{{Short description|1766 riot over food prices in England}} {{Use British English|date=March 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}} [[File:Jan Siberechts - View of Nottingham from the East.jpg|thumb|[[Nottingham]] in 1695. By 1766 it would have been much more developed.]]
The '''Nottingham cheese riot''', also known as the '''Great Cheese Riot''', started on 2 October 1766 at the city's annual [[Nottingham Goose Fair|Goose Fair]]. Coming at a time of food shortages and rising foodstuff prices in England, violence broke out when city residents attempted to prevent [[Lincolnshire]] merchants taking away [[Nottinghamshire]] cheeses they had bought at the fair. A warehouse, shops and a cargo boat were looted and hundreds of [[cheese wheel]]s were rolled through the streets by angry rioters. Government troops were deployed when the [[List of mayors of Nottingham|mayor of Nottingham]], Robie Swann, was unable to restore control. One man was killed and several wounded as the military opened fire on the rioters. Order was eventually restored after several days of unrest.
== Background ==
The [[Nottingham Goose Fair]] traces its origins back to the [[Calendar of saints|feast]] of [[Matthew the Apostle]], which was first celebrated in [[Nottingham]] during the 11th century. Eventually, the feast became a livestock market where [[Goose|geese]] were traded, and later became associated with [[horse trading]], but by the 18th century it was most closely associated with foodstuffs including cheese, many tons of which were sold at the fair each year.<ref>{{cite news |title=Cheese riots and dragoons: The complete history of Nottingham Goose Fair |url=https://nottstv.com/cheese-riots-and-dragoons-the-complete-history-of-nottingham-goose-fair-2016/ |access-date=10 September 2020 |work=Notts TV News |date=3 October 2017 |last=Breese |first=Chris |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930193236/https://nottstv.com/cheese-riots-and-dragoons-the-complete-history-of-nottingham-goose-fair-2016/ |archive-date=30 September 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> The cheese manufactured in Nottingham at this time was sold in [[Cheese wheel|wheels]] and is believed to have been similar to [[Red Leicester]].<ref name=palmer200/>
A poor harvest across the country in 1766 led to fears of impending food shortages.<ref name=palmer200/> In that year's fair, which began on 2 October, there was an abnormally large quantity of cheese for sale at inflated prices.<ref name=mcwilliams/> There were recorded prices of 28 to 36 [[shilling]]s (roughly £140–£180 in modern currency)<ref>{{cite web |title=The National Archives – Currency converter: 1270–2017 |url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/ |website=nationalarchives.gov.uk}}</ref> per [[hundredweight]] ({{convert|112|lb|kg|disp=or}}) of cheese, around twice that recorded at [[Coventry]] just a week earlier.<ref name=mcwilliams/><ref name=sutton/> As a result of food shortages, the English public was anxious to keep foodstuffs in their local area; there were instances of merchants being overpowered and forced to sell their goods at pre-shortage rates.<ref name=palmer200/>
== Riot == [[File:David Morier (1705^-70) - Private, 15th Light Dragoons - RCIN 406874 - Royal Collection.jpg|thumb|A private of the [[15th The King's Hussars|1st Regiment of Light Dragoons]], which suppressed the riot ([[David Morier]], 1760)]]
A riot broke out on 2 October 1766 after several [[Lincolnshire]] merchants purchased a large quantity of cheese with the intention of selling it in their county.{{refn|Turton (2009) gives 18 October as the start date but this appears to be an error. Potter (2015), McWilliams (2016) and the University of Nottingham give 2 October. There is an entry in the ''Records of the Borough of Nottingham: 1760–1800'' for 2 October 1766 recording the payment of £1 5s by the mayor for a hearse to take Eggleston's body to Car Colston.<ref name=mcwilliams/><ref>{{cite book |last=Potter |first=Harry |title=Law, Liberty and the Constitution: A Brief History of the Common Law |date=2015 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk |isbn=978-1-78327-011-8 |page=190 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9lDoCQAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Records of the Borough of Nottingham: 1760–1800 |date=1947 |publisher=Quaritch |page=68 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XftMAAAAMAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Periodic Table of Nottingham |url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/periodicnottingham/chromium |publisher=University of Nottingham |access-date=19 October 2020}}</ref>|group=nb}}<ref name=turton/><ref name=palmer200/> They were subsequently surrounded by a group of "rude lads" who demanded the merchants not take away the cheese and instead share it out in Nottingham.<ref name=palmer200>{{cite book |last=Palmer |first=Ned |title=A Cheesemonger's History of The British Isles |date=2019 |publisher=Profile Books |location=London |isbn=978-1-78283-475-5 |page=200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X8FzDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref name=mcwilliams>{{cite book |editor-last=McWilliams |editor-first=Mark |title=Food & Markets: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2014 |date=2015 |publisher=Prospect Books |location=London |isbn=978-1-909248-44-1 |page=393 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ccM2DwAAQBAJ&q=%22large+cheese%22 |language=en}}</ref> Violence eventually broke out over the dispute and rioters proceeded to loot a large quantity of cheese throughout Nottingham; shop windows were broken and hundreds of cheese wheels were thrown and rolled down the streets, including in [[Wheeler Gate, Nottingham|Wheeler Gate]] and Peck Lane.