{{Short description|1715 series of riots in England}} [[File:King George I by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt (3).jpg|thumb|King George I by Sir [[Godfrey Kneller]], ''c''. 1714.]] In the spring and summer of 1715 a series of riots occurred in [[England]] in which [[High Church]] mobs attacked over forty [[English Dissenters|Dissenting]] meeting-houses.<ref>Nicholas Rogers, ‘Riot and Popular Jacobitism in Early Hanoverian England’, in Eveline Cruickshanks (ed.), ''Ideology and Conspiracy: Aspects of Jacobitism, 1689-1759'' (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1982), p. 70.</ref><ref>Paul Kleber Monod, ''Jacobitism and the English People, 1688–1788'' (Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 191.</ref> The rioters also protested against the first [[House of Hanover|Hanoverian]] king of [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]], [[George I of Great Britain|George I]] and his new [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] government (the Whigs were associated with the Dissenters).<ref>Rogers, p. 78, p. 81.</ref> The riots occurred on symbolic days: 28 May was George I's birthday, 29 May was the anniversary of [[Charles II of England|Charles II]]'s [[Restoration (England)|Restoration]] and 10 June was the birthday of the [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] Pretender, [[James Francis Edward Stuart]].
==Background== Upon the death in August 1714 of the last [[House of Stuart|Stuart]] monarch, [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]], Georg Ludwig, [[Elector of Hanover]], ascended the throne in accordance with the terms of the [[Act of Settlement 1701]] that excluded Anne's half-brother [[James Francis Edward Stuart]]. After his arrival in Britain in September, George promptly dismissed the [[Tories (British political party)|Tories]] from office and appointed a [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]]-dominated government. His coronation in October led to [[Coronation riots|rioting]] in over twenty towns in England.<ref>Monod, pp. 173-78.</ref> The [[1715 British general election|1715 general election]] was also accompanied by riots and resulted in a Whig majority in the House of Commons and the proscription of the Tories from office, with some former Tory ministers being impeached by the new government.
According to Nicholas Rogers, the High Church clergy of the [[Church of England]] played a role in fomenting discontent: they were "by reputation the progenitors of mob violence" and after George's accession the "high-flying clergy strove desperately to revive the flagging fortunes of their party, mobilising their congregations in defence of the Anglican inheritance and warning them of the dangers of Whig rule".<ref>Rogers, pp. 72–73.</ref> The Whig writer [[Daniel Defoe]] complained that the pulpit had become "a Trumpet of Sedition".<ref>Rogers, p. 72.</ref>
==Riots== The anniversary of Queen Anne's accession day and [[William III of England|William III]]'s death, 8 March, was met in London with bell-ringing, flag-waving and closed shops. On 23 April, the anniversary of Anne's coronation, a mob met at [[Smithfield, London|Snow Hill]] and made a bonfire under a banner depicting Anne and emblazoned with the words: “Imitate her who was so Just and Good, / Both in her Actions and her Royal Word” (the latter may have hinted at her supposed promise to restore James Stuart to the throne). Near St Andrew's, [[Holborn]], the mob burned a picture of William III and broke windows which were not illuminated in celebration. Referring to the 1710 [[Sacheverell riots]], they also proposed "to sing the Second Part of the ''Sacheverell-Tune'' by pulling down [Dissenting] Meeting Houses" but they were persuaded not to do so.<ref>Monod, pp. 180-81.</ref> [[Image:Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Alexis Simon Belle.jpg|thumb|left|James Francis Edward Stuart by [[Alexis Simon Belle]].]] The first riots happened in London during the impeachment trials of Tory politicians. On 29 April the birthday of the Tory peer the [[James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde|Duke of Ormonde]] was riotously celebrated in [[Drury Lane]] and west London.<ref name="Rogers-p76">Rogers, p. 76.</ref>
