Tagged with Punishment
Resource : Figures by Chelsea Waterworks, London, observing the fires of the Gordon Riots, 7 June 1780
The Gordon Riots were a series of anti-Catholic protests which took place in London between 2 and 9 June, 1780. The protests began peacefully but descended into chaos. Crowds paralysed the city with an unparalleled level of violence, with rioters attacking and setting fire to official buildings and people’s homes. The riots are considered by some historians as being the closest Britain has ever come to a full-scale revolution, and shocked fellow European powers.
Resource : Bone ship model
During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, prisoner exchanges between Britain and France only occurred rarely, meaning large numbers of captives were held for long periods in each country. French prisoners in Britain were often invited or compelled to practice crafts, and manufactured many intricate models made from bones and other recycled goods.
Resource : Tipstaff used to arrest Dic Penderyn during the Merthyr Rising
This is part of a metal-tipped stick of the sort carried by constables in the 1800s. It was used in 1831 during the arrest of Dic Penderyn who was wrongly convicted and hanged for stabbing a soldier during the Merthyr Rising in South Wales.
Resource : Tolpuddle Martyrs Sculpture
In 1834, six farm workers were arrested and transported to Australia as a result of banding together to improve the miserable wages of farm labourers. The maltreatment of the ‘Tolpuddle Martyrs’, as they became known, helped pave the way for the creation of trade unions and the protection of employees’ rights.