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Popular Festivity and Consumer Protest: Food Price Disturbances in the Southwest and Oxfordshire in 1867

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2014

Robert D. Storch
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Extract

This article will explore the interplay between a traditional fête in Devon and Oxfordshire, the celebration of the Fifth of November, and the last significant wave of English food price disturbances in 1867. Both popular culture and collective action mutated, of course, as underlying economic and social structures changed; but even in those regions where the pace of change was rapid, to neglect the factors of persistence and survival would lead to a history written according to a too simplistic formula. To say that culture and collective action changed in the nineteenth century as society and the economy changed can even become a truism, telling little about the processes through which these relationships worked themselves out. Without overdrawing the case, an effort has been made here to focus precisely upon persistence and survival, and to show how, in regions such as the southwest or Oxfordshire—and by implication, many other regions of Britain as well—the pace of nineteenth century cultural, economic, and social change was more leisurely than studies based exclusively on the industrializing north might lead one to conclude.

Besides remaining the celebration of the failure of the Popish Plot of 1605, Guy Fawkes acquired a number of new meanings for those involved in nineteenth century Fifth of November manifestations, and some other novel “uses” as well. Annual celebrations all over the south were frequently organized and mounted by secret or semi-secret societies of “bonfire boys” or “Guys.” Members of the bonfire gangs usually concealed their identities with masks or soot and appeared in uniform or grotesque costumes to preside over the collection of wood and other combustibles, the begging or extortion of money from the wealthy, and the fabrication of suitable effigies to be ritually consumed on the bonfire.

Type
Research Article
Information
Albion , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , Winter 1982 , pp. 209 - 234
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference on British Studies 1982

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References

1 Some relevant recent literature is my “Persistence and Change in Nineteenth-century Popular Culture,” in Storch, Robert D., ed., Popular Culture and Custom in Nineteenth-Century England (London and New York, 1982), pp. 1–19Google Scholar; John Walton and Robert Poole, “The Lancashire Wakes in the Nineteenth Century,” ibid., pp. 100-124; Cunningham, Hugh, Leisure in the Industrial Revolution (London, 1980), pp. 57–75Google Scholar and passim; Joyce, Patrick, Work, Society and Politics: The Culture of the Factory in Later Victorian England (Brighton, 1980)Google Scholar, on industrial change and popular culture in Lancashire; Jones, Gareth Stedman, “Working-Class Culture and Working-Class Politics in London, 1870-1900; Notes on the Remaking of a Working Class,” Journal of Social History 7, 4(1974): 460–508CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Sider, Gerald M., “The Ties That Bind: Culture and Agriculture, Property and Propriety in the Newfoundland Village Fishery,” Social History 5,1(1980): 1–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Reid, Douglas A., “The Decline of Saint Monday 1766-1876,” Past and Present 71 (1976): 76–101CrossRefGoogle Scholar. A useful corrective to the Manchester-centric view is Samuel, Raphael, “Workshop of the World: Steam Power and Hand Technology in mid-Victorian Britain,” History Workshop Journal 3 (1977): 7–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 On the organization and uses of Guy Fawkes manifestations in the nineteenth century see my essay “‘Please to Remember the Fifth of November:’ Conflict, Solidarity and Public Order in Southern England, 1815-1900,” in Storch, R.D., ed., Popular Culture and Custom, pp 71–99Google Scholar. See also Swift, Roger, “Guy Fawkes Celebrations in Victorian Exeter,” History Today 31 (November 1981): 5–9Google Scholar; Etherington, James, “The Lewes Bonfire Riots of 1847,” Sussex History 1, 6(1978): 2–16Google Scholar; Beckett, Arthur “Lewes Gunpowder Celebrations,” Sussex County Magazine 2 (1928): 488–495Google Scholar, cf. Bezucha, Robert J., “Mask of Revolution: A Study of Popular Culture During the Second French Republic,” in Price, Roger, ed., Revolution and Reaction: 1848 and the Second French Republic (london, 1975), pp. 236–253.Google Scholar

3 Burnett, John, A History of the Cost of Living (Harmondsworth, 1969), p. 256Google Scholar; cf. Armstrong, W.A., “The Workfolk,” in Mingay, G.E., ed., The Victorian Countryside, 2 vols. (London, 1981), 2: 491–505.Google Scholar

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5 The Times, November 7, 1867.

6 “The Crops of 1879,” Journal of Royal Statistical Society 42, 4 (December, 1879): 814 (table).Google Scholar

7 Caird, James, “On the Agricultural Statistics of the United Kingdom,” Journal of Statistical Society of London 31, 2 (June, 1868): 134CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Caird's figures showed an overall rise in the price of the London loaf of 61% between 1864 and the spring of 1868.

