History of the Johnstones, 1191-1909, with ... - Electric Scotland

248
THE RIOTS
house he first met Dr Parr ; Charles Curtis, the Rector of Birmingham and
Solihull ; the Stewards ; and others well known as Tories and Churchmen. He
did not attend the dinner, but his house in Temple Row being very near, the
railings in front were pulled up and his windows broken by a few rioters
brought over from the mining districts to make a disturbance when the
Dissenters sat down to dine at three. They proceeded to demolish two
Meeting Houses, and to attack some shops with cries of "Down with the
! Dissenters " " Hurrah for Church and
!
King " till they were dispersed by
Mr Curtis. But the next day, led by the Town Crier, they were increased by
crowds in the town, and a mob accustomed to cock-fighting and bull-baiting
was sure to be a brutal one. The owners of threatened property tried to buy it
off with money, ale, beer, and expensive wines, but this made matters worse,
and for nearly a week there was a reign of terror, Tories and Churchmen
suffering as much as Dissenters.
It took the rioters two days to pillage Edgbaston Hall, for it was so
strongly built they could not burn it, though the occupant, Dr Withering, like
most physicians, was a philanthropist. His botanical and zoological specimens
were destroyed, while the old coachman sat crying helplessly in the coachhouse.
Dr Priestley's house and unique chemical laboratory and library were
burnt, but he and his family had already left it. Edward Johnstone 1 offered to
shelter him at Moor Green, a house he had just taken in Worcestershire, but as
Moseley Hall, the residence of Lady Carhampton, was burned down close by, Dr
Priestley thought it wiser to leave the neighbourhood. Washwood Heath,
Bordesley Hall, Spark Brook, Showell's Green, Baskerville House, and other
buildings were laid in ashes, and the rioters spread over the country to King's
Norton, Kingswood, The Leasowes, Hales Owen, Northfield, and Bromsgrove.
It is notable that the suburb occupied by manufacturers was unhurt. It was
not till the sixth day that any military arrived, but the respectable townspeople
were mustered under Captain Edward Carver, who arrested the leaders when
they were intoxicated, and produced something like order. Many house-
holders fled to Sutton Coldfield, for they could not trust their own servants.
There were no police in the country at that time, but the residents in
Birmingham had for two years past supported a night patrol, partly volunteers.
Many years later a single watchman kept guard over the whole parish of
Edgbaston. Colonel de Lancey, who first appeared with a troop, brought a
sympathising message from the King : " His Majesty heard with the greatest
concern of the terrible scenes that had taken place in his loyal and industrious
town. Such was His Majesty's anxiety to provide for its security that he had
given orders for a vast number of troops to march from different quarters for its
relief." On being assured that Captain Carver had quelled the riot, Colonel de
Lancey sent notice of it in the hope that the troops might be stopped, but the
1st Dragoon Guards and the nth Light Dragoons arrived the same night, and
were quartered on the inhabitants.
1 "A wise and worthy man," wrote Dr Parr of him to Lord Leicester, "whose firmness in
seasons of difficulty and danger would stand even comparison with your own."