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The 1842 “Plug Plot” in Stockport*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2008
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The origins and nature of the strike movement which affected the manufacturing districts of England during the summer of 1842 have been subject to a variety of interpretations. The very use of the term “Plug Plot” suggests some sinister motivation, and certainly belief in the existence of a conspiracy became widespread as the strike proceeded. According to the Manchester Guardian
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- Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1979
References
1 Manchester Guardian, 13 August.
2 Northern Star, 13 August.
3 For example, see Read, D., “Chartism in Manchester”, in: Chartist Studies, ed. by Briggs, Asa (London, 1959), pp. 54Google Scholar; Pelling, H., A History of British Trade Unionism (Har-mondsworth, 1963), pp. 43Google Scholar; Ward, J. T., Chartism (London, 1973), pp. 162–63.Google Scholar
4 Hobsbawm, E. J., “The Machine Breakers”, in: Labouring Men (London, 1964), pp. 8–10Google Scholar, 19, note.
5 “Anti-Corn-Law Agitation”, in: Quarterly Review, LXXI (1842)Google Scholar, passim. This article attempts to place responsibility for the strike upon the League. It also describes the activities of some individual members, including George Southam of Ashton.
6 Ward, Chartism, op. cit., pp. 164–65.
7 Rudé, G., The Crowd in History: A Study of Popular Disturbances in France and England, 1730–1848 (New York, 1964), pp. 185.Google Scholar
8 Reid, C. A. N., “The Chartist Movement in Stockport” (M.A. thesis, Hull, 1976), pp. 1–74Google Scholar, passim. No adequate study of the pre-Chartist labour movement in Stockport has been published, but fragmentary references can be found in a great variety of manuscripts, Parliamentary Papers, pamphlets and newspapers. For the post-1822 period, the best source is the weekly Stockport Advertiser. However, several important aspects of the subject are considered in Unwin, G., Samuel Oldknow and the Arkwrights (Manchester, 1924)Google Scholar; Rose, A., “Early Cotton Riots in Lancashire 1769–1779”, in: Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, LXXIII and LXXIV (1963–1964)Google Scholar; Aspinall, A., The Early English Trade Unions (London, 1949)Google Scholar; Bythell, D., The Handloom Weavers (Cambridge, 1969)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Read, D., “Lancashire Hampden Clubs”, in: Manchester Review, Autumn 1957Google Scholar; Read, D., Peterloo, the Massacre and its Background (Manchester, 1958)Google Scholar; Walmsley, R., Peterloo: the case re-opened (Manchester, 1969).Google Scholar
9 Stockport Advertiser, 18 December 1835.
10 Reid, “The Chartist Movement in Stockport”, op. cit., pp. 148–69. For details of Chartist activities during 1839 see Anon., A Report of a Trial of Chartists, (The majority inhabitants of Stockport) For Conspiracy and Sedition, including that of the Rev. Stephens, J. R., of Ash ton (Stockport, n.d. [1839])Google Scholar, passim. On 29 July 1839 police searched the homes of the leading local Chartists, where they found a collection of arms and ammunition. James Mitchell and Charles Davies were subsequently sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment, at Chester Assizes in August, on a charge of conspiracy. Isaac Armitage junior, John Wright, James Burton, George Wareham and Thomas Howarth, who traversed to the 1840 Spring Assizes, all received one year's imprisonment, for having possession of arms for illegal purposes, and for conspiracy. Of these Chartists, only Wright and Richard Pilling, who was acquitted of the same charges in 1840, appear to have been active in the “Plug Plot”.
11 Stockport Advertiser, 6 May.
12 Copy of Evidence taken, and report made by the Assistant Poor Law Commissioners sent to inquire into the State of the Population of Stockport [Parliamentary Papers, 1842, XXXV], passim.
13 Mather, F. C., Public Order in the Age of the Chartists (Manchester, 1959), pp. 67Google Scholar, note, 68.
14 McCord, N., The Anti-Corn Law League 1838–46, 2nd ed. (London, 1968), pp. 121Google Scholar, states that in 1842, out of 59 magistrates in Manchester, Stockport and Bolton, there was hardly one (except the 7 Conservatives) who was not a member of the Anti-Corn-Law Association and League.
15 Stockport Advertiser, 5 November 1841.
16 Ibid., 2 July 1841.
17 Northern Star, 7 May.
18 State of the Population of Stockport, op. cit., passim.
19 Ibid., pp. 45, 53.
20 Ibid., pp. 44, 79.
21 Ibid., pp. 8–14; Stockport Advertiser, 6 and 20 August 1841.
22 Northern Star, 2, 9, 16 and 23 May, 6, 13 and 20 June, 8 and 15 August 1840; Stockport Advertiser, 10 and 17 July 1840.
