Merthyr Rising
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The Merthyr Rising, also referred to as the Merthyr Riots, of 1831 was the violent climax to many years of simmering unrest among the large
working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
population of
Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...
in
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
and the surrounding area. The Rising marked the first times the red flag was used a symbol of working class rebellion in the United Kingdom.


Beginnings

Throughout May 1831 the coal miners and others who worked for William Crawshay took to the streets of Merthyr Tydfil, calling for reform, protesting against the lowering of their wages and general unemployment. Gradually the protest spread to nearby industrial towns and villages and by the end of May the whole area was in rebellion, and it is believed that for the first time the red flag of revolution was flown as a symbol of workers' revolt.


Events

After storming Merthyr town, the rebels sacked the local debtors' court and the goods that had been collected. Account books containing debtors' details were also destroyed. Among the shouts were cries of ''Caws a bara'' (cheese and bread) and ''I lawr â'r Brenin'' (down with the king). On 1 June 1831, the protesters marched to local mines and persuaded the men on shift there to stop working and join their protest. In the meantime, the British government in London had ordered in the army, with contingents of the
93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot The 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a Line Infantry Regiment of the British Army, raised in 1799. Under the Childers Reforms, it amalgamated with the 91st (Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot to form the Argyll and Sut ...
dispatched to Merthyr Tydfil to restore order. Since the crowd was now too large to be dispersed, the soldiers were ordered to protect essential buildings and people. On 2 June, while local employers and magistrates were holding a meeting with the
High Sheriff of Glamorgan This page is a list of High Sheriffs of Glamorgan. Sheriffs of Glamorgan served under and were answerable to the independent Lords of Glamorgan until that lordship was merged into the crown. This is in contrast to sheriffs of the English shires wh ...
at the Castle Inn, a group led by Lewis Lewis (known as ''Lewsyn yr Heliwr'') marched there to demand a reduction in the price of bread and an increase in their wages. The demands were rejected, and after being advised to return to their homes, attacked the inn. Engaged by the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot, after the rioters seized some of their weapons, the troops were commanded to open fire. After a protracted struggle in which hundreds sustained injury, some fatal, the Highlanders were compelled to withdraw to
Penydarren House : ''For Trevithick's Pen-y-darren locomotive, see Richard Trevithick.'' Penydarren is a community and electoral ward in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough in Wales. Description The area is most notable for being the site of a 1st-century Roman fort, ...
, and abandon the town to the rioters. Some 7,000 to 10,000 workers marched under a red flag, which was later adopted internationally as the symbol of communists and socialists. For four days, magistrates and ironmasters were under siege in the Castle Hotel, and the protesters effectively controlled Merthyr.The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press 2008. For eight days, Penydarren House was the sole refuge of authority. With armed insurrection fully in place in the town by 4 June, the rioters had commandeered arms and explosives, set up road-blocks, formed guerrilla detachments, and had banners capped with a symbolic loaf and dyed in blood. Those who had military experience had taken the lead in drilling the armed para-military formation, and created an effective central command and communication system. This allowed them to control the town and engage the formal military system, including: *Ambushing the 93rd's baggage-train on the Brecon Road, under escort of forty of the
Glamorgan Yeomanry The Glamorgan Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army originally raised in the late 18th century as a result of concern over the threat of invasion by the French. It was re-raised in the Second Boer War and saw service in both the Fi ...
, and drove them into the Brecon hills. *Beating off a relief force of a hundred cavalry sent from Penydarren House. *Ambushing and disarming the Swansea Yeomanry on the Swansea Road, and throwing them back in disorder to
Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a po ...
. *Organising a mass demonstration against Penydarren House. Having sent messengers, who had started strikes in Northern Monmouthshire, Neath and Swansea Valleys, the riots reached their peak. However, panic had spread to the family oriented and peaceful town folk, who had now started to flee what was an out-of- control town. With the rioters arranging a mass meeting for Sunday 6th, the government representatives in Penydarren House managed to split the rioters' council. When 450 troops marched to the mass meeting at Waun above Dowlais with levelled weapons, the meeting dispersed and the riots were effectively over.