On George I's birthday, 28 May, there occurred large demonstrations in [[Smithfield, London|Smithfield]], [[Cheapside]] and [[Highgate]], where the Dissenting chapel was attacked.<ref name="Rogers-p76">Rogers, p. 76.</ref> In Smithfield, according to [[Abel Boyer]], "a large mob burnt [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]] (some say [[Benjamin Hoadly|Hoadly]]) in effigy".<ref name="Monod-p181">Monod, p. 181.</ref> In Cheapside the rioters shouted “No Hanoverian, No Presbiterian government”.<ref name="Monod-p181" /> The next day was [[Oak Apple Day|Restoration]] Day and the mob shouted: “A Restoration, a Stewart, High Church and Ormonde”, “A Stewart, a second Restoration” and “No King George, King James the third”. When a coachman called for King James he "was hollowed through the Mob" and supporters of the Whigs had their windows broken.<ref name="Monod-p181" /> In Queen Street a battle occurred between the rioters and the [[trained bands]]. At the [[London Stock Exchange]] the crowd shouted “High Church and the Duke of Ormonde”. [[Stockjobber|Stock jobbing]] was seen as the parasitical and immoral growth from Whig principles.<ref name="Monod-p181" /> When one passer-by shouted “Long live King George” he was beaten up by the mob.<ref name="Monod-p181" />
In [[Oxford]] on 28 May a rumour spread that Queen Anne, [[Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke|Lord Bolingbroke]], Ormonde and [[Henry Sacheverell]] were to be burned in effigy. In response, undergraduates and townsfolk attacked those celebrating George's birthday and broke into the Presbyterian meeting-house and made a bonfire of its pulpit, pews and window, with an effigy of its minister. The mob chanted “An Ormond, an Ormond, a Bolingbroke, ''down with the Roundheads, no Constitutioners'' [members of the Whig Constitutional Club], no Hanover; ''a new Restoration''”. The next day a [[Quakers|Quaker]] and Baptist meeting place was also attacked.<ref>Monod, p. 182.</ref><ref name="Rogers-p76-77">Rogers, pp. 76-77.</ref>
On 10 June Anglican churches in [[Clerkenwell]] and [[St Dunstan-in-the-West]] rang their bells to celebrate James Stuart's birthday, a Dissenting meeting place in [[Blackfriars, London|Blackfriars]] was gutted by the mob, and James's declaration was nailed to the door of the former Dissenting chapel in [[Lincoln's Inn Fields]] (which had been destroyed five years previously during the Sacheverell riots).<ref name="Rogers-p76" /> Similar disturbances on James's birthday occurred at [[Cambridge]], [[Leeds]] and several [[Somersetshire]] villages; in [[Norton St Philip]] near [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] James was proclaimed king.<ref name="Rogers-p76-77" /> At [[Frome]] the mob was reluctantly persuaded not to destroy the local Dissenting chapel.<ref name="Monod-p183">Monod, p. 183.</ref> At [[Marlborough, Wiltshire]] the mob broke into the church and rang the bells, despite objections from the parson.<ref name="Monod-p183" />
In the [[The Midlands, England|Midlands]] in late June and early August, similar riots against Dissenters took place, starting in [[Wolverhampton]] during St. Peter's fair and ending at [[Kingswinford]] in [[Worcestershire]] on 1 August.<ref name="Rogers-p77">Rogers, p. 77.</ref> In Wolverhampton a buckle maker was heard shouting “God damn King George, and the Duke of Marlborough” and a suspected spy was forced by the mob to get on his knees and bless King James III.<ref name="Monod-p191">Monod, p. 191.</ref> Robert Holland of [[Bilston]] urged the mob: “Now boys goe on we will have no King but James the third & he will be here in a month and wee will drive the old Rogue into his Country again to sow Turnipps”.<ref>Monod, pp. 191-192.</ref> Similar expressions of loyalty to James were heard in [[Walsall]] and [[Leek, Staffordshire|Leek]].<ref name="Monod-p192">Monod, p. 192.</ref>
In July, two meeting-houses were attacked in [[Birmingham]]. On Sunday 17 July 1715, a mob attacked a [[English Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] meeting-house in Dark lane, [[Hollywood, Worcestershire|Hollywood]] in [[Wythall|Wythall Parish]], setting fire to the building. Three men were arrested and tried at [[Worcester, England|Worcester]]. Two were convicted of damage to property and sentenced to public whipping. The third, Francis Daulkes, was found guilty of arson, and hanged at [[Red Hill, Worcester]]; his tar-painted body was hung in a cage opposite the chapel he had torched.<ref>A narrative account of the riot at Hollywood is given in Rail, Tony. Sentenced to Hang; Memoirs of Billy Hands, 1768-1853, Sudbury, William Tabb (2026), pp.20-26. Rail speculates that Billy Hands's grandfather would have been present at the riot.</ref> When the Presbyterian chapel was rebuilt, it became known locally as Daulkes’s chapel.<ref>The Birmingham Historian [[William Hutton (historian)|William Hutton]] spelt the chapel’s familiar name phonetically as ‘Dollax’.</ref>