8 Based on Board of Trade statistics reported in the “Quarterly Returns” in Journal of Statistical Society of London 29,4 (December, 1866): 32, 1 (March, 1869).Google Scholar

9 Oxford price movements traced in Jackson's Oxford Journal, January 5, 1867-November 16, 1867.

10 On November 5, 1867 the Exeter Corporation of the Poor accepted a tender of 7½d. the loaf, up a penny since March 1867, and destined to rise to 8d. by March 1868. The contract price in Lambeth in 1867 was 6d., in Birmingham 5 ½d. 7 ½d., and 4 ½d. - 5 ½d. in Bury St. Edmunds. Oxford bakers were selling in quantity to the colleges for 7 ½d. the loaf in November 1867. See Newton, , Victorian Exeter, p. 156Google Scholar; Western Times, November 1, 6, 1867; Exeter Gazette and Daily Telegram, November 4, 1867; The Times, November 6, 1867; Jackson's Oxford Journal, November 16, 1867.

11 Western Times, November 6, 1867.

12 Torquay Directory and South Devon Journal (Supplement), November 13, 1867. This phenomenon was no novelty. In the disturbances of 1800-1801 an informant remarked on “the secret good wishes of the middle sort of people” who hoped the riots would “help them to a reduction of prices.” See Wells, Roger, “The Revolt of the South-West, 1800-1801: a study in English Popular Protest,” Social History 6 (October, 1977): 721.Google Scholar

13 Western Times, November 11, 1867. Elsewhere in Devon the loaf dropped to 6 ½d. Thus the popularly defined “fair price”—the price at which disturbances could be headed off, stopped, or prevented from being renewed—ranged from 6 ½d. - 7 ½d. in the fall of 1867.

14 Wells, , “The Revolt of the South-West, pp. 713–744Google Scholar; Shelton, Walter J., English Hunger and Industrial Disorders (London, 1973)Google Scholar; Stevenson, John, Popular Disturbances in England, 1700-1870 (London, 1979), pp. 91–112Google Scholar; Swift, Roger E., “Food Riots in Mid-Victorian Exeter, 1847-67,” Southern History 2(1980): 101–127.Google Scholar

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16 Western Times, November 1, 1867.

17 Teignmouth Gazette, November 6, 1867, Exeter Gazette and Daily Telegram, November 4, 1967; Trump, Harold J., Westcountry Harbour, The Port of Teignmouth (Teignmouth, 1976), p. 114.Google Scholar

18 It was well known in Exeter that prices had dropped in Teignmouth after the riots. Western Times, November 6, 1867.

19 Before 1867 city authorities had no power to do this, jurisdiction over the Cathedral Close being vested in the Dean and Chapter. The adoption of the Health of Towns Act gave the former power to forbid assemblies.

20 My account is based on reports in Western Times, November 5, 6, 1867; Exeter Gazette and Daily Telegram, November 5, 6, 1867; Trewman's Exeter Flying Post, November 6, 1867 and Public Record Office [hereafter cited as PRO] HO 45 0S7992/1. See also Newton, Victorian Exeter, pp. 153-6, Northy, T.J., Illustrated Popular History of Exeter (Exeter, 1886), pp. 133–137Google Scholar, and Swift, , “Food Riots,” pp. 112–117.Google Scholar

21 He took this as proof that Devon riots were being concerted. A more paranoid view was held by Exeter's ex-mayor who thought the riot was “promoted by emissaries from elsewhere,” and, of course, spotted the usual strangers near the crowd dressed as clerks or shopmen. Surely they were Fenians! E.T. Head to Home Secretary, November 15, 1867 in PRO HO 45 0S7992/10.

22 Some of these episodes will be treated below. For Dartmouth, Starcross, and Kenton see Western Times, November 9, 1867. For South Molton see Tiverton Gazette, November 19, 1867. For Ottery St. Mary see Western Times, November 11, 1867. For Collumpton see Tiverton Gazette, November 19, 1867. For Bridport and Lyme Regis see Poole and South Western Herald, November 21, 1867.

23 Account based on Torquay Directory and South Devon Journal, November 13, 1867; Woolmer's Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, November 7, 1867; Depositions at trials of George Wotton, William Strong, and Josiah Chudleigh in Deposition Bundles (loose) for November 1867, Intermediate Quarter Sessions, Devon Record Office (hereafter cited as D.R.O.); Telegram (copy) from Commander Holder of the Coast Guard to Commodore Tarleton, undated, in PRO HO 45 0S7992/8.

24 Account based on Woolmer's Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, November 7, 9, 11, 1867; Western Times, November 7, 1867; Depositions of J. Zeally, G. Beer, B. Thomas, and H. Copplestone in Deposition Bundles for Quarter Sessions, D.R.O. Those reported to be the organizers—men with masks or blackened faces—were surely the local bonfire society.

