THE RADICAL EXPERIMENT IN LIVERPOOL AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE REFORM MOVEMENT IN THE EARLY VICTORIAN PERIOD Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy by Anthony Nicholas Foggo School of Histories, Languages and Cultures April 2015 ii Declaration I hereby declare that the work within this thesis was entirely composed by myself and does not include material previously published. Anthony Nicholas Foggo iii iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis has been a long voyage for all concerned. In the best tradition of Cavafy there has always been a destination in mind but arrival there has not been something to be hurried: much better for the journey to last years, so that when you finally reach port you are old but have grown rich with all that has been learned along the way. Consequently, I owe a vast debt to my supervisors who, whilst not discouraging me from pursuing avenues that will at some point in the future deliver additional fruits, have gently steered me in the proclaimed direction and stuck with it for many years. To John Belchem, who accompanied me almost to journey’s end, I am grateful for widening my historiographical aspirations and instilling in me a regard for “proper history”. To Graeme Milne, who has sailed with me for the entire journey, I can only express my amazement at his stamina and gratitude for his having ensured that the final stages were completed with due rigour. To Will Ashworth, who has welcomed me at his seminars and latterly, as a supervisor, has provided a timely reminder that research should always be an enjoyable process, I am also most grateful. Most recently, I wish to thank Professor Charles Esdaile and Dr. Joan Allen for the trouble they have taken as examiners of this thesis and for the helpful advice they have given. Finally, I must acknowledge the support of all those fellow research students and members of staff who have listened intently and provided encouragement at the numerous seminars where I have waxed lyrical on aspects of Liverpool’s radicalism. An unexpected pleasure has been the amount of time spent on the road visiting countless libraries, archives, museums and art galleries and even the odd coal-mine. The reception has invariably been friendly and helpful. Close to home the Sydney Jones Library (and in particular Special Collections and Archives) and the Liverpool Record Office have provided untold hours of enjoyment. The British Library and the Bodleian Library have received repeated visitations and amongst a long list of regional archives special mention must be made of those in Bolton, Chichester, Leicester, Manchester and Preston. I must also thank Andrew Wells for sharing his unique collection of Walmsley family photographs and papers. In the course of this research I have had need to track down reading copies of all manner of obscure and otherwise rare antiquarian books and tracts. I have received acts of kindness from many members of the bookselling community, including Bryan & Alwyn Kernaghan, Mike McCabe, Gerry Fitzpatrick, Laurens Hardman, David & Jenny Edmunds, Janet Nassau and John Wilbraham. I must also acknowledge generous help from their colleagues in document supply, notably Glyn Thursfield and John Wilson. Special thanks are due to Malcolm Kew, who has worked wonders in rendering battered relics of bygone centuries into readable form, always with more care and artistry than his recompense required. Last but certainly not least I am doubly grateful to my wife Denise: first, for readily concurring that, if I was going to immerse myself in writing history, I should do it properly and work towards a research degree; and secondly for ensuring that I reached harbour in good order. v vi CONTENTS ABSTRACT ix ABBREVIATIONS xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE 1 2 THE RISE OF RADICALISM IN LIVERPOOL, 1815-1835 20 3 THE LIVERPOOL MUNICIPAL ELECTION, 1835 44 4 “WHAT HAVE THE COUNCIL DONE?” 67 i. THE NEW ORDER 68 ii. REFORMING LAW AND ORDER 71 iii. EDUCATION AND THE CORPORATION SCHOOLS 105 iv. SOCIAL REFORM 121 v. THE END OF THE EXPERIMENT 132 vii 5 THE CORN LAWS AND FREE TRADE 135 i. LIVERPOOL’S EXPERIENCE, 1815-1841 137 ii. THE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION OF 1841 153 iii. THE CORN LAWS AND FREE TRADE, 1841-1848 166 6 THE REBIRTH OF PARLIAMENTARY REFORM 179 7 THE RISE AND FALL OF THE NATIONAL PARLIAMENTARY 213 AND FINANCIAL REFORM ASSOCIATION 8 CONCLUSIONS 240 APPENDIX 1 SIR JOSHUA WALMSLEY’S ELECTION ADDRESSES, 249 1835-1857 2 A CONCISE BIOGRAPHY OF SIR JOSHUA WALMSLEY, 260 1794-1871 SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 266 viii ABSTRACT THE RADICAL EXPERIMENT IN LIVERPOOL AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE REFORM MOVEMENT IN THE EARLY VICTORIAN PERIOD This thesis investigates the development of radical politics in Liverpool in the first half of the nineteenth century and argues that distinctive events and trends in Liverpool exercised an important influence on the activities of the Reform Movement nationally between 1848 and 1854. It addresses two important but largely