England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Great Britain -- History -- William IV, 1830-1837
Different people take different views as to the observance of a fast
day. Here and in Scotland, it means a day's holiday and excursion by
rail or boat. On this occasion the Political Union of the Working
Classes invited them to assemble in Finsbury Square, where they would
celebrate the fast day with a meal of bread and meat, which would be
provided for them, after which they would perambulate the metropolis
in procession. This attracted the lower classes and the poorer
labouring men, many of whom were in the greatest possible distress and
destitution, and, in spite of a warning proclamation from the Home
Secretary, some twelve thousand or fourteen thousand assembled in the
square by eleven o'clock, and before two there must have been
twenty-five thousand present. But none of the Trades' Unionists had
made their appearance, nor had any of the promised cartloads of
provisions. The mob amused themselves by hooting and pelting the
police with stones and other missiles, and, as there could not have
been less than one thousand to one thousand five hundred police in the
square, besides heavy reinforcements contingent, Commissioner Mayne
gave orders for the square to be cleared, which was soon done, though
not without injury to police and populace. Some abortive attempts at
processions were made, but they were soon dispersed by the police.
All kinds of rumours were abroad among the ignorant poor with regard
to the medical profession and cholera patients. It was said that they
poisoned them or used their bodies for dissection; and on this latter
count there was a serious riot at Paisley, on March 24th. It came
about in this way. As a preparation for the approach of cholera, a new
burial ground had been laid out at Paisley, in which were interred all
of the lowest class who died of that disease. Some boys having
discovered two small shovels and a cord with a hook at its end
concealed beneath a small bridge leading from a country road near the
new burial ground, took them to the town and exhibited them there.
The public mind was so excited by the supposition that those dying of
cholera were being transferred from their graves to the
dissecting-table, that a crowd collected and commenced opening the
graves, in one of the first of which an empty coffin was found. It
must be recollected that at that time "resurrectionism," or
"body-snatching," was in full vogue, to provide subjects for the
dissecting room; that Burke had been hanged at Edinburgh in 1829, and
Bishop at London in 1831, for having committed murder with this
object.
The crowd rapidly increased, and, as more graves were opened, several
were found untenanted. This excited the mob, who began by demolishing
the cemetery fence. The magistrates assembled for the preservation of
the public peace, and it was instantly agreed that a reward of £50
should be offered for the discovery of the offenders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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