23 “Anti-Corn Law Agitation”, loc. cit., p. 273. Northern Star, 19 February, claimed that employers were reducing the wages of dressers by as much as 7 shillings.
24 Rose, A. G., “The Plug Riots of 1842 in Lancashire and Cheshire”, in: Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, LXVII (1957), pp. 84–85.Google Scholar For an account of the disturbances in Congleton, see History of Congleton: published to celebrate the 700th Anniversary of the granting of the Charter to the town, ed. by Stephens, W. B. (Manchester, 1970), pp. 94–95.Google Scholar
25 Major Hope to Col. Wemyss, Stockport, 7 August, Home Office Papers 45/269, Public Record Office.
26 Rose, “The Plug Riots”, loc. cit., p. 86.
27 The Trial of Feargus O'Connor, Esq., (Barrister at Law,) and fifty-eight others, at Lancaster, on a charge of sedition, conspiracy, tumult, and riot (London, 1843), pp. 3, 13, 17–19, 280–81Google Scholar; State Trials, New Series, IV: 1839–43 (London, 1892), c. 1102.Google Scholar For biographical details of Pilling and Challenger, see Reid, , “The Chartist Movement in Stockport”, pp. 427–28, 470–74.Google Scholar
28 The Trial of Feargus O'Connor, pp. 252–53.
29 Ibid., p. 332; Manchester Guardian, 17 August.
30 Ibid., pp. 20, 27.
31 Ibid., p. 20.
32 Stockport Advertiser, 12 August.
33 The Trial of Feargus O'Connor, pp. 63–66; Rose, , “The Plug Riots”, p. 90Google Scholar; Northern Star, 13 August. Pilling visited Oldham on Saturday 6th, to gain support for a turn-out, see The Trial, p. 74.
34 The Trial, pp. 21, 74, 100; Manchester Guardian and Northern Star, 13 August.
35 Ibid., p. 21.
36 “Anti-Corn Law Agitation”, p. 294; Northern Star, 8 October.
37 Report of Stockport Chartist meeting, addressed to Mr Sadler, 2 June, Stockport Chartist Papers, Library of Local Studies, Archives Collection, Stockport Central Library (hereafter SCP).
38 W. Nelstrop to Sir James Graham, Stockport, 10 August, HO 45/242; Maj. Gen. Warre to S. M. Phillipps, Manchester, 10 August, HO 45/268; E. J. Lloyd to W. Nelstrop, Warren Bulkeley Arms (Stockport), 11 August; Lord Stamford to Mayor of Stockport, Dunham Massey, 10 August; H. Manners Sutton to Mayor of Stockport, Whitehall, 11 August, SCP.
39 Report of meeting of Stockport Borough Magistrates, 9 August, SCP. These reports appear on separate sheets of paper, and with slight variations in headings. However, they will hereafter be cited as Magistrates' meeting.
40 Magistrates' meeting, 11 August; Stockport Advertiser, 12 August; Manchester Guardian, 13 August. For details of the attack on Bradshaw's mill, see The Trial of Feargus O'Connor, p. 89, evidence of James Bradshaw. Gammage, R. G., History of the Chartist Movement 1837–1854, 2nd ed. (1894; facsimile reprint 1969)Google Scholar, wrongly cites this event as taking place on 16 August. See also HO 45/242, deposition of James Bradshaw.
41 Manchester Guardian, 13 August.
42 Magistrates' meeting, 11 August; The Trial of Feargus O'Connor, pp. 41–42, 45–46; Manchester Guardian, 13 August.
43 The Trial of Feargus O'Connor, pp. 53–55.
44 Stockport Advertiser, 16 and 30 September. See also letter to Mayor and magistrates of Stockport from Hadfield and others, prisoners in Chester Castle, 13 August, SCP.
45 Stockport Advertiser, 16, 23 and 30 September, 7 October.
46 Northern Star, 15 October.
47 James Bradshaw was frequently advised against offering resistance to the strikers, on the grounds that, by so doing, he would only encourage violence. See his deposition HO 45/242.
48 Manchester Guardian, 24 August.
49 Ibid., 27 August.
50 For example, see “Anti-Corn Law Agitation”, passim.
51 Magistrates' meeting, 12 August; Samuel Forster to Mayor of Stockport, Stockport, 12 August, SCP; Mayor of Macclesfield to H. O. Macclesfield, 12 August, HO 45/242; Manchester Guardian, 13 August.
