Medium of Intercommunication FOR MEN OF LETTERS, THE ARCHEOLOGIST, AND THE READING 'PUBLIC. "WE WANT NOTHING BUT FACTS."-Hard Times.' VOLUME IV. London: E. W. ALLEN, II, AVE MARIA LANE, E. C. 1873. THE ·A6344 ANCIENT NEEDLEWORK AT THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, 4. WORMLEY CHURCH AND MEMORIALS, HERTFORDSHIRE, 4. QUERIES:-Black Douglas, 6-Emblazoned Shields-Human Remains REPLIES:-Counters or Jettons, 8-Exmoor Forest-Armorial Bear- ings-Names of City Churches-Portraits on Coins-Ancient Roman Stamps-False Heraldry-The Apostles-Glass-The Sin MISCELLANEA:-The "Tabarde" Inn, Southwark, 10- Tombs of PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES:-Society of Antiquaries, 11-Linnean Society London and Middlesex Archæological Society Chemical Society-Society of Biblical Archæology Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts-South of England SPITALFIELD weavers at the present day seem to be a pale and "feeble folk." Their hands are thin and flexible, their bodies neither stalwart nor robust; their dispositions peace- able, and evidently unfitted for the rough trade of war-yet these French-descended weavers have, in former years, headed some of the most desperate riots that have ever There were formidable weaver riots in 1719, 1736, 1765, and 1767-riots which, but for active and speedy suppression, might have ended in as much devastation and bloodshed as the terrible riots of Lord George Gordon's fanatical followers. The riots of 1719 (in the reign of George I.) broke out on June 13, in consequence of the angry discontent produced among the weavers by the custom that had come into fashion of wearing Indian calicoes and printed linen in place of silk of English manufacture. The pale-faced men collected in angry groups, paraded London in a violent way, stopping all ladies whom they met, and who wore calicoes or linens, throwing over them splashes of ink or aquafortis, and in many cases tearing the gowns off the frightened wearers' backs. The more daring finally proposed to sack and dis- mantle the house of an obnoxious calico-printer, near The magistrates behaved well, and were very active in calming and dispersing the rioters. The mob in this riot amounted to about 4000 persons, who clamoured loudly about the importation of foreign silks and calicoes, which, they said, had reduced thousands of weavers' families to starvation, and thrown whole streets of them out of employ. The Lord Mayor, alarmed at the disturbance, closed the city gates (they were not pulled down to let the city grow till 1764), and then the drums sounded to beat up the not too-ferocious Train Bands - John Gilpin's gallant corps. The mayor enclosed himself in his gilded coach, and drove off to tell Lord Sunderland, one of King George's ministers. An order was at once issued for the Horse Grenadiers and a troop of horse to accoutre themselves, and away the troopers jolted for seething Spitalfields. The soldiers then rode about to and fro among the fermenting weavers who were at first inclined to be mischievous; but one weaver, who tried to drag a Life Guard from his saddle, being promptly cut down, and another, who had better have been darting to listen to reason and to disperse. his shuttle, having his hand lopped off, the rioters began set out for Lewisham to destroy some calico mills there, found the Life Guards riding down on them with most de- monstrative sabres. Two of the ringleaders were captured and committed to the Marshalsea. The Guards returned to their barracks, tired, but pleased with the success of their labours, about 4 a.m. Yet, after all, their work was not done, for the Original Weekly Journal of June 20, 1719, "Last Friday 7-night, when the Guards were returned to Whitehall, the weavers got together again, tearing all the These Protectionist riots led to all sorts of scattered The attempts to rescue captured weavers were very fre quent, and in many cases these cutting and tearing rascals strung all the torn gowns they could get to the top of poles and sticks, and passed boldly in great processions before the very doors of magistrates' houses. They constantly entered houses, and cut to pieces obnoxious gowns, declaring with the most outrageous language that they would destroy all calicoes wherever they were to be found. In one case, a butcher, furious at seeing his wife's gown torn off, struck the offender dead with his cleaver. The next great riot in Spitalfields arose about quite a different subject, but the motive cause was still the sametrade jealousy. The contractors for the building of Shoreditch Church, being pressed for time and, probably, money, had resolved to employ any Irish labourers who worked for lower wages than the English. Bad blood arose. The Craftsman of July 31, 1736, thus describes the first outbreak of the quarrel, into which the Spitalfields weavers soon struck with hearty good will. "On Monday," says the writer, "some labourers, part of