Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:31:04.830Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Study in Failure: Thomas Attwood, M.P. For Birmingham, 1832–1839

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

D. J. Moss
D. J. Moss
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Contemporary reactions to the 1832 Reform Act were diverse. Concomitant with the feeling of relief that a revolution had been avoided was a fear even among some of the Bill's most earnest advocates that the whigs had perhaps gone too far. The long period of political agitation by extra-parliamentary associations suggested that a radical House of Commons might emerge from the forthcoming elections. In fact, the expected radical onslaught never really materialized. Although they were returned to the Commons in strength by the election of December, the radicals failed to find common ground for action and the whigs successfully defended the pact given royal assent the previous summer. That sentence of failure is not unreasonable. Radicalism in the early nineteenth century was by its very nature the province of the individualist whose imagination often ranged beyond the bounds of practicality and who found compromise irksome. Membership of the House of Commons was to prove a chastening experience for men accustomed to the adulation of the common people. Rules of procedure and the traditional circle of agenda so circumscribed these enthusiasts that energy became sapped and their sense of mission vitiated. Woodward's suggestion, too, that the radicals floundered because they ‘defended the interests of a class to which they did not belong’ may contain a measure of truth. But apart from the odd chapter in the occasional biography, there has been a marked lack of interest in proceeding beyond these general conclusions; failure is too often equated with justified obscurity.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , September 1978 , pp. 545 - 570
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Russell, Lord John, Early correspondence of Lord John Russell, 1805–1840, ed. Russell, Rollo (2 vols., London, 1913), 11, 38.Google Scholar

2 See for example Brock, M., The great Reform Bill (London, 1973), ch. IXGoogle Scholar; Prest, J., Lord John Rnssell (London, 1972), pp. 59–60Google Scholar; Gash, N., Sir Roben Peel (London, 1972), pp. 38–9, 41–4Google Scholar. The strains between factions within the whig party contributed more to the difficulties of the reform parliament than did the activities of the radicals themselves.

3 Despite their disarray the radicals, particularly those to whom the category ‘philosophical radical’ may be applied, were perennially optimistic respecting their ability to replace the whigs as the natural opponents of the tories: Parkes, J. to Tennyson, C., 31 01 1835, 13 09 1837Google Scholar, Tennyson/d'Eyncourt papers, Lincolnshire County Record Office, Lincoln, H31/10, H31/18, respectively.

4 SirWoodward, Llewellyn, The age of reform (2nd edn, Oxford, 1963), p. 95.Google Scholar

5 Raikes, T., Journal (2nd edn, 2 vols., London, 1856), I, 34–5.Google Scholar

6 The expression was first used by The Times in an editorial, 4 10 1831Google Scholar. There has been some debate regarding the extent of the Union's influence, for example, Flick, C. T., ‘Thomas Attwood, Francis Place and the agitation for the British parliamentary reform’. Huntingdon Library Quarterly, XXXIV, 4 (1971), 355–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Comments made by Lord Grey, the duke of Wellington and others, however, suggest that the Union was certainly considered influential by the senior political leaders. For a detailed analysis of the Union's role see Ferguson, H., ‘The Birmingham Political Union, 1930–32’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, 1958)Google Scholar and the same author's, ‘The Birmingham Political Union and the government, 1831–32’, Victorian Studies, III, 3 (1960), 261–76.Google Scholar

7 Edwards, E., Personal recollections of Birmingham and Birmingham men (Birmingham, 1877), p. 60.Google Scholar

8 Attwood, T. to his wife, 19 05 1832Google Scholar, Attwood papers, privately held, Earls Court, London.

9 Birmingham Journal, 2 06 1832.Google Scholar

10 Wakefield, C. M., Life of Thomas Attwood (London, 1885), p. 246.Google Scholar

11 Geo. 111 c. 79 (1799) and 57 Geo. 111 c. 19 (1817).

12 The primacy of Attwood and his unique position in Birmingham has been analysed, Briggs, A., ‘Thomas Attwood and the economic background of the Birmingham Political Union’, Cambridge Historical Journal, IX, 2 (1948), 190–216CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Checkland, S. G., ‘The Birmingham economists 1815–1850’, Economic History Review, second series, I, 1 (1948), 1–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ferguson, H., ‘The Birmingham Political Union, 1830–32’.Google Scholar

