Now, we will never know just what most people in Didsbury thought of the moment when the Establishment flexed its muscles back in 1793 and burned an effigy of Thomas Paine.
It happened on the village green in front of the Old Cock and what is now the Didsbury Hotel and was the work of the Huntsman social club. Thomas Paine had supported both the American and French Revolutions and written a series of books and pamphlets proposing a written constitution with a national assembly similar to that of the USA, the elimination of aristocratic titles and a wide-ranging set of social policies benefiting the poor and under privileged.
This made him unpopular with the Establishment and like other radicals he faced persecution for his ideas.
We know very little about the event which is referred to by one local historian who records that on January 28th members of the Hunt Club “entertained the populace with the burning of the effigy of Thomas Paine”. *
And even vaguer reference in that excellent compendium of all things to do with Manchester’s past which was published in 1885, by William Axton and merely records that, “The effigy of Paine was burnt by the populace, January”.
The Manchester Guardian doesn’t cover the event, but there will be something somewhere on the event.
Of course, the period was supercharged with those who supported Tom Paine and saw in the French Revolution, the dawn of something new, exciting and mould breaking. ***
One of those was Thomas Walker, who lived at Barlow Hall and had a town house on South Parade which faces what is now Parsonage Gardens.
Despite having held the lofty office of Borough Reeve in Manchester, he was a radical, and had campaigned for the abolition of the Slave Trade, and with others organised the petition against the Trade.
All of which made him a target for those opposed to radical ideas and in particular the French Revolution.
And it was while he was staying at South Parade, in the December of 1792 that a mob attacked the house and Walker was forced to drive them off by discharging a pistol.
This was at the height of political debate over the issues of press freedom and the French Revolution. Writing later of the event he commented,
“Emboldened by drink and fired on by agitators, groups hostile to the radicals began to gather around the city. Walker was in no doubt that this was pre-planned.
‘Parties were collected in different public houses, and from thence paraded in the streets with a fiddler before them, and carrying board on which was painted with CHURCH and KING in large letters’
On four separate occasions a mob gathered outside South Parade, broke the windows and attempted to force their way in. Supported by friends Thomas Walker was forced to fire into the air to disperse the crowds.
The magistrates did nothing to prevent the events and while a “regiment of dragoons was in town, booted and under arms” and ready to disperse the rioters no order was given.
As if to add insult to injury the main concern of the magistrates when they finally met Walker was that he should not fire at the crowd again if the mob returned! These attacks had been matched by similar ones on the home of Priestly in Birmingham and in Nottingham.” ****
Walker survived both the attacks and was acquitted of treason, after which he retired to the new family home at Longford House off Edge Lane, where he died in February 1817 and was buried in the parish church on the green.
Leaving me just to reflect that for the "populace" of Didsbury, things got a little worse, because sometime between 1845 and 53, a Samuel Bethell, stole the village green upon which the effigy of Tom Paine had been burnt almost a half century before.
I don't yet know Mr. Bethell's politics, but I know he was the owner of the Gibraltar Iron Works on Poland Street in town, lived in a large house in Didsbury and also also owned a more modest beer shop which he called the Prince Albert.
But all of that and a remarkable map from 1821 of the Ring'oBells is for another time.
Location; Didsbury Chorlton, Manchester
Pictures; Thomas Paine, 1792, Thomas Walker. 1794, Didsbury showing the Church Inn and Old Cock, 1853, from the OS for Lancashire, 1841-53, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
*Million, Ivor. R. A History of Didsbury, 1969, p100
**Axton, William, The Annals of Manchester, 1885, p120
*** “Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive
But to be young was very heaven.” Wordsworth, William
****Walker, Thomas, A Review of some of the events of the last five years, London 1794 page 23, Google edition page 194
 |
| Thomas Paine, 1792 |
This made him unpopular with the Establishment and like other radicals he faced persecution for his ideas.
We know very little about the event which is referred to by one local historian who records that on January 28th members of the Hunt Club “entertained the populace with the burning of the effigy of Thomas Paine”. *
And even vaguer reference in that excellent compendium of all things to do with Manchester’s past which was published in 1885, by William Axton and merely records that, “The effigy of Paine was burnt by the populace, January”.
 |
| Didsbury village, 1853 |
Of course, the period was supercharged with those who supported Tom Paine and saw in the French Revolution, the dawn of something new, exciting and mould breaking. ***
One of those was Thomas Walker, who lived at Barlow Hall and had a town house on South Parade which faces what is now Parsonage Gardens.
Despite having held the lofty office of Borough Reeve in Manchester, he was a radical, and had campaigned for the abolition of the Slave Trade, and with others organised the petition against the Trade.
All of which made him a target for those opposed to radical ideas and in particular the French Revolution.
And it was while he was staying at South Parade, in the December of 1792 that a mob attacked the house and Walker was forced to drive them off by discharging a pistol.
 |
| Thomas Walker, 1794 |
“Emboldened by drink and fired on by agitators, groups hostile to the radicals began to gather around the city. Walker was in no doubt that this was pre-planned.
‘Parties were collected in different public houses, and from thence paraded in the streets with a fiddler before them, and carrying board on which was painted with CHURCH and KING in large letters’
On four separate occasions a mob gathered outside South Parade, broke the windows and attempted to force their way in. Supported by friends Thomas Walker was forced to fire into the air to disperse the crowds.
The magistrates did nothing to prevent the events and while a “regiment of dragoons was in town, booted and under arms” and ready to disperse the rioters no order was given.
As if to add insult to injury the main concern of the magistrates when they finally met Walker was that he should not fire at the crowd again if the mob returned! These attacks had been matched by similar ones on the home of Priestly in Birmingham and in Nottingham.” ****
Walker survived both the attacks and was acquitted of treason, after which he retired to the new family home at Longford House off Edge Lane, where he died in February 1817 and was buried in the parish church on the green.
Leaving me just to reflect that for the "populace" of Didsbury, things got a little worse, because sometime between 1845 and 53, a Samuel Bethell, stole the village green upon which the effigy of Tom Paine had been burnt almost a half century before.
I don't yet know Mr. Bethell's politics, but I know he was the owner of the Gibraltar Iron Works on Poland Street in town, lived in a large house in Didsbury and also also owned a more modest beer shop which he called the Prince Albert.
But all of that and a remarkable map from 1821 of the Ring'oBells is for another time.
Location; Didsbury Chorlton, Manchester
Pictures; Thomas Paine, 1792, Thomas Walker. 1794, Didsbury showing the Church Inn and Old Cock, 1853, from the OS for Lancashire, 1841-53, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
*Million, Ivor. R. A History of Didsbury, 1969, p100
**Axton, William, The Annals of Manchester, 1885, p120
*** “Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive
But to be young was very heaven.” Wordsworth, William
****Walker, Thomas, A Review of some of the events of the last five years, London 1794 page 23, Google edition page 194
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