whom were English and part Irish, met at a cook's-shop in Holywell-street, Shoreditch, and having words on the occasion of the latter doing labouring work cheaper than the English, a quarrel arose, in which the landlord, who was an Irishman, taking part with his countrymen, laid a wager of six guineas that four of them would beat six Englishmen, and they were to decide it next day. These disputes drew together a large mob, and each siding as his country or opinion listed him, great disorders were then committed, and the same increasing, on Tuesday evening grew at length to such head, that the mob attacked the cook's-shop, broke the windows, put the landlord to flight, and, in all probability, would certainly have pulled down the house, had not the magistrates, who were prudently assembled, prevented the further effects of their rage there. The mob then determined to extirpate the Irishmen, repaired to several other houses where they were lodged, and coming, amongst the rest, to the Two Brewers in Brick-lane, in Spittlefields, the landlord, who was an Irishman, and some others who were in his house, put themselves on their defence, fired out at the window, and, unhappily, shot a lad, son to Mr. Blake, a sieve-maker in the Little Minories, and wounded six or seven others. Several persons had been likewise wounded in the fray at the other houses; and the crowd, being by this time swelled to some thousands in number, and in the utmost fury, much mischief might have followed, but for the wisdom of the gentlemen in the commission of the peace, who appeared amongst the thickest, and read the proclamation for dispersing them. They likewise called out the Trained Bands, and procured two parties of the Foot Guards to be sent from the Tower, who, marching through Spittlefields and Shoreditch, the mob retired home and everything was quiet." The Old Whig, of August 5, 1736, gives rather a different version of the attack on the "Two Brewers." These, with great difficulty, dispersed the populace for awhile, though not without being obliged to use some force with their bayonets, by which several were wounded, especially in Holywell-street and Brick-lane. Mr. Barow, the master of the alehouse above mentioned, was taken up and examined before several justices." But even this was by no means the end, for rumours now arose that the keeper of the cook-shop, Holywell Street, had a certain Irish son-in-law who kept a cook-shop in Quaker Street, Spitalfields, who had offered a gang of Irishmen five guineas to beat the English. The irritation was increased and Irish, when the latter, being defeated, pulled out their by a fight on Holloway Mount, between parties of English knives and wounded several persons. It was also reported that the Irishmen had met together in several places and resolved to send for all the haymakers round London-and scythe-blades were pretty things in close quarters; and it was also believed by the excited weavers that the Irish had taken an execrable oath "to wash their hands in the blood of every Englishman who opposed them." The result was that the English, irritated at these rough intruders into their fields of labour, went round to many of the Irishmen's houses and broke their windows, battered their doors, and demolished their furniture, and finally a general battle took place in the fields near Hackney, between the two nations, when many persons on both sides were wounded with stones, bludgeons and knives. The On the Wednesday the ferment still continued. mob, furious at the discharge of the belligerent landlord, insulted the Train Bands who had captured eight rioters. That night, soldiers patrolled the streets, and about midnight two troops of Horse Grenadiers rode through Shoreditch and Hackney and dispersed several angry crowds; and in the morning four companies of the Foot Guards marched from the Park to the Tower with a good deal of ball cartridge with them to be ready for all emergencies. On the Thursday a mad Irishman named Earl, threw himself, or rather ran a muck,' among a company of the somewhat cumbrous Train Band, and desperately wounded one of them, and was then overpowered. Some armed companions of his fled when they found that Earl could not defeat the whole body of Train Bands, and that more Saxon troops were coming up. Foot Guards patrolled from the Tower towards the fields all that night, and orders were sent to the Colonels of regiments in Kent to keep watch. ful eyes on all “ vagrom" persons and unquiet spirits who should happen to show themselves. The militia also kept guard in Spital Square and Shoreditch. On the Friday the effervescent weavers grew again volcanic. About 11 p.m. a mob suddenly got together in Goodman's Fields and attacked an Irish cook-shop in Millyard, and from thence they pushed to the "Bull and great difficulty, escaped with their lives. Another part of Butcher" ale-house in Rag Fair, where the inmates, with the mob threatened