13 Raikes, , Journal, I, 35.Google Scholar

14 Attwood, T. to his wife, 2 09 1832, Attwood papers.Google Scholar

15 Birmingham Journal, 7 07 1832Google Scholar. Scholefield had been the original choice but withdrew for personal reasons. Edmonds then claimed the nomination and announced that he had the former's support. Scholefield angrily denied such an endorsement, stated his previous problems had been solved and demanded the original Union pledge. Scholefield's whole conduct during this affair was most questionable and had confused a large number of his friends [J. Scholefield to C. Tennyson, 23 June 1832, Tennyson d'Eyncourt papers H93/1]. Scholefield won and received the nomination. However, relations with the majority of the working class members of the Union had been so soured that he deemed it expedient to withdraw from the council. He remained aloof until 1837 when there was some doubt that he could defeat the tory candidate.

16 Attwood's reference was to the site of the Union's mammoth open-air meetings – Newhall Hill. He did except three issues from this general injunction – the Irish and Scottish Reform Bills and the Polish question.

17 Anon, The substance of the extraordinary proceedings at the Birmingham political council on Tuesday evening, July 5, on the subject of pledges, and Mr Attwood's condemnation of the person proposing the same (Birmingham, 1832).Google Scholar

18 The career of this remarkable clergyman is discussed by Lloyd, T. H., ‘Dr Wade and the working class’, Midland History, II, 2 (1973), 61–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The Union attempted to expel Wade for his sins (Poor Man's Guardian, 10 11 1832).Google Scholar

19 Home Office papers, correspondence on disturbances: H.O. 40, 30, fo. 37 (Public Record Office).

20 Authorized copy of the resolutions passed at a meeting at Birmingham held on the 25th January, 1830, together with the declarations, rules and regulations of the Political Union for the protection of public rights (Birmingham, 1830), pp. 8–10.Google Scholar

21 For a detailed analysis of Attwood's economic theory see Moss, D. J., ‘Thomas Attwood: the biography of a radical’ (unpublished D.Phil, thesis, Oxford University, 1973), chs. 11 and 111Google Scholar; Fetter, F., Selected writings of Thomas Attwood (London, 1964)Google Scholar; Hawtry, R. G., A century of bank rate (2nd edn, London, 1962)Google Scholar; Briggs, , ‘Attwood’Google Scholar; Checkland, , ‘Birmingham economists’.Google Scholar

22 Attwood, T., Distressed state of the country. The speech of Thomas Attwood Esq. on this important subject at the town meeting in Birmingham held on 8th May, 1829 (Birmingham, 1829).Google Scholar

23 Attwood used this description to refer to the Act which returned Britain to the gold standard.

24 For example, Attwood, T., Prosperity restored, or reflections on the cause of public stresses and on the only means of relieving them (Birmingham, 1817), p. 209.Google Scholar

25 On this point Attwood had been consistent. As early as 1822 he had written that he would like to see ‘200 men of business’ elected to the house: Attwood, T. to Davenport, E., 27 04 1822Google Scholar, Bromley-Davenport papers, John Rylands Library, Manchester.

26 3 Hansard, XVI, 21 03 1837, c. 926Google Scholar. It should be noted that despite Attwood's active involvement in matters pertaining to the working classes he rarely hid his disdain for their mental powers. They were according to him easily lead by demagogues, quickly excited and delighted in the pursuit of ‘wild chimeras’. His concern was thus cast essentially in the eighteenth-century paternalistic mould.

