Bridport History Society meeting, Thursday 14th December 2.15 for 2.30 at the United Church Hall, East St, Bridport. We welcome Dr Roger Ball, from Bristol, who has been part of a research project into the unrest of 1831 in Dorset and others parts of the country.
‘I fear there will be blood spilt here this evening’: The 1831 reform riots in Dorset
In October 1831, the defeat of the Second Reform Bill in the House of Lords led to a wave of pro-reform public protests and disturbances across Britain. Concurrently in Dorset, a microcosm of the national struggle over electoral reform was being fought out in a county by-election which posed Lord Ashley an anti-reformer against the pro-reform candidate William Ponsonby. In the aftermath of Ashley’s controversial victory, a series of riots began, first in Dorchester followed by Poole, Blandford, and Sherborne in Dorset and Yeovil in Somerset.
This talk examines behavioural patterns in case studies of the latter three events with particular emphasis on the targets of the rioters, who the rioters were and their interactions with the authorities. From this evidence an attempt will be made to understand the motivations of the rioters, the majority of whom were not going to be enfranchised by the Great Reform Act of the following year.
Dr Roger Ball, University of West of England
Local authors will be selling their publications after the meeting, so bring cash along.