In [[Warrington]] on 10 June bells were rung and the mob shouted “Down with the [[Rump Parliament|Rump]]”. However they were prevented from attacking a Dissenting meeting house.<ref>Monod, pp. 183-185.</ref> In [[Leeds]] a bonfire was made and a man was later indicted for threatening a Dissenting meeting place.<ref name="Monod-p185">Monod, p. 185.</ref>
In [[Manchester]] in early May James Stuart had been proclaimed James III.<ref name="Monod-p183" /> Between 28 May and 23 June there was a spate of rioting, with the [[Cross Street Chapel |Dissenting chapel in Cross Street]] ransacked and destroyed between 1 June and 30 July. The historian [[Paul Monod]] said "[t]his methodical destruction must have passed on to Dissenters the chilling message that the Manchester Jacobite crowd wanted their presence totally extinguished. ... It was a violent call for a return to the [religious] uniformity of Charles II's reign".<ref name="Monod-p185" /> [[Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham|Lord Cobham]]'s dragoons eventually restored order but the rioting had by then spread to [[Monton]] and [[Houghton, Lancashire|Houghton]], where Dissenting chapels were attacked on 13 June. A week later the Dissenting chapels in [[Blackley]], [[Greenacres, Greater Manchester|Greenacres]], [[Failsworth]] and [[Standing]] were attacked and by 25 June the Dissenting chapels in [[Pilkington (ancient township)|Pilkington]] and [[Wigan]] had been attacked.<ref name="Rogers-p77" />
In the West Midlands and Lancashire over thirty Dissenting chapels were attacked.<ref name="Monod-p185" /> In Shrewsbury during the riots a paper was posted:
<blockquote>We Gentlemen of the Loyal Mob of ''Shrewsbury'', do issue out this Proclamation to all Dissenters from the Church of ''England'', of what Kind or Denomination soever, whether Independent, Baptists or Quakers: If you, or any of you, do encourage or suffer any of that damnable Faction called Presbyterians, to assemble themselves amongst you, in any of your Conventicles, at the time of Divine Worship, you may expect to meet with the same that they have been treated with. Given under our Hands and Seals the 11th Day of July 1715. ''God save the King''.<ref name="Monod-p191" /></blockquote>
Paul Monod has said that the hostility shown towards the Dissenters, especially Presbyterians, was astonishing and that "[p]opular Tory rage...centred on religious rather than secular objects – in particular, on the hated meeting-houses".<ref>Monod, p. 191, p. 194.</ref> He argues that plebeian English people were attached to the Church of England because it embodied a myth of unity and they feared Hanoverian–Whig rule would return England to the rule of Puritans between 1649–1660, when the Church of England had been abolished.<ref>Monod, p. 194, p. 176.</ref>
==Aftermath== Around 500 people were arrested for rioting in [[Shropshire]], [[Staffordshire]] and [[Worcestershire]] with around 2,000 people taking part in the riots in these counties with several hundred more in Birmingham.<ref>Monod, pp. 187-88.</ref>
In response to these riots, the new Whig majority passed the [[Riot Act]] to put down disturbances. This law strengthened magistrates powers and allowed Justices of the Peace to disperse demonstrations without fear of prosecution.<ref>Rogers, p. 80.</ref>
In September and early October the government arrested the leading Tories in fear of a Jacobite rising.<ref name="Monod-p192" /> The [[Jacobite rising of 1715]] resulted in failure.
==See also== *[[Coronation riots]]
==Notes== {{reflist|2}}
==References== * Paul Kleber Monod, ''Jacobitism and the English People, 1688-1788'' (Cambridge University Press, 1993). * Nicholas Rogers, ‘Riot and Popular Jacobitism in Early Hanoverian England’, in Eveline Cruickshanks (ed.), ''Ideology and Conspiracy: Aspects of Jacobitism, 1689-1759'' (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1982), pp. 70–88.
{{Jacobitism}} {{Riots in England}}
[[Category:1715 in England]] [[Category:Riots and civil disorder in England]] [[category:18th-century riots in London]] [[Category:Jacobitism]] [[Category:1710s riots]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1715]] [[Category:George I of Great Britain]]