27 Committee of secrecy on the Bank of England charter (Parl, papers, 1831–1832, VI).Google Scholar

28 Morning Herald, 1 09 1832Google Scholar. Anon., Mansell and Co.'s report of the important discussion held in Birmingham, August 28th and 29th, between William Cobbett, Thomas Attwood and Charles Jones, Esquires (Birmingham, 1832).Google Scholar

29 Birmingham Journal, 13 03 1833Google Scholar. For a description of the objectives and membership of this club see, Circular to Bankers, 22 03 1833, no. 244, pp. 281–4.Google Scholar

30 3 Hansard, XV, 27 02 1833, c. 1204Google Scholar; XVI, 7 Mar. 1833, c. 397; XVI, 18 Mar., 1833, c. 742. Other topics included the employment of children, the corn laws, use of the military at elections and the reduction of public salaries.

31 3 Hansard, XV, 21 03 1833, c. 905–38Google Scholar. It was also published. Attwood, T., Speech of Thomas Attwood Esq., M.P., on the state of the country in the House of Commons on Thursday the 21st March, 1833 (Birmingham, 1833).Google Scholar

32 One handicap Attwood was unlikely ever to surmount was his accent. Born and bred in Birmingham he invariably omitted to pronounce the letter ‘h’. Thus he spoke of ‘appy homes’ and his ‘opes’ which never failed to reduce some M.P.s to laughter; a reaction his vanity found difficult to excuse.

33 The vote was 158–192.

34 The Times, 31 03 1833.Google Scholar

35 Morning Herald, 22 03 1833.Google Scholar

36 Birmingham Journal, 23 03 1833.Google Scholar

37 3 Hansard, XVII, 22 04 1833, c. 384–408Google Scholar. Matthias Attwood was an elder brother who operated the London branch of Attwoods and Spooner Bank. He became an M.P. in 1819 and wrote a number of pamphlets on the currency question. In all other matters he remained high tory.

38 3 Hansard, XVII, 24 04 1833, c. 532.Google Scholar

39 Birmingham Journal, 25 05 1833Google Scholar. Later, in the Commons, Attwood claimed an attendance of 150,000 [3 Hansard, XVIII, 24 06 1833, c. 1130].Google Scholar

40 Cobbett's Political Register, LXXV, 21 (25 05 1833)Google Scholar. It was somewhat premature. Back in the Commons Attwood returned to his less radical suggestion of April and on occasion continued to support the House as it stood [3 Hansard, XIX, 3 07, 1833, c. 80Google Scholar]. The call for annual parliaments and universal suffrage derived from the radical wing of the Union and Attwood's position had already been so eroded that he could not prevent their inclusion in the Union's platform.

41 3 Hansard, XVI, 13 03 1833, c. 584.Google Scholar

42 3 Hansard, XVIII, 25 05 1853, c. 26.Google Scholar

43 Select committee to inquire into the present state of manufacturing, commerce and shipping (Parl. papers, 1833, VI), Q.4760 ff.

44 For example, 3 Hansard, XIX, 2 07 1833, c. 79–80Google Scholar, 5 July 1833, c. 416, 4 Aug. 1833 c. 520, 13 Aug. 1833, c. 585.

45 3 Hansard, XIX, 9 07 1833, c. 416–21Google Scholar. Attwood's concern was shared by many radical: including O'Connell.

46 Attwood was well aware of this problem [3 Hansard, XVI, 17 03 1834, c. 299].Google Scholar

47 3 Hansard, XXV, 11 08 1834, c. 1224Google Scholar. His efforts did not go unnoticed by the people out-of-doors. During one month in 1836, he was chosen to present some forty petitions from the agricultural districts of Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire complaining of the administration of the new Poor Law.

48 3 Hansard, XXV, 6 08 1834, c. 1006.Google Scholar

49 3 Hansard, XXV, 31 07, 1834, c. 794Google Scholar. Attwood was well acquainted with the Wakefield's scheme. One of his daughters was married to the colony enthusiast's son.

50 3 Hansard, XXV, 31 08 1834, c. 85.Google Scholar

51 3 Hansard, XXII, 17 03 1834, c. 371Google Scholar. Attwood's reaction was equally forthright and he responded in kind.

