Sunday 19 August 2012

19th August 1812: Food rioting continues in the Leeds & Sheffield area

In the evening of Wednesday 19th August, the food rioting that had broken out in Leeds the previous day continued across the area.

At Armley, a crowd was ready to storm the premises of a meal seller when he produced a gun loaded with shot and discharged it into the crowd. The reaction of the crowd and the resulting casualties go unrecorded. As The Leeds Mercury described 'turbulent mobs' gathering at the King's Mills and several Meal Shops and said 'no material violence occcurred', choosing to overlook the report of the gun being discharged, which appeared in the Manchester Mercury.

Similar disturbances that had occurred in Sheffield on Tuesday were repeated on this day. In the evening, there were reports of nocturnal meetings taking place in fields, and at one such meeting, 20 arrests were made, although all were later released. 

As reported in the Leeds Mercury of 22nd August 1812 & the Manchester Mercury of 25th August 1812.

No comments:

Post a Comment