The massive growth in the cotton industry in the late 18th to 19th centuries transformed Stockport from a small industrial town into one of the most important manufacturing hubs in the country. New manufacturing processes made it possible for goods to be produced more quickly and in greater quantities than ever before.

Occurring alongside this Industrial Revolution was the development of what E.P Thompson describes as the "political counter-revolution". This was a demand by a rapidly growing working-class population for a "Radical Reform" of the political system. At the time, the whole of Lancashire was represented by only two MPs and the vote was restricted to the minority of the population that owned property. Those who wanted the vote to be extended to ordinary people were described as "Radicals".   

According to Arrowsmith in Stockport: A History, Stockport developed a reputation as "one of the cotton district’s main hotbeds of industrial unrest and political radicalism. The town was the scene of sporadic but at times violent confrontations between the forces of authority and sections of the lower classes striving to improve their economic situation".

The fear of a political revolution at a time when the aristocracy of France were literally losing their heads caused the Government to employ a severely repressive regime designed to stamp out radical thought and expression.

Radical societies were beginning to pop up all over the country, demanding that the right to vote be extended. Among these new societies was the Stockport Friends of Universal Peace and the Rights of Man, which was founded in 1792 by John Andrew and Nathaniel Hibbert.

The society’s declaration, “In the Cause of Liberty”, was printed as a broadside and was sent to the Home Office as evidence of radical activity in Stockport. The declaration points out that "Not one twentieth of the Commons of Great Britain are Electors".

Holland Watson, clerk to Stockport’s Rector-Magistrate ridiculed the Friends with his own notice in the London Evening Mail, saying Hibbert was illiterate and idle; Andrew was a cotton spinner; and that no one belonging to the friends was a person of "respectability".

This letter was countered by the pamphlet A Rod For The Burkites (consisting of remonstrative answers to the objections and invective of the interested, bigoted and misguided inhabitants of Stockport, against the friends of universal peace and the rights of man. By one of the 'Swinish Multitude').

The title mocks conservative politician Edmund Burke who used the phrase “the Swinish Multitude” to describe French Revolutionaries. 

Critics of the radicals often claimed that agitating for political reform would incite the working-classes towards violence and anarchy. In response, the writer of A Rod for the Burkites argues: 

"Again the common assertion is, that it is our wish to inflame the minds of the credulous and ignorant. This we flatly deny, as it would totally defeat our purpose, which is not to blow up inflammation; but to cultivate information. But here again some are weak enough to say what business have the lower classes of men to concern themselves with the conduct of government. We answer, that we have as much right to think and speak respecting the election and appointment of government, as it has a right to demand our money for its support."

Here, the writer argues that the radicals had no interest in a violent overthrow of the Government, but rather sought to gain the vote for ordinary people through education and debate.

EARLY

RADICALISM

The distribution of radical ideas greatly alarmed Prime Minister William Pitt, who feared that the movement for political reform would result in the Government being overthrown.

In 1792 the "Royal Proclamation Against Seditious Writings" aimed to outlaw publications that advocated political reform. Stockport Magistrates held a meeting and swore in seventy special constables to enforce the ban.

Afterwards, the new constables marched to the market place and burned an effigy of Thomas Paine, whose radical work Rights of Man resulted in his being convicted of seditious libel and sentenced to hanging. Paine avoided this sentence by escaping to France.

The Magistrates' measures had the desired effect and in December Watson wrote that "since the last proclamation (Stockport reformers) have changed their tune and have dwindled to nothing, and I fancy we shall hear no more of them".

In response to this renewed support for radical reform, the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act was passed by Parliament in May 1794. This Act allowed the government to detain a person without trial.

The Act was designed to be used when it was determined that "a traitorous and detestable conspiracy has been formed for subverting the existing laws and constitution, and for introducing the system of anarchy and confusion which has so fatally prevailed in France". The Act was immediately used to detain a number of leading reformers across the country, including several Stockport radicals. 

Further repressive Acts were passed in 1795: The "Treasonable and Seditious Practices Act", which redefined treason as including criticism of the King or his Government; and the "Seditious Meetings Act", which restricted public meetings to 50 persons. Known collectively as the "Gagging Acts", these measures were regarded as a tyrannical abuse of Governmental power by the radicals. A Stockport meeting against the Acts on 8th December was dispersed by the Stockport Loyal Volunteers.

This satiric cartoon depicts a ragged looking man; mouth sealed with a padlock and hands and feet bound in chains. The title ironically describes him as "A Freeborn Englishman, the Admiration of the World, the Envy of Surrounding Nations; &c &c". 

Liberty suspended! with the Bulwark of the Constitution! 1817. ©Trustees of the British Museum. 

A Rod for the Burkites. Stockport Heritage Library. S/H11 LHR

Portrait of Thomas Paine. 1791. ©Trustees of the British Museum.

These are the people all tatter'd and torn. Print made by: George Cruikshank. 1819. ©Trustees of the British Museum.

 A Freeborn Englishman. c.1795. ©Trustees of the British Museum.

A Radical Reformer, - (ie) a Neck or nothing man! Dedicated to the Heads of the nation. 1819. ©Trustees of the British Museum.  

Nevertheless, there continued to be small outbreaks of reformist activity in Stockport. In 1794, "Rights of Swine, An Address to the Poor" was published. Written by "A Friend Of the Poor", the pamphlet addressed the poverty of the hand-loom weavers in Stockport:

"Hard indeed must be the heart which is unaffected with the present distress experienced by the Poor in general in this commercial nation.

The present want of bread amongst the Poor is not owing to the want of grain in the world, but owing to the price of it being excessively above the price of labour.

Awake! Arise! arm yourselves - with Truth, Justice and Reason - lay siege to Corruption; and your unity and invincibility shall teach your Oppressors terrible things."

The hand-loom weavers had suffered a drop in wages of 50-60% since 1792 and the continuing high price of wheat led to widespread starvation in the district. 

The indifference of the Government in response to this crisis caused the working-classes to be increasingly persuaded to believe that their conditions could only be improved by gaining the right to vote.

 “In the Cause of Liberty”, 1792. HO 42/21. National Archives.

In 1798, fears of a French invasion and the increasing disaffection of the manufacturing classes led to "Pitt’s Reign of Terror"; an escalation of Pitt's policy of repressing the political activities of radicals in the localities, especially the North of England.

The enforcement of these new measures was the duty of newly empowered local Magistrates, Clerical Magistrates, Justices of the Peace and Police Officials. Under the command of Lord Sidmouth, the Home Office assembled an army of spies and informants to keep check on suspected radicals. Those who supported the Government in their crackdown on reformers were known as Loyalists. 

This cartoon makes fun of the establishment's fear of a revolution. It depicts the "Heads of the Nation" fleeing a comically monstrous guillotine, as used in the French Revolution for beheading members of the old Ancien Régime. The Prince Regent on the far right exclaims "Oh! My Wig's off!!" while the Chancellor Eldon answers: "Never mind, so long as your head's on!".

Resources

E.P. Thompson. The Making of the English Working Class, 1980.

Peter Arrowsmith. Stockport: A History, 1997.

Malcolm Bee. Industrial Revolution and Social Reform in the Manchester Region, 1997.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/british_french_rev_01.shtml

http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/british/c_gagging.html