52 3 Hansard, XXIV, 19 06 1834, c. 569.Google Scholar

53 3 Hansard, XXIV, 3 07 1834, c. 1006.Google Scholar

54 Birmingham Journal, 20 09 1834.Google Scholar

55 Attwood, T. to his wife, 19, 21 and 24 11 1834, Attwood papers.Google Scholar

56 Wakefield, , Attwood, p. 286Google Scholar. The final poll was Attwood 1718, Scholefield 1660, Spooner 915. Spooner was Attwood's business partner and fellow ‘currency maniac’. However, his high tory political leanings prevented him from joining the Union.

57 Graham, A. H., ‘The Lichfield House compact’, Irish Historical Studies, XII, 3 (1960–1961), 209–25.Google Scholar

58 For information on this attempt to ‘brigade the opposition’, see MrsFawcett, , Life of Sir William Molesworth (London, 1901), p. 73Google Scholar; Buckley, J., Joseph Parkes of Birmingham (London, 1928), p. 135Google Scholar; Grote, H., Personal life of Joseph Grote (London, 1873), p. 99Google Scholar. Francis Place's account is B.M. Add. MS 35150 fos. 17 and 18.

59 During this session Attwood was heavily involved in a court case on behalf of his cousin, John Attwood.

60 3 Hansard, XXX, 22 08 1835, c. 866Google Scholar. The occasion was the presentation of a petition from Birmingham on corporation reform. This petition had been drawn up by Joseph Parkes at the head of a radical/whig coalition in Birmingham. Parkes claimed the active support of Attwood in this initiative, but the latter denied such involvement and was content simply to register his belief in the justice of the case in debate.

61 3 Hansard, XXXI, 8 02 1836, c. 442.Google Scholar

62 Birmingham Journal, 22 04 1837Google Scholar. The explanation of Birmingham's interest in municipal reform is given by Edsall, N. C., ‘Varieties of radicalism: Attwood, Cobden and the local politics of municipal corporation’, Historical Journal, XVI, 1 (1973), 93–107CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Edsall exaggerates the support given the campaign by Attwood and neglects the splits in the leadership of the Union.

63 Birmingham Journal, 10 06 1837.Google Scholar

64 A letter to Peel on the subject was ultimately circulated among M.P.s and published in the newspapers [Attwood, T. to his wife 14 02 1837, Attwood papersGoogle Scholar; Birmingham Journal, 18 02 1837].Google Scholar

65 Attwood, T. to his wife, 3 06 1837, Attwood papersGoogle Scholar. His motion read ‘that in the opinion of this House that the present system of currency is not efficient to meet the wants and protect the interests of the community’.

66 Attwood, T. to his wife, 7 06 1837, Attwood papersGoogle Scholar. The House erupted with laughter when he protested that ‘he did not like to spread anything like alarms’. Attwood had become the Jeremiah of the Commons through his constant allusions to distress, revolution and the prospect of war with Russia [3 Hansard, XXXVII, 5 06 1837, c. 1194].Google Scholar

67 3 Hansard, XXXVII, 5 06 1837, c. 1205.Google Scholar

68 3 Hansard, XXXVII, 15 07 1837, cf. 1912.Google Scholar

69 Birmingham Journal, 17 06, 1837.Google Scholar

70 Newhall Hill had been chosen as for emotional effect rather than practicality. Since 1832 the town had expanded and encroached upon the natural amphitheatre which had been the scene of so much excitement.

71 Birmingham Journal, 24 06 1837Google Scholar. Salt added ‘paid representation’ to the list.

72 Attwood, T. to his wife, 26 06, 1837, Attwood papers.Google Scholar

73 The final count, Attwood 2,160; Scholefield 2,132; Stapleton 1,045.

74 Attwood, T. to his wife, 3 and 4 08 1837, Attwood papersGoogle Scholar. Birmingham Journal, 5 08 1837.Google Scholar

75 Birmingham Journal, 21 and 28 10 1837Google Scholar. Earlier declarations of that standard had been made in the past but normally only as a reflexion of the enthusiasms of the moment and quickly abandoned upon reflexion. Briggs, A., ‘Social structure and politics in Birmingham and Lyons (1825–1848)’; British Journal of Sociology, I, 1 (1950), 67–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar, considers this decision.

