The Relationship Between Magistrates and their Communities in the Age of Crisis: social protest c. 1790-1834 By Rose Madeleine Wallis A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of the West of England, Bristol, for the degree of PhD Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries, and Education, University of the West of England, Bristol January 2016 Abstract This thesis examines the responses of the county magistracy to social unrest in a period marked by a redefinition of social and governmental relationships. Drawing together approaches to governmental and protest histories, it answers calls for more detailed analyses of the actions and attitudes of authority through a more thorough account of judicial responses to popular protest. The approach adopted here, also offers new perspectives on the nature of social relations and governance at this point. This study privileges the structuring of county government in an analysis of social protest. Through two regional case studies, it recognises the autonomy and concomitant variation in the infrastructure of local government, and the ways in which these distinct governmental arrangements shaped the nature of popular resistance. Not only does this approach provide a more nuanced understanding of the actions of the authorities, but it posits social conflict as a lens through which to view the operation of government. Disorder laid bare many of the inadequacies of a system predicated on paternalist authority, but it also exposed the constellation of social relationships that underpinned it. Chapter one reviews the historiographical discussion regarding the form and function of the magistracy and differing perspectives on the decline of paternalist governance. The two original case studies of Norfolk and Somerset, pursued throughout this thesis, are introduced in chapter two, which details their respective structures of government. This provides the foundation for a reappraisal of the ‘crisis of paternalism’ during the subsistence crises of 1795 and 1800-01, in chapter three, and the challenges posed to the magistracy during the Swing disturbances of 1830, considered in chapters four and five. By viewing protest through the structures of government that mediated social relationships, the full complexity of these interactions is revealed and a more nuanced picture of social conflict is made visible. Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Steve Poole and Dr. Madge Dresser for all their guidance, criticism, and patience; and all my colleagues in History at UWE who have supported my endeavours and given me every opportunity to succeed. Thanks are also due to the ever-helpful staff of the National Archives at Kew, the Norfolk and Somerset County Record offices, the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, the Norfolk Millennium Library, and my former colleagues at Bath Central Library. Special thanks go to the Earl of Oxford and Asquith and John D’Arcy for allowing me access to the records held at Mells Manor. I am also indebted to my friends and colleagues at Gloucestershire Archives and the Victoria County History for Gloucestershire. Whilst that county has not been considered in this study, the experience of working at the Alvin Street archives was invaluable in understanding the wealth of material and approaches that can be utilised in local studies. For the stimulating conversations, often under slightly odd circumstances, and the opportunities these have afforded, I am also grateful to Katrina Navickas, Iain Robertson, Carl Griffin, and James Baker. Finally, the greatest debt is owed to my family. To my husband and my son for putting up with me; to my mother, Dr Karen Wallis, for the excellent example she has set; and to my father Bill. It will always be regretted that he did not see me complete this study, having read and discussed so much of my work in its early stages. This thesis is dedicated to him. Contents Part I Introduction: protest, social relationships and structures of government 7 A Note on Sources 1. ‘Rulers of the county’: the form and function of the English Magistracy, c. 1790- 1835 20 1. The Magistrate and the Commission of the Peace 2. The justices and local government 3. The development and decline of the magistracy, c. 1790-1835. 