The Coldbath Fields riot took place in

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...

, London, on 13 May 1833. The riot occurred as the Metropolitan Police attempted to break up a meeting of the

National Union of the Working Classes The Rotunda radicals, known at the time as Rotundists or Rotundanists, were a diverse group of social, political and religious radical reformers who gathered around the Blackfriars Rotunda, London, between 1830 and 1832, while it was under the mana ...

(NUWC). Figures for the number of police present at the varied between 70 and 600 officers; figures for members of the public who attended varied between 300 and 6,000. Both

Commissioners of Police of the Metropolis A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

, Sir

Charles Rowan Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Charles Rowan (' 1782 – 8 May 1852) was an officer in the British Army, serving in the Peninsular War and Waterloo and the joint first Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, head of the London Metropolitan Po ...

and Sir

Richard Mayne Sir Richard Mayne KCB (27 November 1796 – 26 December 1868) was a barrister and the joint first Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, the head of the London Metropolitan Police (1829–1868). With an incumbency of 39 years, he rem ...

, were present and two British Army officers stood by to summon military reinforcements if needed. It is disputed which side started the violence, but Rowan led a number of

baton charge A baton charge is a coordinated tactic for dispersing crowds of people, usually used by police, paramilitary or military in response to public disorder. In the Indian subcontinent, a long bamboo stick, called a '' lathi'' in Bengali, Hindi, ...

s that dispersed the crowd, and arrested the NUWC leaders. The crowd were pursued into side streets and a number were trapped in Calthorpe Street. Three police officers were stabbed and one, Constable Robert Culley, was killed. There were few serious injuries inflicted on members of the public. A

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

's jury ruled Culley's death was

justifiable homicide The concept of justifiable homicide in criminal law is a defense to culpable homicide (criminal or negligent homicide). Generally, there is a burden to produce exculpatory evidence in the legal defense of justification. In most countries, ...

as the police had failed to read the

Riot Act The Riot Act (1 Geo. 1. St. 2. c. 5), sometimes called the Riot Act 1714 or the Riot Act 1715, was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain which authorised local authorities to declare any group of 12 or more people to be unlawfully assembled ...

and been heavy handed in their dispersal of the crowd. This verdict was overturned by a government appeal to the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...

, but no-one was brought to trial for Culley's murder. George Fursey was charged with the wounding of the other two officers, but was acquitted by a jury at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

. The coroner's jury, who had been feted by the Radicals, complained to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. A select committee investigated the riot and largely exonerated the police, although it did note that Melbourne's declaration of the meeting as illegal was invalid as the document had not been signed.

Background

The Metropolitan Police had been founded in 1829, replacing a patchwork system of local night watchmen and

parish constable A parish constable, also known as a petty constable, was a Law enforcement agency, law enforcement Police officer, officer, usually unpaid and part-time, serving a Civil parishes in England, parish. The position evolved from the ancient ''headboroug ...

s who had struggled to maintain order in a rapidly-growing London. Most of the public were highly suspicious of the police, viewing them as an extension of the arm of the state and out of line with traditional English libertarian values. The reputation of the Metropolitan Police was affected by discipline issues and a high turnover of constables; Some publications derided the police as "raw lobsters" and "blue devils". By August 1830 the first two officers had been killed on duty. The English Radicals regarded the establishment of the police as an infringement of civil liberties, akin to the militarised

gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...

that existed in

Napoleonic France The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

. The British military had previously been used to break up public demonstrations. The

Peterloo Massacre The Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter's Field, Manchester, Lancashire, England, on Monday 16 August 1819. Eighteen people died and 400–700 were injured when the cavalry of the Yeomen charged into a crowd of around 60,000 people who ...

of 1819, in which 18 civilians were killed by the British military intervening in a political demonstration, was in recent memory. The

(NUWC), a political organisation associated with the Southwark-based

Rotunda radicals The Rotunda radicals, known at the time as Rotundists or Rotundanists, were a diverse group of social, political and religious radical reformers who gathered around the Blackfriars Rotunda, London, between 1830 and 1832, while it was under the mana ...

, called a meeting to be held on open ground behind

Coldbath Fields Prison Coldbath Fields Prison, also formerly known as the Middlesex House of Correction and Clerkenwell Gaol and informally known as the Steel, was a prison in the Mount Pleasant area of Clerkenwell, London. Founded in the reign of James I (1603–16 ...

on 13 May 1833. The aim of the meeting was to call for the extension of the

electoral franchise Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

to a wider section of the male public beyond the relatively wealthy. The NUWC had been disappointed by the

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the Reform Act 1832, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 45), enacted by the Whig government of Pri ...

which had led to a small increase in the franchise. The NUWC's secretary, John Russell, promoted the meeting in ''

The Poor Man's Guardian The ''Poor Man's Guardian'' was a penny weekly newspaper published in London, England by Henry Hetherington from July 1831 to December 1835. Hetherington published his ''Poor Man's Guardian'', a successor to his earlier (1830–31) penny daily ' ...

