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III. The Yorkshire Association, 1780–4: a Study in Political Organization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Ian R. Christie
Ian R. Christie
Affiliation:
University College, London
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Extract

The Yorkshire Association of the early 1780's marked the first effective extension of modern political radicalism in Great Britain from the metropolitan region into the provinces. During what may for convenience be described as the first—the Wilkite—phase of British radicalism, in the early 1770's, the focus of the radical movement had lain in and around London. Attempts to stir up the country provoked only a brief response in a very few constituencies. There was little trace anywhere of sustained radical activity. Provincial apathy at the general election of 1774 caused acute disappointment to the metropolitan radicals. Six years later the situation had changed remarkably, and from 1780 till 1784 politics in Yorkshire were dominated, and in the rest of England considerably affected, by that remarkable political phenomenon, the Yorkshire Association. Starting in December 1779, an extraordinary, widespread upsurge of discontent among the members of the ‘upper class’ in the county, provoked by the North ministry's inept handling of the American crisis, first produced the well-supported petition of 1780 for economical reform, and was then channelled and organized into an instrument of agitation for reform of the parliamentary system. The association proper came into being between its adoption at a county meeting on 28 March 1780 and the middle of the following August, when the parchment copies which had been circulated for signature were gathered in and the roll of some 5800 names was compiled from them.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , June 1960 , pp. 144 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1960

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References

1 Sutherland, Lucy S., The City of London and the Opposition to Government, 1768–1774 (1959), passim.Google Scholar

2 Catherine Macaulay, An Address to the People of England, Scotland, and Ireland...(1775), 3–4.Google Scholar

3 The Roll of the Association, York City Library.

4 York City Library MSS., M. 25 and M. 32. I am grateful to the York City Council for permission to make use of this material, and to the Librarian and staff of the York City Library for their helpfulness when I was reading this and other material in their custody.

5 C. Wyvill, Political Papers, chiefly respecting the Attempt of the County of York and other Considerable Districts...to effect a Reformation of the Parliament of Great Britain (6 vols. (1794–1808)), cited below as Wyvill.

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18 The rolls of the petitions of 1780 and 1783, in the York City Library, contain lists of the canvassers and their returns from each district. That for 1783 was printed by Wyvill (Political Papers, II, 249—51). There were at least a few omissions, as one or two more names can be added from the surviving correspondence. The names of the leading canvassers for the association itself during the spring and summer of 1780 are recorded on the parchment returns of signatures (York City Library MSS., M. 32). The known canvassers numbered, in January 1780, sixty-seven, in the spring and summer, fifty-six, and in January 1783, eighty-five. A few of the most active members of the committee did not engage in canvassing. These men were mostly resident in York and presumably lacked the necessary local ‘interest’ and contacts.

19 Alexander Wedderburn to William Eden, n.d. [mid-Dec. 1779], John Robinson to Eden, 23 Dec. 1779 (B[ritish] M[useum] Add. MSS. 34416, fos. 510, 489).

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28 Ibid, 1, 51.

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30 Wyvill, I, 167.

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35 Gray's endorsement on Milnes's letter.

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37 Richard Wilson to Graves and Gray, 3 Feb. 1780.

38 The point alluded to in Ward's letter is explained on pp. 158–9 below.

39 Francis Peirson to Wyvill, 29 Mar., Sir Robert Hildyard to Gray, 2 Apr. 1780.

40 9 Jan. 1783.

41 To Gray, 21 Jan., 2 Feb. 1783.

42 9 Jan. 1780.

43 Col. Barnard Foord to William Withers, 24 Jan. 1783.

44 23 Jan. 1780.

45 To Gray, n.d. [rec. 10 Apr.] and 10 July 1780.

46 Wyvill to Gray, 6, 12 Mar., and n.d. [June] 1783.

47 Wyvill to Gray, 6 Dec. 1783, 13 Dec. 1784.

48 Wyvill to Gray, 12, 14, 19, 24 Nov. 1782, 13 Dec. 1784, 7 Jan. 1785.

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52 Ibid.

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54 To [?] Gray, 25 Apr. 1780.

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57 Ibid. 1, 281.

58 Ibid, 111, 201.

59 York Chronicle, 8 Sept. 1780. Cf. Savile's election address, Wyvill, 1, 282.

60 By late 1781 only six other counties had associations on the Yorkshire model, and two others had associations pledged to economical reform only (Wyvill, 1, 381—3). In Cambridgeshire subscription to an association was begun but produced only forty names (B.M. Add. MSS. 35681, fo. 413). Lack of support for the movement in the country as a whole is also evident from comments by Savile in the autumn of 1780 (Wyvill, in, 236—9, 270—1)