neglected areas of historiography: first, the political history of Liverpool in the years between the abolition of the slave trade and the mass influx of Irish refugees in mid-century, during which time the town rose to commercial pre-eminence; secondly, the influence of major provincial centres such as Liverpool on politics at the national level. The origins of Liverpool’s reformist Town Council of 1835-1841 are traced and show a continuity of thought and personalities over several decades against a backdrop of Tory paternalism and institutionalised corruption. The new reformist administration is seen as laying the foundations of a modern society through good governance, financial economy, civil liberty and innovation. On the Corn Laws issue, Liverpool’s reformers were reluctant to follow Manchester’s lead, preferring to pursue free trade on a broad front. This study follows their progress and shows how, ultimately, their thinking on financial reform influenced Cobden’s “National Budget” and remained an ever-present stimulus for several decades. The most prominent of Liverpool’s radical reformers was Sir Joshua Walmsley, whose achievements in both municipal and national politics have received much less attention from historians than they have merited. This study details the influences and experiences in his early career and then traces how, through political dexterity, he pushed parliamentary reform to the forefront of the national political agenda and established the National Parliamentary and Financial Reform Association in 1849. The influence exerted by his Liverpool background on both his political development and style of campaigning may be seen throughout his parliamentary career. ix x ABBREVIATIONS ACLL Anti-Corn Law League ACLLLB Anti-Corn Law League Letter-Books (Manchester Archives) CM Liverpool Council Minutes (Liverpool Record Office) ECM Liverpool Education Committee Minutes (Liverpool Record Office) LAMA Liverpool Anti-Monopoly Association LFRA Liverpool Financial Reform Association LvRO Liverpool Record Office MFRA Metropolitan Financial Reform Association MFPRA Metropolitan Financial and Parliamentary Reform Association MPFRA Metropolitan Parliamentary and Financial Reform Association NFLS National Freehold Land Society NPFRA National Parliamentary and Financial Reform Association NRA National Reform Association THSLC Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire TRA (Liverpool) Tradesmen’s Reform Association WCM Liverpool Watch Committee Minutes (Liverpool Record Office) xi When, in time to come, the political student sits down to look over the roll of our departed ones, this name, Joshua Walmsley, will be found there as amongst the noblest and the best of our many sons. Samuel Greg Rathbone, Liverpool, 20 November 1871 xii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE The genesis of the present research lay in the conviction that the historiography of radical politics in the decade following the 1832 Reform Act had neglected events and trends in Liverpool that were both distinctive – as being to a significant degree the product of local circumstances – and, by virtue of Liverpool’s commercial standing, a potential source of influence on the direction of politics nationally. The findings of this research confirm that Liverpool’s experiences and political outlook were in many respects distinctive and substantially different from those of Manchester, which have generally been viewed as the dominant influence on radical politics in the 1840s and 1850s. This thesis seeks to show that during the crucial period in 1848-49 when the future direction of radical politics was being reappraised (in the aftermath of the repeal of the Corn Laws, the commercial crisis of 1847, Chartism and revolution in Europe) the two most prominent campaign issues under consideration – financial and parliamentary reform – both owed much of their formulation to events and opinions in Liverpool that can be traced back a decade or more. The connecting thread between municipal and parliamentary levels was most obviously provided by Sir Joshua Walmsley (1794-1871), who emerged as the most powerful (and most radical) mainstream politician in Liverpool during the reformist municipal administration of 1835-1841 and subsequently, as a Member of Parliament between 1847 and 1857, spearheaded a renewed campaign for parliamentary reform. Walmsley’s individual role throughout is confirmed as central, and his rise to national prominence as president of the National Parliamentary and Financial Reform Association may be attributed to a combination of skilful political manipulation and learning from earlier personal failures. Although this study focuses principally on the development of political movements and their ideas and, intentionally, has not been constructed as a biography of the chief actor, it is inevitable that particular attention should be given to Walmsley himself. Many of his contemporaries were the product of the same influences and played significant roles but Walmsley was much more than “first amongst equals” or a figurehead for a wider group of like-minded reformers.