What were the leading radical events of the time and how did the government react to them? (Liverpool)

Question 1

When did the Luddite Riots occur?

Answer 1

• 1811 - 1817

Question 2

What happened in the Luddite Riots?

Answer 2

• peaked in 1812
• english workers destroyed machinery as it threatened their jobs
• specifically textile workers

Question 3

What was the government’s response to the Luddite riots?

Answer 3

• government deployed thousands of troops to settle the uprising
• many more rioters were arrested and sent to australia
• in 1812: Frame Breaking Act
• 1813: 17 people were executed

Question 4

What was the 1812 Frame Breaking act?

Answer 4

aimed at increasing the penalties for Luddite behaviour in order to discourage it

Question 5

When did the Spa Field riots happen?

Answer 5

2 December 1816

Question 6

What happened in the Spa Field Riots?

Answer 6

• rioters aimed to go to the Prince Regent’s house and deliver demands for parliamentary reform
• Henry Hunt was supposed to be the leader but was delayed by a gov agent
• rioters broke windows, had a tri-coloured flag, mirroring the storming of bastille/ french rev

Question 7

How did the government respond to the Spa Field Riots?

Answer 7

• gov used riot as an excuse to not deal with radicalism
• main leaders of riot eventually acquitted
  - gov had to backdown due to use of agents
  - public sympathy for ringleaders pressured
  gov

Question 8

What did the Spa Field Riots mark the beginning of?

Answer 8

mass anti-government meetings

Question 9

When did the Blanketeers happen?

Answer 9

March 1817

Question 10

What happened with the Blanketeers?

Answer 10

• protest about economic hardships in weaving industry
• dressed in blankets from Lancashire to London
• originally 5000, only 1 arrived into London

Question 11

How did the government respond to the Blanketeers?

Answer 11

• deployed troops to prevent the march to London
• influenced the Six Acts
• demonstrators arrested then released from prison

Question 12

What did the Blanketeers evoke within government?

Answer 12

• fear of radicalism amongst the working class

Question 13

When was the Pentrich rising?

Answer 13

• 9th-10th June 1817

Question 14

What happened in the Pentrich rising?

Answer 14

• armed men, no clear strategy
• aimed to overthrow the gov and remove national debt
• aimed to shoot ministers
• marched through the streets

Question 15

What was the government’s response to the Pentrich Rising?

Answer 15

• stopped by a gov spy
• 3 leaders were hanged and beheaded
• Habeas Corpus suspended
• 45 tried for high treason
• many sentenced to transportation

Question 16

When did the Peterloo Massacre occur?

Answer 16

• 16th August 1819

Question 17

What happened during the Peterloo Massacre?

Answer 17

• in St Peter’s Fields, Manchester
• culmination of a series of political rallies
• led by Henry Hunt
• 60,000 attended
• magistrates alarmed by the size and ordered local militia to arrest protesters
• militia used violence
• 500 injured
• 18 killed

Question 18

What was the government’s response to the Peterloo Massacre?

Answer 18

• short term: 1819 six acts
• Liverpool justified this reactionary response by blaming the rioters when it wasn’t true
• Hunt arrested for two years
• long term: paved the way for the 1832 reform act, which gave parliamentary reform by expanding the franchise and getting rid of rotten boroughs

Question 19

What is Henry Hunt’s nickname? Why?

Answer 19

• the ‘orator’
• known for his speeches on universal suffrage

Question 20

When was the Cato Street Conspiracy?

Answer 20

23rd February 1820

Question 21

What happened during the Cato Street Conspiracy?

Answer 21

• plot to assassinate the cabinet and PM
• aimed to start a revolution
• 5 main leaders and 27 conspirators
• due to previous political uprisings and the gov’s response

Question 22

What was the government’s response to the Cato Street Conspiracy?

Answer 22

• prevented by government agents
• plotters were captured
• 5 sentenced to death
• 5 transported for life