52 Manchester Guardian, 17 August. The matter of authorization to firms to continue working during the strike was later investigated by the Home Office. See H. Manners Sutton to W. and J. Bradshaw, Whitehall, 8 September, HO 41/17; also HO 45/242, deposition of Charles Poppleton.
53 Northern Star, 13 August.
54 For biographical information on Allinson and Carter, see Dictionary of Labour Biography, ed. by Bellamy, J. M. and Saville, J., II (1974), pp. 10–11, 93–94.Google Scholar For Wright see Reid, , “The Chartist Movement in Stockport”, pp. 498–99.Google Scholar Wright was a spinner who had been active in the Stockport Chartist movement since 1838. He was arrested and imprisoned as a result of his Chartist activities in the summer of 1839. In 1841 he took part in attempts to extend the Chartist movement to Ireland. During the “Plug Plot” Wright was elected as a delegate to the Manchester Trades Conference and, as chairman of the Stockport Chartists' committee, he also signed “licences”, giving sanction to some operatives to continue working through the strike. Although arrested, he did not appear among the defendants at the Chartist trial at Lancaster in 1843. Doyle, a weaver from Manchester, had already served nine months' imprisonment for Chartist activities there in 1839. He was tried at Lancaster in March 1843 for his part in the “Plug Plot”, and later became both a member of the National Charter Association executive and a director of the National Land Company. See The Trial of Feargus O'Connor, pp. 266–71; Ward, Chartism, pp. 132, 137, 171–72, 174–75, 179, 181, 183, 193, 195,204,206–07, 219, 222, 225, 228, 237; Hadfield, A. M., The Chartist Land Company (Newton Abbot, 1970), pp. 18, 21, 25, 33, 42–43, 70, 72, 76–77, 91, 102, 104, 108–10, 127, 130, 154–57, 188, 190–93, 207–08, 210.Google Scholar
55 Stockport Advertiser, 19 August; Report of Meeting on Waterloo (ground), (Stockport) 13 August, SCP.
56 Stockport Advertiser, 19 August; H. Manners Sutton to Mayor of Stockport, Whitehall, 13 August; Major Hope to Mayor of Stockport, (Stockport) Barracks, 13 August; Jonathan Thornhill to Capt. Lloyd, Stockport, 13 August 1842; Jonathan Thornhill to Major Hope, Stockport, 13 August, SCP.
57 One of these placards is preserved in HO 45/242.
58 Wearmouth, R. F., Methodism and the Working-Class Movements of England 1800–1850 (London, 1937), pp. 138–42Google Scholar, passim.
59 Stockport Advertiser, 19 August. Despite the spelling “Leech” on the placard, the speaker was indeed James Leach, a Manchester Chartist who was becoming increasingly prominent in the national movement, see Read, “Chartism in Manchester”, loc. cit., pp. 50, 52, 56. Identities can easily be confused, for also active in Stockport was John Leach, a tailor from Hyde, who claimed to have led the people up to the workhouse on 11 August, see The Trial of Feargus O'Connor, p. 30; Joseph Hibbert to Messrs Coppock and Woollam, Solicitors, Hyde, 15 August; J. Little to J. Sadler (Chief Superintendent of Police, Stockport), Hyde, 21 August 1842, SCP. The last refers to John Leach as “the Chartist speaker”.
60 Royal Proclamation, 13 August, SCP.
61 S. M. Phillipps to Magistrates for Division of Stockport, 23 November; id. to Thos. Mather, Heaton Lane, Stockport, Whitehall, 16 December; id. to Thomas Mather, Whitehall, 19 December, HO 41/17.
62 Stockport Advertiser, 19 August.
63 Manchester Guardian, 17 August; Magistrates' meeting, 15 August, SCP. Of the deputation, Weatherhead was an overlooker, Selby a spinner, John Ellison a weaver, and John Newton a stone mason.
64 Report of Meeting at Waterloo Road, 15 August, SCP; The Trial of Feargus O'Connor, pp. 53–55.
65 Stockport Advertiser, 19 August.
66 To the Working Classes of Stockport and its Vicinity, Stockport, August 15, 1842, Printed by James Lomax and Sons, Advertiser-Office, Stockport, SCP.
67 Stockport Advertiser, 19 August. The handloom weavers' delegate at the meeting, Francis Higgins, said: “The fact is, we want those who are better off to assist us in our struggles; because, while they were working, they contributed towards assisting other masters with the means of bringing us down.”