Outcome

By 7 June the authorities had regained control of the town through force with up to 24 of the protesters killed. Twenty-six people were arrested and put on
trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...
for taking part in the revolt. Several were sentenced to terms of imprisonment, others sentenced to
penal transportation Penal transportation or transportation was the relocation of convicted criminals, or other persons regarded as undesirable, to a distant place, often a colony, for a specified term; later, specifically established penal colonies became their ...
to Australia, and two were sentenced to
death by hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...
– Lewis Lewis (''Lewsyn yr Heliwr'') for Robbery and Richard Lewis (''
Dic Penderyn Richard Lewis (1807/8 – 13 August 1831), known as Dic Penderyn, was a Welsh labourer and coal miner who lived in Merthyr Tydfil and was involved with the Merthyr Rising of 3 June 1831. In the course of the riot he was arrested alongside Lewis ...
'') for stabbing a soldier (Private Donald Black of the Highland Regiment) in the leg with a seized
bayonet A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustr ...
. Lewsyn yr Heliwr's sentence was downgraded to a life sentence and
penal transportation Penal transportation or transportation was the relocation of convicted criminals, or other persons regarded as undesirable, to a distant place, often a colony, for a specified term; later, specifically established penal colonies became their ...
to Australia when one of the police officers who had tried to disperse the crowd testified that he had tried to shield him from the rioters. He was transported aboard the vessel John in 1832 and died 6 September 1847 in
Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...
, New South Wales. Following this reprieve the British government, led by
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (13 March 1764 – 17 July 1845), known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was a British Whig politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1830 to 1834. He was a member of the nob ...
, was determined that at least one rebel should die as an example of what happened to rebels. The people of Merthyr Tydfil were convinced that Richard Lewis (Dic Penderyn) was not responsible for the stabbing, and 11,000 signed a petition demanding his release. The government refused, and Richard Lewis was hanged at
Cardiff Market Cardiff Market ( cy, Marchnad Caerdydd), also known as Cardiff Central Market ( cy, Marchnad Ganolog Caerdydd) and as the Market Building, is a Victorian indoor market in the Castle Quarter of Cardiff city centre, capital city of Wales. Back ...
on August 13, 1831. In 1874, a Congregational minister, the Rev. Evan Evans, said that a man called Ianto Parker had given him a death-bed confession, saying that he had stabbed Donald Black and then fled to America fearing capture by the authorities. James Abbott, a hairdresser from Merthyr Tydfil who had testified at Penderyn's trial, later said that he had lied under oath, claiming that he had been instructed to do so by
Lord Melbourne William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first pre ...
.


Legacy

In 2015,
Welsh Labour Welsh Labour ( cy, Llafur Cymru) is the branch of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 1922 ...
MP Ann Clwyd presented a petition to the House of Commons calling for Dic Penderyn to be posthumously pardoned, stating that there was "strong feeling in Wales that Richard Lewis - Dic Penderyn - was wrongly executed."


In creative works

Since 2013, a music festival named after the rising has been held annually in Merthyr to promote working class culture and social justice in arts.
Meic Stevens Meic Stevens (born 13 March 1942) is a Welsh singer-songwriter. Stevens's songs have a mystical, faintly psychedelic flavour, and are mostly sung in his native Welsh language. Still largely unknown outside Wales, he was discovered by DJ Ji ...
' song "Dic Penderyn" on his 1972 album celebrates Richard Lewis. Radical singer-songwriter
David Rovics David Stefan Rovics (born April 10, 1967) is an American indie singer/songwriter. His music concerns topical subjects such as the 2003 Iraq war, anti-globalization, anarchism, and social justice issues. Rovics has been an outspoken critic of ...
included a song about the Merthyr Rising, entitled "Cheese and Bread", in the 2018 album ''Ballad of a Wobbly''. The musical "My Land's Shore" by Robert Gould and Christopher J Orton centres on the riots. It was performed at the
Bloomsbury Theatre The Bloomsbury Theatre is a theatre on Gordon Street, Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, owned by University College London. The Theatre has a seating capacity of 547 and offers a professional programme of innovative music, drama, come ...
by the
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
Musical Theatre Society and Stage Crew Society in February 2022. In 2015, stylist Charlotte James and photographer Tom Johnson published a series titled Merthyr Rising, showcasing residents of the town.


See also

*
List of riots This is a chronological list of known riots. Seventeenth century and earlier * 44 BC – Assassination of Julius Caesar (Rome, Roman Republic). During Caesar's cremation in the Forum, an incensed mob took firebrands from the pyre and attacke ...
*
Trade unions in the United Kingdom Trade unions in the United Kingdom were first decriminalised under the recommendation of a Royal commission in 1867, which agreed that the establishment of the organisations was to the advantage of both employers and employees. Legalised in 1 ...
*
List of massacres in Great Britain Inclusion Criteria This is a list of massacres that have occurred in the purely geographical definition of Great Britain, being in the countries of England, Scotland and Wales and ''excludes'' Northern Ireland and massacres in Ireland before i ...


References

{{reflist


External links


Old Merthyr Tydfil: Dic Penderyn and the Merthyr Rising
- Historical Photographs and Information Relating to the Merthyr Rising. 1831 in Wales 1831 riots Food riots Coal in Wales Riots and civil disorder in Wales Working class in the United Kingdom