marching through the countryside
made in a dawn raid to avoid popular in search of threshing machines and having 'a
opposition. 63 In Loddon hundred, 05 to 06 regular system oforganisation between the
labourers various villages'. 93 Ray mentioned that
3J BG, NM, SC February-April .228I reports on the size of the mobs were 'much
34BG 72 March, Io April ;2281 BP ,OI 71 April ;228" NAO C
.12/15 roF later troubles in eht Bungay area, ees ,PS O AH
247/5/91. 12U73 September .2281
3SlJ 41 April ;2281 BG 42 April ;2281 BP ,o, t 7 April ;2281 ORS JxU4January ;3281 ORS HA .)2(44/91/o5/42
AH 24/5o/I9/44(2); BG 17july .228I 3~SCzMarch ;228x BG6March, to April I822;Ij9March ;2281
,e3 BG 52 ;rebmetpeS IJ ,41 12 September ;228I ORS AH .lOI/5/742 NM9March .2281
. THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW
exaggerated', and where actual cases were turning King's evidence, but he was believed
recorded the parties were estimated at to have been the instigator of the Winfar-
between 03 and 6o. thing troubles. 24 In his address to the grand
The first trials of the rioters were con- jury Baron Richards reminded them of the
ducted against this background of alarm and Pentridge rising, where he had conducted
indignation. Opening the Norfolk quarter the trial ofJeremy Brandreth. Considering
sessions, the chairman reminded the jury of that precedent, the Norfolk rioters were
the threat that violent protest posed to lightly punished, but the two accused of
agricultural investment, and argued that if arson were sentenced to death.
machines were harmful to the labourers they Noah Peak and George Fortis had set fire
must also be harmful to the farmers. 'The to the property of John Kent, farmer and
wages and comforts of the poor were Poor Law official at Diss. They were both
dependent on a peaceable and sober 'principally employed in the roads by the
disposition. o,, surveyor of Bressingham'. Their motive
Thirty-three men were held on charges of was that Kent had been 'so hard hearted sa to
rioting .and machine breaking, but 6 were reduce the allowance of the poor'. Peak and
sent to the assizes at Thetford: 2 on arson Fortis were the only capital convicts at
charges, I sa an evidence against them, and 3 Thetford refused a commutation of
who had been involved in the same machine sentence. 34 Peak was ,04 and left a wife and 6
breaking incident at Winfarthing. Of those young children. Fortis was ,92 married with
tried at the sessions 2 were acquitted, 5 bound 4 children. They had both seen military
over, and the remainder given gaol sentences service; Peak with the West Suffolk Militia
from I week to I year, though most of the and the King's Own Regiment of Foot,
sentences were for ,2 3 or 6 months. Robert fighting at the battles ofBusaco, Albuero and
Chatton, identified sa the leader of the Waterloo, Fortis with the Royal StaffCorps
Shimpling riot, was fined ,5£ gaoled for a and also at Waterloo. 44
year, and bound over for 2 years on sureties There was little consistency in the punish-
of £20o. 'He appeared to be a man who is ments meted out for machine breaking.
prosperous in life.' James Sparham, the Three Laxfield men, initially gaoled for 3
prosecutor in the Shimpling case, gave the months for malicious trespass, were then
other men good characters, but James brought before Sergeant Firth at Bury assize
Goddard was imprisoned for 21 months for charged with riotous assembly. John Wink
assaulting a magistrate, and James Crick was received 2 years, William Riches 81 months
also awarded I year in Norwich Castle. and William Forman, I year. The heavier
James Caley escaped with a month in sentence for Wink was justified by his being a
Aylsham bridewell: 'He has shown much carpenter, without the same excuse for
contrition for his offence and expressed his machine breaking sa the farm labourers. The
full contrition of his error by having been most rigorous sentences imposed by the
employed for the purpose of working a justices fell on the Woodton and Kirstead
machine since the riot.'4~ rioters. Three men were gaoled for 2 years, 3
Dixon, Ellsey and Coleman, the Winfar- for I year and the rest for 6 months at
thing rioters tried at Thetford, were all given Swaffham and Wymondham bridewells. At
I year, and William Baker received I8 the summer assizes Cornelius Goose was
months. He had avoided trial for arson by gaoled for 2 years and James Reeve for I year
4°NM 9 March 1822.
