Sheep magazine Archive 2: issues 10-17

esist its attacks.....In this respect the population amongst whom we practice
are in a much worse state now than they were five or six years ago.’
It was in this climate that Rochdale as a town developed, and the drama
played out in the meeting halls and on the streets of the town over several
decades. Driven by a thirst for wealth and power the middle-class clashed
on ideologal grounds with the ruling upper-class Tories. Meanwhile, the
working-class fought to stave off starvation and learned how to organize
their considerable numbers against the overwhelming power of the rich and
powerful who controlled every aspect of their lives.
The political battle that ensued at the beginning of the 19th century was
no simple struggle. The often competing goals of the various classes were
inevitably intertwined. I will endeavour to unravel them but apologize in
advance for any oversimplification.
15
In 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon’s army was defeated and the
Twenty Years War came to an end. Having won the war, England faced
a serious problem at home. In fact, the country teetered on the brink of
revolution. Even before the war there had been unrest in the country . It was
in every respect a period of repression in which the condition of the poor
had steadily deteriorated. Exploited in factories by the new capitalists and on
the land by the old aristocracy, the frustrations of the poor often manifested
themselves in violence, notably bread riots in Rochdale. In 1791 a riot was
put down by the militia, on the order of magistrate Thomas Drake, resulting
in two deaths. Falling wages precipitated attacks on weavers’ cottages, and
in one incident in 1808, an angry crowd liberated several men, who had
been arrested, and burned down the ‘lock-up’ on Rope Street. In reaction to
October 2016