Rebel Britannia

10th March 1817:

Of the one hundred thousand Blanketeers expected to arrive in London to petition the Prince Regent, only one made it - and we're not even sure if he existed.

The Blanketeers were so-called because each of them carried a blanket over their shoulders, to sleep under on the way and to signify that they worked in the textile industry. Other than that, they each had a knapsack containing oatmeal and water, and, in some reports, a new pair of shoes.

They set off (or rather, tried to set off) from St Peter's Field near Manchester on March 10th 1817; there were about 5,000 (in some sources, 12,000) of them, cheered on their way by a crowd of 25,000 (or as many as 40,000). One well-to-do Mancunian wrote to relatives that it was "the largest meeting of the lower orders ever known in this Town."

The plan was that they would march in separate groups of ten, each carrying a petition signed by twenty people. That way, they believed, they could not be arrested for taking part in an illegal mass demonstration.

They intended to sleep in village halls on their long walk, or seek shelter from sympathisers in the towns they passed through. Their numbers would be swelled, they hoped, by people convinced by their arguments at the public meetings they would hold en route.

As well as the desperate state of the textile trade, which was causing widespread poverty in areas of northern England, they were also protesting the suspension of the law of habeas corpus, a measure being used to suppress those suspected of being Reformers or Democrats.

The Blanket March, as it was also called, was to be entirely peaceful and law-abiding. Its organisers were convinced that if only they could make known to the Prince how badly they were suffering, he would surely order his government to address their grievances. (This belief - that if the people at the top knew how bad things were for those at the bottom they would sort it out - has bedevilled protest movements in Britain for centuries, most famously during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Many well-meaning reformists, even today, are reluctant to accept that their rulers already know of their plight, and approve of it.)

But a network of government spies and provocateurs had infiltrated the Blanketeers, as it had all working-class and reform movements at that time. The authorities knew of the men's plans, and were determined to smash them from the start, using violence to show them that such uprisings - peaceful or otherwise - would never be tolerated. It was in the professional interests of the secret agents to exaggerate the threat posed by the Blanket March, and to convince their masters of its revolutionary potential, so as to prove their own value.

Even before the 10th March, arrests began of the organisers. The Blanketeers themselves were met with roadblocks and cavalry charges. There were numerous injuries, hundreds of arrests, and at least one death. Many of those arrested were held without trial for months, because of the suspension of habeas corpus. At each town along the route there were fewer and fewer marchers.

The one man who made it to London, and duly presented his petition, is usually named as Abel Couldwell, or sometimes Jonathan Cowgill. Though widely believed at the time and since, this suspiciously neat ending to the story remains unconfirmed by historical evidence.

*

Sources:

Regency spies by Sue Wilkes (Pen & Sword, 2015)

Riot! by Ian Hernon (Pluto, 2006)

The making of the English working class by E.P. Thompson (Penguin, 1991)

www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-march-of-the-blanketeers-1817/