everybody in Goodman's Fields who "The mob," says the writer, "had determined to have refused or delayed to illuminate. They then broke windows out two Irish lodgers of the landlord's, alive or dead, and, and also began to demolish the house of a Mr. Atkin, in accordingly, they attempted to force the door, and some Leman Street. The frightened people, however, sending to broke the windows, whilst others attempted to get in the a justice, that gentleman at once procured a guard from the back way. The master and lodgers, who had provided them-Tower, and marched, sword drawn, upon the rioters, and selves with pistols, blunderbusses, and daggers, thereon fired scized some of the ringleaders with his own hand. Nine of on the populace seven times, and wounded several of them, the rioters were at once taken to the watch house in Roseand particularly two boys, who are said to be mortally mary Lane, and the mob dispersed. The next day one of wounded; likewise, one James Brown, a labouring man, these men was examined at the Tower and committed to received several wounds on his head, arms, and breast, so Newgate for felony-which then meant death. The troops that he is given over; a woman was also wounded on her still patrolled nightly, 300 Horse Guards on Tower Hill, left side with a dagger, but there were hopes of her recovery. while parties of the Horse Grenadiers dispersed riotous At last the populace forced in, broke almost everything in crowds collecting in Radcliffe Highway. the house, seized the three reputed Irishmen, tapped the beer that was in the house, and, in short, would have killed their antagonists, had it not been for the Guards of the Tower, who by this time arrived to appease the tumult, together with the Trained Bands of the Tower Hamlets. A day after this, a poor woman was found nearly dead from blows and wounds in an alley, called the Wall, near Virginia Court, somewhere in Shoreditch. She had been stabbed and beaten by two Irish women (with one of whom she lodged), because she had argued in favour of the English. This so exasperated the weavers, their comrades, of constables, headboroughs, &c., marched from Hicker's that a massacre of the Irish might have been the consequence, had not the Train Bands cleared the streets. The last we hear of these riots is in Reed's Weekly Journal, August 7, 1736, to this effect : "On Sunday evening last, some mobs arose in Southwark and Lambeth, and another by Oxford Road, but they did no damage, only taking upon themselves to interrogate the people that went that way-If they were for the English or Irish?" The riots of 1765 were much more alarming, as they proceeded from real distress, and were entirely confined to the Spitalfields weavers. The outbreak began on the night of May 6, 1765, when about 5000 weavers, armed with pickaxes and other weapons, appeared in Bloomsbury Square, where one of the cabinet ministers then lived; and after parading an hour, left, threatening to return if their grievances were not speedily redressed. The next day, upwards of 50,000 weavers and their wives asembled by beat of drum in Spitalfields. The Reformers' Chronicle says Hall and Moorfields, as it was rumoured that the sailors, butchers, and dyers, had determined to come to the aid of the weavers, who were determined a second visit to Westminster. The great spokesman of the rioters seems to have been Jones, a Welshman, to whom the Earl of Northumberland had sent special messages from the Lords, and who, after drawing off the weavers to the Green Park, harangued them from a tree, and also addressed the mob in the Old Palace Yard with " modesty and decorum," and succeeded in persuading them to disperse. The St. James's Chronicle, of May 16, 1765, somewhat sympathizing with the weavers, writes : "It is said that several French hairdressers and friseurs, French milliners and mantua-makers, have raised good fortunes since the late peace, by artfully introducing and selling the silk manufactures of their own country to the gentry, &c., they had business for, which has been the principal cause of the present miserable situation of the poor Spitalfields weavers; and, notwithstanding seizure now and then has been made of French goods, the said illicit trade is daily carried on by means of the easy access they have to the ladies and gentlemen who employ them." From Lloyd's Evening Post, of May 22, 1765, we get a very graphic picture of the general alarm the riotous weavers had created in London, which, for a time, had formed into a camp. The newspaper writer says:- 'Monday night the guards were doubled at Bedford House; and in each street leading thereto were placed six or seven of the Horse Guards, who continued till yesterday at ten with their swords drawn. A strong party of Albemarle's dragoons took post in Tottenham Court Road, and patrols of them were sent off towards Islington and Marylebone, and the other environs on that side of the town; the Duke of