<ref name=turton>{{cite book |last=Turton |first=Kevin |title=A Grim Almanac of Nottinghamshire |date=2009 |publisher=History Press |location=Stroud, Gloucestershire |isbn=978-0-7509-5315-3 |page=184 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_c6AwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref name=sutton>{{cite book |last=Sutton |first=John Frost |title=The Date Book of Remarkable and Memorable Events Connected with Nottingham and Its Neighbourhood. 1750–1850 |date=1852 |page=73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1dVUAAAAcAAJ&q=%22restore+peace%22 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=duncan>{{cite book |last=Gray |first=Duncan |title=Nottingham: Settlement to City |publisher=S. R. Publishers |date=1969 |page=51 |isbn=978-0-85409-549-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=syQhAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> The [[List of mayors of Nottingham|mayor of Nottingham]], Robie Swann, attempted to disrupt the riot and restore order, but was knocked over by a rolling cheese wheel.<ref name=sutton/><ref>{{cite book |title=Chronica Botanica, Volume 12 |date=1935 |publisher=Ronald Press Company |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8c04AAAAIAAJ&q=%22rolling+cheese%22 |language=en}}</ref>
Some locals armed themselves and set up roadblocks on the city streets to prevent merchants from carrying away cheeses.<ref name=palmer200/> A cargo boat near [[Trent Bridge (bridge)|Trent Bridge]] was seized and all cheese held onboard was looted, despite its owner offering to pay the crowd or to sell his wares at a low cost.<ref name=mcwilliams/><ref name=palmer201>{{cite book |last=Palmer |first=Ned |title=A Cheesemonger's History of The British Isles |date=2019 |publisher=Profile Books |location=London |isbn=978-1-78283-475-5 |page=201 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X8FzDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> One warehouse was attacked and, although its defenders eventually drove the crowd off with firearms, some of the cheese stored within was looted as well. The warehouse's owner organised a mounted [[Posse comitatus|posse]] to track down the cheese, which had been taken to [[Castle Donington]]. The local magistrate refused to sign search warrants for houses in the village. In response, the posse detained several local residents on suspicion of rioting and beat them at the gates of the magistrates' house, demanding justice. The posse was eventually driven away by a mob of women and children [[Stone throwing|throwing stones]] and withdrew, the cheese having been lost.<ref name=palmer201/>
In Nottingham, the authorities requested military support to help restore order. The city was at the time a garrison town and the [[British Army]]'s [[15th The King's Hussars|1st Regiment of Light Dragoons]] along with infantry and cavalry of the [[Royal Sherwood Foresters Militia|Nottinghamshire Militia]] were deployed to suppress the riots.<ref name=turton/><ref name=sutton/> Troops fired into the rioting crowds, injuring several and killing one, William Eggleston of [[Car Colston]], who was standing near a pile of cheese.<ref name=turton/> Eggleston was a farmer and it appears he was killed while protecting his own wares, having been mistaken for a looter.<ref name=palmer200/> Several people were detained and brought before magistrates in a private residence but were freed after the house was attacked by rioters, who gained access to the building by smashing its windows.<ref name=mcwilliams/><ref name=sutton/> The unrest continued overnight.<ref name=palmer200/>
== Aftermath and legacy ==
Violence continued in Nottingham for several days until the military restored order. For a while, wagons carrying cheese were formed into convoys and provided with an armed escort.<ref name=palmer201/> A local newspaper, the ''Leicester and Nottingham Journal'', accused the rioters of having caused a cheese shortage in the city.<ref name=mcwilliams/> There were [[1766 food riots|other riots in England in late 1766]] caused by foodstuff shortages and increasing [[food price]]s. The disorder was particularly severe in [[Devon]] and [[Cornwall]] but there were also serious outbreaks in [[Gloucester]], [[Bristol]], [[Derby]], [[Birmingham]] and [[Norwich]]; [[South East England]], however, was largely quiet.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shelton |first=Walter James |title=English Hunger and Industrial Disorders: A Study of Social Conflict During the First Decade of George III's Reign |date=1973 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-2087-1 |page=37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cCo1K3aNoQEC&q=%22particularly+serious+disorders%22 |language=en}}</ref> The 250th anniversary of the riot was marked in 2016 by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Mohammed Saghir, in conjunction with a local cheese shop.<ref>{{cite news |title=Food: Nottingham Cheese Shop Marks 250th Anniversary of the Nottingham Great Cheese Riot |url=http://www.nottinghamlive.co.uk/live/food-nottingham-cheese-shop-marks-250th-anniversary-of-the-nottingham-great-cheese-riot/ |access-date=10 September 2020 |website=NottinghamLIVE.co.uk |date=21 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170303041634/http://www.nottinghamlive.co.uk/live/food-nottingham-cheese-shop-marks-250th-anniversary-of-the-nottingham-great-cheese-riot/ |archive-date=3 March 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>
== Notes == {{reflist|group=nb}}
== References == {{reflist}}
[[Category:1766 in England]] [[Category:1760s riots]] [[Category:Cheese in culture]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1766]] [[Category:Food policy in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Food riots]] [[Category:History of Nottingham]] [[Category:Riots and civil disorder in England]]