The Spa Fields riots were incidents of public disorder arising out of the second of two mass meetings at

Spa Fields Spa Fields is a park and its surrounding area in the London Borough of Islington, bordering Finsbury and Clerkenwell. Historically it is known for the Spa Fields riots of 1816 and an Owenite community which existed there between 1821 and 1824. The ...

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, England on 15 November and 2 December 1816. The meetings had been planned by a small group of revolutionary Spenceans, who invited the popular radical speaker Henry Hunt to address the crowd. They hoped that the meetings would be followed by rioting, during which they would seize control of the government by taking the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

and the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

. The first meeting ended peacefully, with Hunt being elected to deliver a petition to the

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...

, requesting electoral reform and relief from hardship and distress. At the second meeting some of the Spenceans harangued the crowd before Hunt arrived and led away a section of it. The rioters raided a gunsmith's shop and exchanged gunfire with troops at the Royal Exchange. Other incidents took place at Snow Hill and

Minories Minories ( ) is the name of a small former administrative unit, and also of a street in central London. Both the street and the former administrative area take their name from the Abbey of the Minoresses of St. Clare without Aldgate. Both are ...

, but after soldiers refused to hand over the

the rioters dispersed. In the aftermath of the riots, four leading Spenceans, John Hooper, Thomas Preston,

Arthur Thistlewood Arthur Thistlewood (1774–1 May 1820) was an English radical activist and conspirator in the Cato Street Conspiracy. He planned to murder the cabinet, but there was a spy and he was apprehended with 12 other conspirators. He killed a policem ...

and James Watson, were arrested and charged with

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

. Watson was tried first and the chief prosecution witness was John Castle, a government spy who had infiltrated the Spenceans. Castle's evidence was discredited by defence counsel and Watson was acquitted, at which point the prosecution presented no evidence against the other defendants and all four were released.

Background

The ending of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

in 1815 led to a sharp downturn in the British economy, bringing mass unemployment and distress. Radical leaders in London had organised petitions calling for parliament to relieve distress, but without success, and the Spenceans thought that more extreme action was needed. They called a mass public meeting at Spa Fields for 15 November 1816, with the object of marching to the Prince Regent's house to deliver their demands, which included universal (male) suffrage, annual parliaments, secret ballots and redistribution of land. They invited several leading radical speakers to attend, but Hunt was the only one to agree, and when he met the organisers prior to the meeting he persuaded them not to march to the house and to moderate their demands by dropping land reform. Hunt was a very popular speaker and the meeting was attended by around 10,000 people. He prevented any departure from the agreed plan and the meeting passed off peacefully, with Hunt and

Sir Francis Burdett Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet (25 January 1770 – 23 January 1844) was a British politician and Member of Parliament who gained notoriety as a proponent (in advance of the Chartists) of universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, vo ...

being elected to deliver the petition. However, when Hunt proposed that the meeting be adjourned until parliament next sat, Watson's son, also called James Watson, persuaded the crowd to support the earlier date of 2 December. Young Watson, Thistlewood and some of the other Spenceans had only reluctantly agreed to Hunt's terms for the first meeting and wanted the second to end in riots.

Rioting

Hunt made two attempts to present the petition to the Prince Regent (without Burdett, who had declined to participate) but had been refused admittance. Meanwhile, the Spenceans advertised the second meeting with a number of inflammatory handbills, including one which quoted

Lord Nelson Vice-admiral (Royal Navy), Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British people, British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strate ...

at the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

in 1805: On 2 December another large crowd assembled in Spa Fields to hear Hunt. Before he arrived, however, both Watsons harangued the crowd and Watson junior picked up a tricolour flag, symbol of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, and led off a section in the direction of the Tower. Most of the crowd stayed behind to listen to Hunt and the meeting passed off without incident. The rioters robbed a gunsmith's shop in Snow Hill, during which shots were fired, the gunsmith wounded and a passer-by killed. At the Royal Exchange troops closed the gates and exchanged shots with the rioters. Further skirmishes took place at

Fleet Market The Fleet Market was a London market erected in 1736 on the newly culverted River Fleet. The market was located approximately where the modern Farringdon Street stands today, to the west of the Smithfield livestock market. Work began in 1734 to ...