Bedford's new road by Baltimore House was opened, when every hour a patrol came that way and round Bloomsbury Square to see that all was well. 66 Proper precautions were yesterday taken to prevent the weavers from joining and marching in bodies, by placing a strong body in the following manner :-Two troops of horse were drawn up in Moorfields in order of battle, with colours, standards, &c., in the centre was a battalion of the Guards. They continued under arms all day. A troop of horse was stationed at the foot of London Bridge to prevent their passing that way, and another troop of horse did duty at the foot of Westminster Bridge. They proceeded, in three large bodies, to Westminster. One corps took the route of Gracechurch Street and London Bridge, from whence they passed over St. George's Fields. Another corps marched along Ludgate Hill and the Strand, while the third proceeded by way of Holborn and Covent Garden. When united again in Westminster, the crowd was so great that the members could scarce get to their respective Houses. All Old Palace Yard, New Palace Yard, and the streets adjoining quite as far as Westminster Bridge, were filled with these poor petitioners, besides multitudes of others that were in the park. Before them, in their march, flags of various colours were borne by the women, particularly a French silk handkerchief, with a golden border on it and a cross of gold in the middle, a large piece of French spotted silk, said to have been procured from the shop of a mercer in town, and three or four pieces of French lace, &c., &c. The men wore red cockades and shreds of silk in their hats. In Westminster they stopped the carriages of the members as they went to the House, praying them to take pity on the poor weavers, but behaved in all other respects with the greatest good order. To prevent any tumult, however, the first troop of Horse Guards, with a party of Horse Grenadiers and three companies of Foot Guards, drew up before Westminster, and cleared a way to the House for the members, about two p.m. The Lords sent out to the weavers to tell them next session every possible endeavour should be made to redress their grievances, but that further consideration till then was impossible, which was somewhat cold comfort, it must be allowed. This not satisfying them, the weavers remained till four p.m., when their leaders pacified them and persuaded them to disperse. In the mean time Sir John Fielding, the third justice, and a relation of the novelist, had waited at the new Guildhall, where 400 weavers had held a conference with their masters and the mercers, the latter of whom had promised to immediately recall all their contracts for foreign silks, and set the Spittlefields weavers immediately to work. But the more riotous spirits were not to be drawn off by mere promises, and trusted more to the sometimes salutary effects of fear. They threatened to get the watermen to These riots were succeeded by others still more dangerous join them, and pulled down the stone posts and part of the in 1767, when the "cutters," as they were called, broke wall before the obnoxious Duke of Bedford's house, into houses, cut the work off the looms, and shot several Bloomsbury Square, besides ploughing up the ground in persons who attempted to hinder them. There were also the centre of the square. They then tore up the pavement, disturbances of the same kind in 1768 and '69, the rioters and pelted the Horse Guards who rode against them. Many occasionally killing a soldier and resisting all attempts to soldiers were wounded, and several of the weavers trampled down. A party of horse that night guarded Mr. Carr's put them down. On December 6, 1769, two rioters were, house, and parties of the Guards patroled Moorfields to the rage of the weavers, hung at Bethnal Green. and Spittlefields, where the mob had been breaking the windows of all master weavers known to have French silk in stock." The next morning the Guards, attended by a great number "The same morning a large detachment of the Foot Guards, joined by a party of horse Grenadier Guards, were drawn up under arms in St. James's Park, to prevent any riots or obstructions to the members or peers passing or repassing to and from the house, but everything continued in perfect tranquillity. "Parties of horse and foot continue still to do duty in Bloomsbury Square, and soldiers are quartered in all the public-houses in Spittlefields and parts adjacent. "This week, a number of printed handbills, setting forth the miserable situation of the poor journeymen weavers, from the great encouragement of French silks in this kingdom, were thrown into the carriages of the principal nobility and gentry at the west end of the town." After this the weavers either resigned themselves patiently to their misfortunes or prepared boldly, like true Englishmen, to outdo their rivals in trade, for we hear little more of any open disturbance. (To be continued.) |