'' and '' The Working Man's Friend'', as well as with numerous handbills and posters in the weeks preceding it. Some of the handbills requested that attendees arm themselves. The

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

Lord Melbourne Henry William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (15 March 177924 November 1848) was a British Whig politician who served as the Home Secretary and twice as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. His first premiership ended when he was dismissed ...

declared the meeting illegal and Prime Minister Lord Grey ordered the Metropolitan Police to arrest the ring leaders should the meeting take place. Melbourne ordered the joint

, Sir

and Sir

, to break up the meeting. The commissioners queried the legal basis for Melbourne's order and met with him to discuss it. The police posted notices warning that the meeting was illegal and would be dispersed if it went ahead.

Riot

In the lead-up to the riot the police had infiltrated meetings of the NUWC and used the information gained to develop their tactics, but the police in general had little experience in dealing with public demonstrations. The occasion was the first major confrontation between the Metropolitan Police and a crowd. By mid-day some 300 members of the public had assembled for the meeting. It was not until almost 3 pm, around an hour later than publicised, that NUWC leaders began to address the crowd from the backs of open-topped wagons. By this time there may have been up to 4,000 members of the public at the meeting and up to 600 officers. Besides a contingent of around 200 police from A division (

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

) officers had been drafted in from other areas including more than 110 men from F Division (

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

) sent from

Bow Street police station Bow Street Magistrates' Court (formerly Bow Street Police Court) and Police Station each became one of the most famous magistrates' courts and police stations in England. Over the court's 266-year existence it occupied various buildings on Bo ...

and commanded by Superintendent Joseph Sadler Thomas. Both Metropolitan Police commissioners were present at the scene as well as two officers from the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

1st Regiment of Life Guards The 1st Regiment of Life Guards was a Cavalry regiments of the British Army, cavalry regiment in the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards and 1st Troop of Horse Grenadi ...

, dressed in civilian clothing but ready to summon a detachment of their unit if needed to assist the police. The police had orders to wait until the speakers began, before they broke up the crowd, so that the event could be confirmed positively as a NUWC meeting. Contemporary reports disagree on whether the police drew their batons before or after being attacked by the crowd. The police reported that the event was attended by "the lowest classes" who had armed themselves with knives, improvised lances, brickbats and cudgels. By one contemporary press report many of the police were drunk. It is known that Rowan led several

s against the crowd who threw stones at the police. Within five minutes of taking action the police had dispersed the crowd and arrested the leaders of the meeting, including James Lee, one of two men who addressed the assembly. The police made 21 arrests and a correspondent for the ''Times'' estimated that 50 civilians had been wounded. The crowd dispersed into nearby streets where the police's actions left some trapped. A portion of the crowd on Calthorpe Street attempted to fight their way clear. Around this time three of the police officers were stabbed. Sergeant John Brooks and Constable Henry Redwood were wounded while trying to take a flag from a demonstrator. In unknown circumstances Constable Robert Culley was stabbed in the chest. He staggered into the yard of the Calthorpe Arms

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

where he collapsed and died. Culley had been one of the first men to join the Metropolitan Police, carrying out his first patrol on 21 September 1829, at the age of 23. His wife was carrying their first child when he was killed.

Aftermath

Culley's death was subject to a

's inquest with a 15-man jury. This met, under Coronor for West Middlesex Thomas Stirling, in the upstairs room of the Calthorpe Arms, in the yard of which Culley had died. The jury were local shopkeepers and household heads, not considered to be Radicals. At the time magistrates, judges and juries were often biased against the police and the Culley inquest jury is considered to be one example of this. The jury did not accept the evidence presented by the police and ruled that the "conduct of the police was ferocious, brutal, and unprovoked by the people." The jury returned a verdict of

on 21 May on the basis that the

had not been read or the crowd asked to disperse. This verdict was challenged by the

Solicitor General for England and Wales His Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, known informally as the Solicitor General, is one of the law officers of the Crown in the government of the United Kingdom. They are the deputy of the Attorney General for England and Wales ...

Sir John Campbell and overturned by the

King's Bench Division The King's Bench Division (or Queen's Bench Division when the monarch is female) of the High Court of Justice deals with a wide range of common law cases and has supervisory responsibility over certain lower courts. It hears appeals on point ...

of the

on 30 May, being replaced by a verdict of "wilful murder by a person or persons unknown". Despite the new verdict there was no police investigation into Culley's death beyond a police surgeon determining that the knife used to stab Brooks and Redwood had not been used in the killing of Culley. George Fursey was charged with stabbing the other two officers but was acquitted by a jury in a criminal trial at the

on 4 July 1833. The British government, for the first time, paid £200 compensation to Culley's widow. The original jury wrote to parliament to protest the overturning of their verdict, alleging that the King's Bench judgment had cast a slur on their characters. They were supported by

William Cobbett William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an Agrarianism, agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restr ...

