THE BIRMINGHAM RIOTS.
THESE riots were of a nature very similar to those which broke out in London in the year 1780. The outbreak appears to have been occasioned by no immediate cause, but rather by a general feeling of discontent which pervaded the minds of the people in this great manufacturing town, aided by the celebration of the anniversary of the French Revolution, and a seditious hand-bill, which had been previously circulated.
The riot was commenced by an attack being made upon a tavern, in Temple-lane, in which eighty or ninety persons had sat down to a dinner provided on Thursday, the 14th July 1791, in order to celebrate the event referred to, when, notwithstanding the personal interference of the magistrates, the windows in front of the house were demolished, and many of the company were assaulted. The popular anger being thus excited, the mob proceeded to destroy Dr. Priestley’s meeting-house, and the old meeting-house, the first of which they set on fire, while they contented themselves with burning the furniture of the latter in the burial-ground. Dr. Priestley’s house at Fair Hill, together with his valuable collection of apparatus for philosophical experiments, was also destroyed, and the mob then dispersed for the night. On the next morning, however, they again assembled, and being unopposed by any civil or military force, they proceeded to the commission of new outrages. Many were armed with bludgeons and weapons of offence, and shouting “Church and King,” they attacked the houses of all who were obnoxious to them, or opposed to the principles which they professed. The mansion of Mr. John Ryland, at Easy Hill, was the first object to which they directed their fury, but many of them having got into the cellars, got so drunk with the wine which they found there, as to be unable to effect their escape, while their associates without, unmindful of their safety, set fire to the house, and they were buried beneath its ruins.
Bordesley Hall, the residence of John Taylor, Esq., shared a similar fate, the mob refusing to listen to any proposition to induce them to retire; and on the same night the house of Mr. Hutton in the town was completely stripped. A number of special constables were in the mean time sworn in, and attacked the mob with some determination; but being far inferior in numbers, and quite undisciplined, they were compelled to retire. Saturday only dawned to exhibit fresh ravages; Mr. Hutton’s house at Washwood Heath, three miles from the town, Mr. Humphery’s mansion at Spark Brook, Mr. W. Russell’s house at Shewell Green, Mr. T. Hawkes’s house at Moseley Wake Green, and Moseley Hall, the seat of the Dowager Countess of Carhampton, were in turn attacked, and were all in flames at the same time. Business was brought to a stand, and no military force arriving, the mob continued their acts of lawless atrocity undisturbed. At night many of them levied contributions from the inhabitants of the town of meat and money, and on the following day they pursued the same course in the outskirts in reference to all persons they met. The Sabbath even did not restrain them in their diabolical proceedings, for on that day they burned two dissenting meeting-houses, and the ministers’ dwellings, situated at about six miles from Birmingham.
At night, soon after ten o’clock, three troops of the 15th Light Dragoons arrived amid the acclamations of the inhabitants, whose hopes and fears had been depicted through the day in every countenance, as reports of the near approach of the soldiery were spread and contradicted. The town was immediately illuminated, and before morning every thing was tolerably quiet; but the rioters were still continuing their depredations in the country. They exhausted the cellars at each place, and received various sums of money to prevent their proceeding to further violence.
They were in great force at the time the troops arrived, of which they no sooner had intimation than they began to slink off in small parties; and the peasantry, taking courage, put the rest to flight in various directions.
On Monday the town appeared in perfect security, but as much crowded as during the three preceding days, in viewing the military; the mob keeping at such a distance as to render all accounts of them dubious; at one time being said to be at Alcester, the next hour at Bromsgrove, &c.
On Tuesday there were flying rumours of depredations near Hagley, Hales Owen, &c.; and in the evening certain information was received that a party of rioters were then attacking Mr. Male’s, of Belle Vue. A few of the Light Dragoons immediately went to his assistance; but the rioters had been previously overpowered by a body of people in that neighbourhood, and ten of them were confined at Hales Owen.
On Wednesday morning the country round, for ten miles, was scoured by the light horse, but not one rioter was to be met with, and all the manufactories were at work, as if no interruption had taken place. Three troops of the 11th Light Dragoons marched in this morning, and more soldiers soon after making their appearance, the whole neighbourhood was soon restored to tranquillity.