4. Histories of the magistracy 2. Mapping the Magistracy, c. 1790-1830 53 1. Somerset and Norfolk 2. The County Commissions of the Peace 3. Structures of Government 4. The Social Composition of the Magistracy 3. The Magistracy and the crisis of paternalism, 1795-1801 107 1. The nature and location of protest 2. Responses to Protest: Relief, Charity and ‘official’ paternalism 3. Responses to Protest: suppression and the civil authorities 4. The use of the courts Part II: the Magistracy and Swing 164 4. Rural War versus the Spectre of Swing 170 1. Swing in Context: Norfolk and Somerset 2. Suppressing Swing 5. ‘The protection of the local authorities’: Prosecuting Swing in Norfolk and Somerset 1829–1834 208 1. The Context of Prosecution 2. The Special Commissions: the example of Wiltshire 3. Prosecuting Swing in Norfolk and Somerset 4. The aftermath 6. Conclusions: structures of government, protest and the magistracy 252 Appendices 262 Bibliography 286 Graphs and Tables included in the text 1 Size and Growth of the County Commissions 1680-1830 65 2 Number Qualified as a percentage of the Commission 67 3 The Timing of Qualification: writs of dedimus potestatem taken out in Somerset and Norfolk between 1790 and 1830 68 4 The Number of Qualified Magistrates Somerset and Norfolk 69 5 Number of active magistrates in six counties 1830 and 1831 70 6 Number of hundreds without a resident magistrate 71 7 Most common number of justices per hundred 71 8.a. Committals made by a magistrate within his hundred of residence 73 (Norfolk) 8.b. Committals made in the hundred of residence or adjacent hundred 73 (Norfolk) 9 Pattern of County Quarter Sessions sitting in Norfolk c. 1800-1830 74 10 Justices at Norfolk Sessions 1790-1832 74 11.a. Committals made by a magistrate within his hundred of residence 76 (Somerset) 11.b. Committals made in the hundred of residence or adjacent hundred 76 (Somerset) 12 Justices at Somerset Sessions 1790-1832 79 13 Borough Magistrates in Somerset, c. 1812-1833 85 14 Borough Magistrates in Norfolk, c. 1812-1833 85 15 Occupation of Borough Justices 86 16 Social Composition of the Commission of the Peace: Norfolk 89 17 Social Composition of those most active at Quarter Sessions: Norfolk 89 18 Indications of Social Status: Norfolk 90 19 Social Composition of the Commission of the Peace: Somerset 96 20 Social Composition of those most active at Quarter Sessions: Somerset 97 21 Indications of Social Status: Somerset 98 22 The nature and location of crowd actions in Somerset 1795-6 113 23 The nature and location of crowd actions in Norfolk 1795 114 24 The nature and location of crowd actions in Norfolk, 1800-01 120 25 The nature and location of crowd actions in Somerset, 1800-01 121 26 Responses to Protest: Norfolk 130 27 Responses to Protest: Somerset 130 28 Prosecuting Courts in Norfolk 147 29 Prosecuting Courts in Somerset 147 30 Charges (Norfolk) 148 31 Verdicts (Norfolk) 149 32 Sentencing (Norfolk) 149 33 Charges (Somerset) 150 34 Verdicts (Somerset) 150 35 Sentencing (Somerset) 150 36 Number of incidents associated with Swing in Norfolk and Somerset, October to December 1830 174 37 Cases characterized as ‘Swing’ offences January 1829-October 1830 211 38 Numbers tried for Swing offences 1831, disaggregated by court 225 39 Sentencing at Quarter Sessions 1831 (Norfolk and Somerset) 236 40 Perceived causes of the disturbances of 1830-1831 from responses to the Poor Law Commissioners 244 Maps in the text 3.1 Crowd Actions and Related Incidents: Somerset, 1795 116 3.2 Crowd Actions and Related Incidents: Norfolk 1795 117 3.3 Crowd Actions and Related Incidents: Norfolk 1800-01 118 3.4 Crowd Actions and Related Incidents: Somerset 1800-01 119 4.1 Swing Incidents: Norfolk 182 4.2 Swing Incidents: Somerset 183 Abbreviations Al. Cant. Alumni Cantabrigienses Al. Oxon. Alumni Oxonienses BCL Bath Central Library CCED Clergy of the Church of England Database NHER Norfolk Historic Environment Record NRO Norfolk Record Office ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography PP Parliamentary Papers SRO Somerset Record Office TNA The National Archives WSHC Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre Word Count, excluding front matter, footnotes and appendices: 79, 233 Introduction: protest, social relationships and structures of government The period 1790-1834 marked a profound change in English society. The experience of war, economic crises, and political agitation strained, altered and redefined social relationships. According to Edward Thompson, one of the most influential contributors to this field, the interests of both ruler and ruled were consolidated, in opposition, in this context.1 The ‘particular equilibrium between paternalist authority and the crowd’ - a social relationship that secured the rule of the landed class via an accommodation of popular culture and expectations, and a shared understanding of mutual obligations - collapsed.2 The processes of societal change in this period, and the significance of popular collective action in particular, continue to be the subject of much research and debate. Following an agenda for the study of social protest set by Thompson, Roger Wells and Andrew Charlesworth, much has been accomplished in terms of history from below. However, we still lack detailed studies of the responses of authority to popular protest.3 This thesis seeks to address this deficit through a study of the magistracy and the ways in which they dealt with social protest. Focused on two regional case studies of the magistracy in Somerset and Norfolk, it considers how the structures of county government shaped the complex, and often contradictory, responses to popular unrest.