, a Radical Member of Parliament (MP), who was a notable critic of the police and alleged that they had used swords and guns, though there was no evidence of this in any injuries suffered by the crowd. In response a

select committee was established to examine the conduct of the police during the riot. It largely exonerated the police, noting that no "dangerous wound or permanent injury" had been suffered by members of the crowd. It heard from a Hackney magistrate that the police were "the most efficient and least offensive system for the protection of person and property that was ever devised". During the committee's sessions it was found that Melbourne had not signed the public notice outlawing the Coldbath Fields meeting and that meant the notice had no legal effect. Melbourne also told the committee that he had only wanted the ringleaders arrested and not for the crowd to be dispersed. Mayne disproved this as he had kept notes from the commissioners' meeting with Melbourne. The coroner's jury were feted by the public for their original verdict. Within days of their discharge their foreman, Samuel Stockton, was presented with a set of pewter medallions for all the jury members. These were engraved with the message "In honour of the men who nobly withstood the dictation of the coroner; independent, and conscientious, discharge of their duty; promoted a continued reliance upon the laws under the protection of a British jury". They were cheered in the streets and rewarded, in June, by the Milton Street Committee, a group of wealthy Radicals, with a boat trip along the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

on the steamer ''Endeavour''. Upon arrival they were met with a cheering crowd and honoured with a

gun salute A gun salute or cannon salute is the use of a piece of artillery to fire shots, often 21 in number (''21-gun salute''), with the aim of marking an honor or celebrating a joyful event. It is a tradition in many countries around the world. Histo ...

. A year after the riot the Milton Street Committee held a banquet at the Highbury Barn Tavern in honour of the jury. It was hosted by Radical MP Sir Samuel Whalley and attended by 150 people, including at least one other MP. Each juror was presented with a silver cup, after a toast to "The people, the only source of legitimate power" - one each of the cups is now in the collections of the Metropolitan Police's

Crime Museum The Crime Museum is a collection of Crime, criminal memorabilia kept at New Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, England. Known as the Black Museum until the early 21st century, the museum came into existen ...

and Police Museum. Stockton continued to be feted into the 1860s, with a dinner being held at the Benevolent Institution just off

Haverstock Hill Haverstock is an area of the London Borough of Camden: specifically the east of Belsize Park, north of Chalk Farm and west of Kentish Town. It is centred on Queens Crescent and Malden Road. Gospel Oak is to the north, Camden Town to the south. ...

and a 20-

guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

clock presented to him. Police Superintendent Thomas came in for criticism for "high-handedness" during the riot. He was suspended shortly afterwards over a dispute with a pub landlord about a licence application. Thomas left the Metropolitan Police later in 1833 to become deputy constable of

Manchester City Police The Manchester City Police (also known as the Metropolitan Manchester City Police and from 1842 to 1853 the Manchester Borough Police) was, from the early 19th century until 1968, the territorial police force of the city of Manchester, in norther ...

. Grey's Whig government came in for criticism in the Radical press for their actions in the lead-up to the riot. The Radicals accused the Whigs, who positioned themselves as a liberal party, of committing excesses of power comparable to those committed by the

Tories A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The T ...

at Peterloo.

Legacy

According to policing historian R. I. Mawby the killing of Culley may have caused an increase in public sympathy for the police, which led to their general acceptance of the institution. The riot was the only legal precedent for the police in dealing with public meetings until the 1870s. The police response to riots generally improved and there were few occasions when the military had to be called in. The

Metropolitan Police Act 1839 The Metropolitan Police Act 1839The citation of this Act by this short title was authorised by the Short Titles Act 1896, section 1 and the first schedule. Due to the repeal of those provisions it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interp ...

reformed London's police force and increased their numbers. Culley is one of only three Metropolitan Police officers whose deaths have been caused by rioting, the others being Station Sergeant Thomas Green in the 1919 Epsom riot and Police Constable

Keith Blakelock Keith Henry Blakelock King's Gallantry Medal, QGM, a London Metropolitan Police constable, was murdered on 6 October 1985 during the Broadwater Farm riot in Tottenham, north London. The riot broke out after Cynthia Jarrett died of heart failur ...

in the 1985

Broadwater Farm riot The Broadwater Farm riot occurred on the Broadwater council estate in Tottenham, North London, on 6 October 1985. The events of the day were dominated by two deaths. The first was that of Cynthia Jarrett, an Afro-Caribbean woman who died the p ...

. No-one was ever convicted of any of the deaths.

Notes

References

External links

* {{coord, 51, 31, 30, N, 00, 06, 53, W, display=title 1833 riots 1833 in London History of the Metropolitan Police May 1833 category:19th-century riots in London Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne Clerkenwell