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1840 - The Sheffield Rising
The Sheffield Rising
The working conditions in Sheffield at this time were desperate.
There was much unemployment, and those who could find jobs
often had to work twelve hours a day on very low wages.
Trade unions did exist to protect the rights of the workers,
but they were illegal, and so had to operate as sick clubs
and benefit societies.
Some workers believed that their plight would only improve
when the political system changed. In 1838 the People's Charter
appeared, which demanded, among other things, that:
 At this time the working class could not vote, and no women
were allowed to vote, and only men with property could stand
for Parliament.Those who supported the People's Charter were
called the Chartists.The Chartists held a number of protest
meetings between 1835 and 1839, which became increasingly
violent as their opinions were ignored. In August 1839, the
First Royal Dragoon Guards were called out of their Hillsborough
barracks to put down a riot in Sheffield.
The Chartists became more desperate and arranged a rising
that would take place on 12 January 1840. Their plan was to
plunder the gun shops, seize the Town Hall and kill all the
policemen and troops who opposed them.
But the police found out about the plot and arrested the
Chartist leader, Samuel
Holberry, at midnight on the eve of the rising.
Samuel Holberry was sentenced to four years' imprisonment
and sent to Northallerton prison. Prison conditions were very
harsh and even though he was not sentenced to hard labour,
spent five weeks on the treadmill. He also spent many months
in solitary confinement and had to work to earn his food.
 Holberry did not serve his full sentence because he died
of consumption at York Castle in June 1842. He was given a
martyr's funeral in the Sheffield General cemetery.
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