25 Croslegh, Charles, Bradninch (London, 1911), pp. 349–350Google Scholar; Western Times, November 7, 1867; Tiverton Gazette, November 12, 1867; P.C.'s deposition in Deposition Bundles for Quarter Sessions, D.R.O.

26 Delderfield, Eric R., Exmouth Milestones (Exmouth, 1948), pp. 53–54Google Scholar; First Report Childrens' Employment Commission, PP. 1863, p. 256.Google Scholar

27 Robert Axon, one of the arrested leaders, was reported to have had a blackened face and wore a piece of blue guernsey on his head.

28 Account based on Delderfield, , Exmouth Milestones, p. 21Google Scholar; Woolmer's Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, November 7, 8, 1867; Western Times, November 7, 1867; depositions of C. Salter and H. Pengelly in Deposition Bundles for Quarter Sessions, D.R.O.

29 This was the classical Guy Fawkes scenario. The meaning of the mock christening remains opaque. William Pratt, a baker, stated that many who attacked his premises had “masks on and [were] disguised, and some [had] bludgeons. …” Mask and bludgeon were chief elements of bonfire boy attire. Deposition of William Pratt in Deposition Bundles for Quarter Sessions, D.R.O.

30 Deposition of P.C. Westacott in Depositions in Quarter Sessions, accompanying Epiphany Sessions 1868, 3/4B/9C, in D.R.O. Many riots took place on the assumption that prices were lower in other nearby markets.

31 Trewman's Exeter Flying Post, November 13, 1867.

32 It would be interesting to know its words. It had clearly been sung and heard before in Kingsteignton!

33 Woolmer's Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, November 7, 8, 1867; Western Times, November 7, 1867.

34 Woolmer's Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, November 7, 8, 1867; Western Times, November 7, 1867; depositions of J. Cleave, T. Allin, J. Ferris, S. Elston in Depositions in Quarter Sessions, Epiphany 1868, D.R.O.

35 Gardiner, William F., Barnstaple: 1837-1897 (Barnstaple, 1897), pp. 80–88Google Scholar; White's Devon (New York, 1968Google Scholar) [reprint of White, William, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Devonshire (Sheffield, 1850)], pp. 566–574.Google Scholar

36 Was the special attention devoted to miller and corn dealer due to the fact that the port of Barnstaple had long been involved in the coasting trade, exporting, among other things, grain through the Taw estuary?

37 Woolmer's Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, November 11, 1867; Western Times, November 11, 1867; depositions of G. Davey Jr. and J. Sanders in Deposition Bundles for Quarter Sessions, Intermediate Sessions 1867, D.R.O.

38 White's Devon, p. 474.

39 Western Times, November 7, 1867.

40 Ibid., November 6, 1867.

41 Despite the important role played by women, police and magistrate discretion on the spot resulted in few arrests of females, or else quick discharges. Those ultimately tried by no means strictly mirrored the actual composition of the crowds. Although there is much to recommend it—and it is used in this article—caution should be employed when using the well known method of Rudé, George [in, The Crowd in History, 1730-1848 (New York, 1964)]Google Scholar which relies heavily on arrest and trial records. The prominence of women in such episodes was nothing new: see Stevenson, , Popular Disturbances, pp. 101–102Google Scholar; Booth, Alan, “Food Riots in the North-West of England 1790-1801,” Past and Present 77 (1977): 96–99Google ScholarThomis, Malcolm I. and Grimmett, Jennifer, Women in Protest: 1800-1850 (New York, 1982)Google Scholar, contains a chapter on women and the food disturbance, although it could not be consulted for this article.

42 In the past, agricultural laboring populations had never been prominent in food disturbances, except occasionally when actual famine threatened: see Stevenson, , Popular Distrubances, pp. 100–101Google Scholar; Booth, , “Food Riots in the North-West,” p. 99Google Scholar; Wells, , “Revolt of the South-West,” pp. 717, 740–741Google Scholar. In the Honiton lace district in 1867 only Exmouth produced disturbances. Here lawmakers' husbands tended to be seamen, whereas to the east they were usually agricultural laborers.