68 Reid, , “The Chartist Movement in Stockport”, p. 233Google Scholar, Table 1. It has been possible to ascertain, with a reasonable degree of accuracy, the occupations of 72 Stockport Chartists. Of these men, 49 were engaged in some capacity in the cotton industry.
69 Stockport Advertiser, 19 August; Public Notice, issued by Stockport Magistrates, 15 August, SCP. The magistrates attempted to end this practice by advising inhabitants that obtaining alms by intimidation consituted a felony, and requesting information which might lead to the apprehension of these parties. Similar notices were issued for Macclesfield and Cheshire, see placards issued by William Adamson, Special High Constable, Macclesfield, 15 August, and E. D. Davenport, High Sheriff of Cheshire, 16 August. See also letter Thomas Stringer, Mayor of Macclesfield, to Mayor of Stockport, Macclesfield, 16 August, SCP.
70 Stockport Advertiser, 19 August.
71 John Murnane to Mayor of Stockport, Stockport Station, 16 August, SCP.
72 Magistrates' meeting, 16 August.
73 Northern Star, 20 August.
74 Manchester Guardian, 20 August.
75 Stockport Advertiser, 19 August, states that the meeting on Friday resolved to adhere to the determination of the Manchester Conference, viz. the Charter, but according to the Manchester Guardian, 20 August, no decision was reached at either meeting. Certainly there ensued no concerted action on behalf of the Charter.
76 Manchester Guardian, 20 August.
77 Ibid. For the magistrates' placard, see Public Notice, Court House, Stockport, 16 August, HO 45/242. A further copy of this placard is contained in SCP.
78 Manchester Guardian, 20 August.
79 Major Hope to unknown, Stockport Barracks, 18 August; H. Manners Sutton to Mayor of Stockport, 20 August, SCP.
80 Placard issued by Mayor of Stockport, 19 August, HO 45/242. A further copy of this placard, together with a manuscript draft, is contained in SCP.
81 Manchester Guardian, 24 August.
82 See Reid, , “The Chartist Movement in Stockport”, pp. 119–47Google Scholar, passim, for details of “physical force” Chartism during 1839.
83 Ibid., pp. 207–09.
84 Stockport Advertiser, 26 August; placard issued by Cotton Spinners and Manufacturers of Stockport, Stockport, 20 August, SCP. For information concerning the proposed march to Stockport, see Harris Sheppard (?) to Mr Billingham, Glossop, 21 August; Edward Appleton, Clerk to Stalybridge Magistrates, to Mayor of Stockport, Stalybridge, 22 August; Thomas Stringer, Mayor of Macclesfield, to Mayor of Stockport, Macclesfield, 22 August, SCP.
85 Manchester Guardian, 24 August.
86 Stockport Advertiser, 26 August.
87 Ibid.
88 Ibid., 2 September.
89 Ibid., 9 September. James Allinson was subsequently sentenced to three months' detention in Knutsford House of Correction. It is not known whether he was related to John Allinson.
90 Lt. Col. Arbuthnot to Military Sec. Manchester, 3 September, HO 45/268.
91 Stockport Advertiser, 16 September.
92 Ibid.
93 Ibid., 23 September.
94 Ibid., 16 September.
95 Northern Star, 24 September.
96 For example, see Mr Sadler's Minutes, SCP. Sadler lists meetings at which prominent local Chartists spoke. There is no record of speakers who advocated the “wages only” movement. See also Mr Beswick to Mr Sadler, Manchester, 21 August, SCP.
97 Magistrates' meeting, 17 August, SCP; Northern Star, 17 September.
98 Northern Star, 24 September.
99 Jos. Hibbert to Messrs Coppock & Woollam, Solicitors, Hyde, 15 August; J. Little to J. Sadler, Chief Constable of Police, Stockport, Hyde, 21 August, SCP.
100 Placard issued by Sir Charles Shaw, Chief Commissioner of the Manchester Police, Town Hall, Manchester, 3 September, SCP. McDouall is described as a surgeon, late of Ramsbottom, near Bury. He was “about 27 years of age, stands about 5ft. 6in. high, inclined to be stout, has long dark hair, swarthy complexion, with high cheek bones, sharp black eyes, whiskers rather lighter than his hair; generally dresses in black; speaks quick, with a Scotch accent.” Not surprisingly, he stood trial at the Lancaster Assizes.
101 The Trial of Feargus O'Connor, passim. Concerning the process by which evidence for the Crown was accumulated, see Tho. Part to Stockport Magistrates, Manchester, 5 September, SCP.
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