,4 NAO C 51/2I pp I07-I I; NM 9, 16, 23 March I822. The warrant 4'HO 4o/x7/4; NM 9 Marcia t822; BP ox April I822.
for Chatton's arrest described him as a lahourer: SRO HD 43NM 6 April 1822.
79/AF4/311. 44NM 2o April I822.
/
EAST ANGLIAN RIOTS 1822
for having bribed John Rushmer to break the years, but otherwise :the sentences were
machine at Woodton. Goose was himself a mostly between I and 9 months. Once the
farmer, and Reeve kept the Bird in Hand as troubles were over the magistrates could
Tasburgh; they had approached Rushmer return to considering individual cases. In
and some others of the rioters when they March 1831 John Platten was gaoled for a
were working on the road. 54 Three of those month for his part in breaking 2 machines,
who took part in the September riot at and a month later Robert Randle and John
Winfarthing were gaoled for I year, 2 for 6 Whittaker were given a fortnight for a
months and 2 for I month. By contrast the similar offence. There is nothing to indicate
Foxhall disturbance led to 11 men appearing that he was any less culpable than George
in court, but only 6 were found guilty and the Cawson, sent to Australia for 41 years. 94
penalty was a shilling fine and 1 month in In Suffolk there was only the one instance
gaol. 6g of machine breaking in 183o, but again, one
The Suffolk magistrates were more le- man was transported for 41 years and 7 for 7
nient than their Norfolk counterparts and the years. 05 The identity of punishment in both
justices tended to be less severe than the counties was unlikely to have been coin-
judges, but an important factor was the cidental.
precise times at which the different riots took
place. If the attacks occurred during a time of VI
general unrest, as in February, March and One hundred and twenty-three men
April ,2281 there was a fhr greater chance of appeared before the courts in connection
heavier penalties being incurred. The same with the agrarian disturbances of 1822. The
pattern was apparent in 1815-16. Nine men Bury Gazette suggested that 'great spouting
were given I month for breaking 2 threshing radicals' had fomented discontent, but of all
machines at Gosbeck in 1815, but once the those whose occupations were given only 5
disturbances became widespread the sen- were designated as other than labourers; a
tences were increased so that those thought yeoman, a farmer, an innkeeper, a carpenter
to be the ringleaders were quite likely to be and, almost predictably, a shoemaker. The
sent away for 81 months or 2 years. 74 rioters were usually active in their own
Trials and punishments served 2 purposes, villages and no evidence was produced of any
judicial and political, and if a particular general conspiracy or 'organized system'.
offence could beinterpreted as part of a wider The 1816 and 183o risings took a variety of
conspiracy, or as indicative of a spirit of forms, but in 1822 the labourers were
insurrection then examples had to be made. singleminded in their determination to put a
The saddest contrast in 1816 was between the stop to machinery. There was no report of
executions at Ely and the Brandon rioters the extortions which were such a feature of
discharged with an admonition at the later earlier riots and only one incident of theft was
Norfolk assizes. There was no great differ- recorded concurrent with the riots.S'
ence in the nature of their offences. s* Very few incendiaries were brought to
There was no repetition of this in ,2281 but trial in 1822, but even in the trials that were
the Norwich quarter sessions in January 81 3 I held the threshing machine question cropped
provided a graphic illustration of the think- up. At the trials of Charles Stokes and the
ing behind the imposition of sentences. One Jeffries brothers for incendiarism at Eye, a
man was transported for 41 years and 7 for 7 witness claimed that 'William Jeffries
45BG 31 Marcia, to April ;2281 BP3, Io April ;2281 NAO C 5t/zx
pp 117-2o; BP t7 April ;228~ NM 13 July ,822. 49NC ,8 3I January, 5 March, ,5 9 April I83I.
a'BG 52 October t822; NM 62 December .2281 5°John Mead, Social Protest ni R,,ral Suffolk, unpuhl thesis, Univ
4VNM 8 April x815, 2oJanuary, ,3 ox August .6181 Essex, t978.