43 In agricultural regions food rioters had always been drawn predominantly from the industrial and craft populations of small and cathedral towns or industrialized village—from groups more dependent for food supplies on town markets than agricultural workers: see Booth, , “Food Riots in the North-West,” pp. 89–90Google Scholar; Wells, , “Revolt of the South-West,” pp. 721, 740-741, 744Google Scholar; Wells, Roger, Dearth and Distress in Yorkshire 1793-1802 (York, 1977), pp. 7–10Google Scholar. On industry and small scale urban life in the nineteenth century see the essays in section III “Country Towns and Country Industries,” in Mingay, , ed., The Victorian Countryside, 1: 275–363Google Scholar and Mingay, G.E., Rural Life in Victorian England (London, 1977), pp. 7, 107–125.Google Scholar

44 Gilbert, Edmund W., “The Industrialization of Oxford,” Geographical Journal 109, 1–3 (January-March, 1947): 12, 17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

45 Sherwood, William E., Oxford Yesterday. Memoirs of Oxford Seventy Years Ago (Oxford, 1927), p. 9.Google Scholar

46 “Cuthbert Bede, B.A.” [Bradley, Edward], The Further Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green, An Oxford Freshman (London, 1854), pp. 14–25.Google Scholar

47 Sherwood, , Oxford Yesterday, p. 47.Google Scholar

48 Procuratorial Experiences and Observations in the Year 1852, 3 by H. Pritchard, Oxford University Archives, WPT/8/21. Used with permission of T.H. Aston, Keeper of the Archives, Oxford University.

49 Madan, Falconer, Oxford Outside the Guide-Books (Oxford, 1925), p. 30Google Scholar. See also Oxford and Cambridge Undergraduate's Journal, November 4, 1875, November 11, 1880.

50 Oxford Chronicle, November 16, 1867.

51 See above p. 212.

52 Oxford Chronicle, November 16, 1867.

53 Jackson's Oxford Journal, November 16, 1867.

54 Ibid., November 23, 1867.

55 Ibid., November 2, 9, 16, 1867; Oxford Times, November 23, 1867.

56 Jackson's Oxford Journal, November 16, 1867; Oxford Chronicle, November 16, 1867.

57 Manuscript University Police Occurrence Book for October 5, 1867-October 27, 1868, MS. Top. Oxon. b. 161, Bodleian Library, entry for Tuesday night November 5-6,1867. Used with permission of Keeper of Western Manuscripts, Bodleian Library; Oxford Chronicle, November 9, 1867.

58 University Police Occurrence Book, Bodleian Library: entries for Wednesday night November 6-7, 1867 and Thursday night November 7-8, 1867.

59 In 1867 Oxford's police was still unconsolidated. The city force patrolled in the daytime; after six p.m. the university force took responsibility.

60 University Police Occurrence Book, Bodleian Library: entry Saturday night November 9-10, 1867; Oxford Times, November 16, 1867.

61 University Police Occurrence Book, Bodleian Library: entry Sunday night November 10-11, 1867; Jackson's Oxford Journal, November 16, 1867, Oxford Chronicle, November 16, 1867.

62 Account based on Jackson's Oxford Journal. November 16, 1867 and Oxford Chronicle, November 16, 1867.

63 University Police Occurrence Book, Bodleian Library: entry Saturday night November 9-10, 1867; Manuscript Minutes Oxford Police Court, Speedwell House, Oxford: entries for November 12 and Nevember 15, 1867; Jackson's Oxford Journal, November 23, 1867.

64 Oxford Chronicle, December 7, 1867.

65 Oxford Times, November 23, 1867.

66 Swift, “Food Riots,” passim; Jones, Gareth Stedman, Outcast London, A Study of the Relationship Between Classes in Victorian Society (London, 1971), pp. 45-7, 241–8.Google Scholar

67 The Times, January 25, 26, 1867; Richter, Donald, “Public Order and Popular Disturbances in Great Britain 1865-1914,” (Phd. diss., University of Maryland, 1965), pp. 30–1.Google Scholar

68 Reports on Birmingham and Belfast in Leeds Mercury, November 22 and 25, 1867.

69 Weber, Eugen, Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France 1870-1914 (Stanford, 1976), p. 18.Google Scholar

70 Richter, Donald, “Public Order,” pp. 30–31Google Scholar for an 1872 episode in Durham. For an isolated twentieth century outbreak see Coles, Anthony J., “The Moral Economy of the Crowd: Some Twentieth Century Food Riots,” Journal of British Studies 18, 1 (Fall, 1978): 157–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

71 “The Crops of 1879,” pp. 814-815.

72 Tilly, Louise, “The Food Riot as a Form of Political Conflict in France,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 2, 1 (Summer, 1971): 23–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Charles Tilly, “Food Supply and Public Order in Modern Europe,” in idem., ed., The Formation of National States in Western Europe (Princeton, 1975), pp. 386-8.

73 Tilly, , “Food Supply,” p. 386.Google Scholar

74 Thompson, Edward P., “The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century,” Past and Present 50 (1971): 76–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

75 Storch, , “‘Please to Remember the Fifth of November,’” p. 73.Google Scholar