England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Great Britain -- History -- William IV, 1830-1837
A similar attack on the vicarage was repelled. At Shaw Lodge, the
residence of Mr. J. Holdsworth, the mob entered the house, and
demolished all before them. At the Field, Mr. J. Staveley's house was
attacked and entered, and all the furniture, pictures, etc., were
smashed, as well as the windows and window frames of the house and
warehouse adjoining. Many other houses were attacked and received
different degrees of damage, and the mob did not disperse till the
arrival of a troop of lancers.
In Scotland, serious rioting took place at Jedburgh and Hawick,
polling places for the County of Selkirk, when Captain Elliot, the
ministerial candidate, was defeated by Lord John Scott. On the morning
of January 17th, the second day of polling, the Jedburgh mob, having
learned the probable success of the Conservative candidate, began to
assume a surly aspect. Lord John Scott, on making his appearance, was
loudly hissed; and, when leaving the town, a few ruffians assaulted
him, by throwing pieces of ice, etc., but, fortunately, without doing
him any injury. In the afternoon, when the certain defeat of Captain
Elliot's party became evident, symptoms of restlessness were displayed
by a great part of the crowd, and several voters and others, in the
interest of his lordship, could only with great difficulty reach the
polling place; later in the evening the conduct of many of those
assembled became more outrageous, and several of the friends of Lord
John Scott were struck and abused by the mob; but the streets were
quiet at night.
At Hawick, the mob was much more riotous. On the 16th, the first day
of polling, notwithstanding the strong constabulary force sworn in for
the occasion, the crowd got very noisy, and used every sort of
annoyance to the voters for Lord John Scott, such as pushing,
spitting, throwing stones and snowballs, and tearing clothes, etc.,
while they cheered the voters for Captain Elliot. As the day advanced,
the rabble got worse and worse, insulting and maltreating all voters,
and others friendly to his lordship's cause, in defiance of the
strenuous efforts of the sheriff and a number of the justices of the
peace, the bailies and others. The Sheriff ultimately found it
necessary to read the Riot Act.
On closing the poll for the day, the mob surrounded the Tower Inn
(where Lord John's voters were), and, whenever any person attempted to
leave the inn to go home, he was immediately attacked and abused; in
consequence of which a great number were compelled to remain at the
inn during the night. The doors of the inn were frequently attempted
to be forced open, most of the windows were broken; and, in the course
of the night, the windows of the houses of many of the inhabitants
were riddled with stones. An additional number of constables were
sworn in on Saturday.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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