Sa Bread or Blood, pp 81-2. S'BG 31 March .2281
IO THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW
observed that Mr. Cobbold had got a new directly they would express abhorrence, but
threshing machine, and if all would agree like the lack of prosecutions, and the failure to
him, it should be broken; also said he should secure convictions indicates a great unwil-
like to have revenge on Mr. Cobbold, and on lingness to assist the authorities in bringing
witness asking him what sort of revenge he the culprits to justice. On occasions the
should like to have, he answered "set his crowds of onlookers would impede the fire
premises on fire".'s~ Ray believed the users fighters and at Little Thornham the labourers
of machinery were the particular targets of were reported sa saying 'They would be glad
fires, but there were other motives. Peak if half the town or country were burned, sa
admitted to attempted intimidation of far- there would be plenty of work'. A meeting at
mers and Poor Law officials; a fire at Hoo was supposed to have passed a resolu-
Thrandeston was thought to be the direct tion to the effect that all farmers who
result of the occupier's giving evidence in the persisted in the use of threshing machines
Cobbold case, and another farmer suffered a should be burnt, along with their property, 5s
fire while he was away at court giving The press was careful to mention when
evidence in an arson case. William Peters was villagers helped to deal with fires, almost sa if
the automatic suspect for a fire at Stonham this was something unusual and deserving
Aspell because he had been told there would commendation.
be no more work for him once the threshing Agrarian incendiarism should not be
was finished. William Aldous was thought equated with the more overt forms of protest
to have a grievance against his master, but he such sa food riots and machine breaking.
seems to have been simple-minded and was Spite, revenge and pyromania motivated
convicted on the strength of one of his some of the fires at least; but the correspon-
statements in which he confessed to starting a dence of an increasing number of fires with
fire. He was the only Suffolk man accused of other signs of discontent cannot be explained
arson who was convicted, and the judge by personal malice or mental aberration, and
refused to support the jury's recommenda- the cases brought before the courts were too
tion for mercy. Aldous was seventeen. 35 few to allow for reasonable generalizations
A spate of fires in the Ipswich area may about the incendiaries.
have been more organized. A broadsheet
scattered in the streets called on the people to VII
'Prepare for the grand mutiny on the Corn Contemporary commentators noted the
Hill... and render your assistance round the specific nature of the riots: threshing
town to burn the courts, Mr.Cobbold's, Mr machines were 'the only object' and 'the
Edgars, Mr Roe's and Mr Steward's premi- peculiar object of their vengeance'. 65 This
ses down, our party is now five hundred and concentration on machinery sa the source of
fifty strong'. Seekamp, the mayor of provocation diverted attention away from
Ipswich, dismissed the broadsheet as a hoax, deeper roots of social malaise in the East
but Roe and Cobbold did suffer fires and he Anglian countryside. Following the troubles
had to admit there was a 'spirit of discontent' owners and occupiers in Laxfield, Wing-
brought about by 'the almost total want of field, Hitcham, Blythburgh, Yoxford,
employment'. 45 Metfield, and Marlesford agreed to suspend
The feelings of the labourers about arson the use of threshing machines for a year.57
are difficult to determine. If questioned The virtual absence of machine breaking in
Suffolk in I83o suggests that landlords
S:BG31 July .~281
S3BG IoApril, 31 November 182z; HO4o/I7/I14. "BG 6 March 182a; SC 61 March 1822.
~4HO4o/I7/II4;HO4o/I7/II7;HO4o/17/x7a;HO52/3/42;HO MN'¢S 9 March I822; HO 4o/17/4; SRO HA 247/5/85.
52/3/77. ~7Ij ,41 ,'I September 1822; BG 4 September 182-'.