, Snow Hill and the Minories, which the rioters took under control for some hours. From there, Thistlewood led an armed band to the Tower of London, climbed a wall and invited the soldiers to surrender. They refused and the most serious public disturbance in London since the

Gordon Riots The Gordon Riots of 1780 were several days of rioting in London motivated by anti-Catholic sentiment. They began with a large and orderly protest against the Papists Act 1778, which was intended to reduce official discrimination against British ...

of 1780 gradually petered out.

Arrests and trials

Watson was arrested on evening of 2 December, but his son and Thistlewood escaped. Young Watson fled to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

but Thistlewood was arrested as he tried to escape on a boat at Gravesend, Hooper and John Cashman, a sailor, had been arrested during the Royal Exchange skirmish. Cashman was found guilty of theft of firearms and hanged on 12 March 1817. Hooper was acquitted but subsequently re-arrested and charged with

, along with Watson senior, Thistlewood and Preston. Young Watson's name was included on the charge sheet. Watson was tried first and the hearing took over a week. The chief prosecution witness was Castle, who had been on the organising committee for both meetings. Hunt appeared as a defence witness and accused Castle of trying to make him commit treasonable acts on at least two occasions.Gurney, William Brodie, ''The Trial Of James Watson For High Treaso'At The Bar Of The Court Of King's Bench On Monday 9th June to Monday 16th June 1817'' (London, 1817) Vol. II, pp. 258–275 Defence counsel exposed previous instances where Castle had entrapped others into committing crimes and, without naming him as a spy, presented him to the jury an agent provocateur. The jury accepted the defence's case and Watson was found Not Guilty. No further evidence was presented against the other defendants and they were also acquitted.

Aftermath

The riots marked the start of a period of mass anti-government meetings, marches and riots, including the march of the

Blanketeers The Blanketeers or Blanket March was a demonstration organised in Manchester in March 1817. The intention was for the participants, who were mainly Lancashire weavers, to march to London and petition the Prince Regent over the desperate state o ...

(March 1817), the

Pentrich rising The Pentrich Revolution (also known as the Pentrich Rising) was an armed uprising in 1817 that began around the village of Pentrich, Derbyshire, in the United Kingdom. It occurred on the night of 9–10 June 1817. While much of the planning took p ...

(June 1817) and the

Peterloo Massacre The Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter's Field, Manchester, Lancashire, England, on Monday 16 August 1819. Fifteen people died when cavalry charged into a crowd of around 60,000 people who had gathered to demand the reform of parliament ...

(August 1819) and ending only after the failure of the

Cato Street Conspiracy The Cato Street Conspiracy was a plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister Lord Liverpool in 1820. The name comes from the meeting place near Edgware Road in London. The police had an informer; the plotters fell into ...

(February 1820).

Notes

References

* Calder-Marshall, Arthur. "The Spa Fields Riots, 1816." ''History Today'' 21 (1971): 407-415 online. * Gurney, William Brodie, ''The Trial Of James Watson For High Treason At The Bar Of The Court Of King's Bench On Monday 9th June to Monday 16th June 1817'' (London, 1817) * Protheroe, Iorwerth, ''Artisans & Politics in Early Nineteenth-Century London'', (Dawson and Son, 1979) * Thompson, E. P., ''The Making of the English Working Class'' (Penguin Books, 1963) * Tilly, Charles. ''Popular Contention in Great Britain, 1758-1834'' (Routledge, 2015).

External links

Spa Fields Riots at www.victorianweb.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spa Fields Riots Riots in London 1816 riots 1816 in England Regency London 19th century in Middlesex November 1816 events December 1816 events