76 Birmingham Journal, 16 12 1837Google Scholar; Aris', Birmingham Gazette, 18 12 1837.Google Scholar

77 Philanthropist, 21 12 1837.Google Scholar

78 Attwood, T. to his wife, 25 11 1837, Attwood papers.Google Scholar

79 3 Hansard, XXXIX, 15 12 1837, c. 1104.Google Scholar

80 Purdie, A. to Attwood, T., 25 04 1838, Attwood papers.Google Scholar

81 P. H. Muntz, the acting chairman, asked how Attwood ‘at a distance of one hundred miles’ could decide such a policy [Birmingham Journal, 5 05, 1838].Google Scholar

82 B.M. Add. MS 27, 820, fos. 96–8; Lovett, W., The Life and struggles of William Lovett (London, 1876), pp. 164–5Google Scholar. It appeared in pamphlet form on 8 May. For the debate on the origins of the Bill, see Rowe, D. J., ‘The London working men's association and the people's charter’, Past and Present, XXXVI (08 1967), 73–86CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Prothero, I., ‘Debates. The London working men's association and the people's charter’, Past and Present, XXXVIII (02 1968), 169–73.Google Scholar

83 When he did appear he was greeted rapturously, ‘They [buttons] were like five hundred Rosabels clinging to me’ [Attwood, T. to his wife, 14 07 1838Google Scholar, Attwood papers]. Rosabel was his youngest daughter.

84 Birmingham Journal, 11 08 1838Google Scholar; Lovett, W., Struggles, p. 181Google Scholar. During the months prior to the meeting there had been quite complex negotiations to insure such unity. Webb, R. F., ‘Birmingham and the Chartist movement’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Birmingham University, 1926), p. 21.Google Scholar

85 Douglas, the editor of the Birmingham Journal, was made chairman of the first session as a mark of respect to the reformers of Birmingham. For the problems of early organization, the challenge to the moderate reformers of Birmingham and the nature of the chartist alliance see Judge, K., ‘Early Chartist organisation and the Convention of 1839’, International Review of Social History, III (1975), 370–377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

86 Birmingham Journal, 23 03 1839, 30 03 1839.Google Scholar

87 3 Hansard, XLVI, 21 03 1839, c. 1100–01.Google Scholar

88 Birmingham Journal, 13 04 1839.Google Scholar

89 3 Hansard, XLVII, 30 04 1839, c. 682.Google Scholar

90 Wakefield, , Attwood, p. 3843.Google Scholar

91 Birmingham Journal, 11 05, 1839Google Scholar; Lovett, , Struggles, p. 206.Google Scholar

92 3 Hansard, XLVI, 15 03 1839, c. 602.Google Scholar

93 As a result of this clash on 3 July a requisition was circulated by a number of the alarmed middle class townspeople requesting that Attwood and Muntz reunite the lower and middle classes. Under the Birmingham Political Union, they noted, all had been orderly. Attwood replied that he was pleased by the expressions of ‘confidence and affection’. However, he made no promises; no doubt he was well aware that his ascendency over the lower orders in Birmingham was at an end.

94 Wakefield, , Attwood, p. 344.Google Scholar

95 Birmingham Journal, 17 07 1841Google Scholar. This was his own assessment.

96 Aris' Birmingham Gazette, 22 07 1839Google Scholar. The divisions among the chartists had contributed to their defeat. Yet of all the leaders Attwood continued to be the most universally admired. The great mob riots of 15 July developed in Birmingham out of a gathering of workers who had met on the strength of a rumour that he would shortly appear to address them.

97 3 Hansard, LXIX, 29 07 1839, c. 950.Google Scholar

98 The regeneration was made doubly difficult by the death of his wife a few mom later.

99 SirPeel, R. to Attwood, T., 31 03 1842, Attwood papers.Google Scholar

100 Melbourne, Lord to Attwood, T., 1 10 1842, Attwood papers.Google Scholar

101 3 Hansard, L, 9 08 1839, c. 174–4.Google Scholar