George Dewhurst (8 August 1789 â 14 August 1857) was an English Radical, reformer and reedmaker, best known for his contribution towards working class Radicalism in the first half of the 19th century and reform in his home town of Blackburn.
George Dewhurst was born in the English town of Blackburn on 8 August 1789, one of seven children of George Dewhurst the elder and his wife Ann Hanson. His father was a whitesmith and grocer of the town.
George Dewhurst married Ann Green in February 1810 and the couple had four children together (Hanson, Alice, George and Mary) before Ann's untimely death in 1816. He married his second wife, Alice Hitchen, in November 1823.
A reedmaker by trade, an occupation that produced reeds for the weaving and calico industry, Dewhurst remained in this line of work for a large part of his life, despite the increasing development of machinery taking over this traditionally handcrafted process -reeds originally made from strips of reed became replaced by flattened brass and steel wire and began to be made by machinery.
George Dewhurst could scarcely have been born at a time more resonant with the hope and possibility of betterment for the poor, together with the fear, despair and anger that such change would never be realised. It was a time ripe for a man such as George Dewhurst, whose life was to be defined by fighting against injustice and reforming the conditions of the working men, women and children of his hometown of Blackburn.
The French Revolution began the year of Dewhurst's birth, and the possibility of a similar upheaval befalling the established order in England must have been occupying the thoughts and haunting the dreams of the privileged. The prevailing sense of corruption in politics (such as the rotten and pocket boroughs denying proper representation of people's grievances) was compounded by the financial constraints caused by the end of the Napoleonic War, the tariffs and trade restrictions of the Corn Laws and the burden of taxation. Throughout the country there was an increase in British political radicalism and restlessness to improve the lot of the working poor.
In addition to the general maladies affecting the country as a whole, workers in areas such as Blackburn, dependent so much on cotton, were threatened continually with the onward march of industrialisation in the factories and the fluctuations in the price of raw materials. As Abram points out:
It was this upheaval that prompted those like George Dewhurst to act, and he did so with increasing fervour. He became involved in a number of meetings that Radicals like him hoped would persuade the authorities to improve conditions. He promoted an open-air meeting at Factory Hill in 1816 - to urge an extension of the franchise and a repeal of the Corn Laws - and a number of others in the three years that followed. He became "by dint of earnestness, downrightness, and the use of plain, forceful Saxon words" someone who "understood and felt by the most illiterate of his hearers".
This agitation and confrontation with the authorities was to come to a head on 16 August 1819 in what is now known as the Peterloo Massacre where a cavalry charge into a crowd of several thousand people in Manchester led to the deaths of eighteen people and the injury of many hundreds of others.
Though no doubt aware of the tragedy in Manchester (and possibly present at the event although that is currently unknown) Dewhurst still attended and addressed a further meeting of Radicals only three months later (15 November 1819) at Habergham Eaves near Burnley and was soon after arrested on a charge of high treason. Abram contends that simultaneous to the events in Manchester the Government was determined to deal a blow to other Radical leaders and that the Magistrates of the Blackburn Hundred had been keeping a close eye on Dewhurst as one of the most egregious facilitators of the revolt.
A number of newspapers, both local and national, recorded the arrest of Dewhurst and his co-accused. The Blackburn Mail (8 December 1819):
The following day, following further questioning at Preston by Colonel Hargreaves. Dewhurst, Fletcher, Adamson and Hargreaves were committed to Lancaster Gaol on a charge of High Treason.
The consequent trial took place on 1 April 1820 at Lancaster Assizes under Mr Justice Bayley with George Dewhurst being sentenced to two years imprisonment at Lancaster Gaol. As recorded in the delivery of Gaol documents at the end of the two years Dewhurst was further instructed to find sureties of ã40 and enter into recognizance to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for three years longer.
Dewhurst petitioned Parliament in May 1820 regarding his ill-treatment complaining that he had been made to do hard labour and "compelled to wear the felon's dress". This is just one indication of the hardship that he endured during his imprisonment, further insights can be gained from a letter he wrote in August 1821 from his cell at Lancaster. Although the full text of the document is no longer available, Abram in his book on Blackburn Characters provides a number of extracts that give an idea of what Dewhurst is enduring.
A friend of Dewhurst, C. Cottam (a fellow Reedmaker) had visited him in gaol and was horrified at the thought of human beings having to spend years in such conditions and having to be "confined within a yard about twenty yards long and ten broad."
Perhaps most moving is the copy of a petition he had sent to the Annual Meeting of County Justices held in Preston in June 1821 in which hopes for his sentence to be commuted:
Dewhurst was finally released in the Spring of 1822 and must have welcomed the opportunity to return home and be reunited with his children. He must have also been aware of the stipulation made when sentenced to keep the peace and be of good behaviour. A widower before he was imprisoned, he married Alice Hitchen on 9 November 1823 and returned to reedmaking.
The deprivations of prison however did not keep Dewhurst quiet for long. Three years later he was again speaking on behalf of the poor, specifically on the evil of taxation:
He then made a reference to his imprisonment, and its injustice:
However, the feeling of indignation in this speech and the prevailing sense of injustice it spoke of foreshadowed not further attempts at reform in Blackburn but the determination to start anew in the United States.
Between 1826 and 1827 there was renewed distress in Blackburn and great difficulty in trade. This depression left only about one third of the population around Blackburn in work and the consequent hardship led inexorably to robberies and even mob violence including an attack on the house of the clerk to justices and passengers on market coaches. Gooderson further records that a large crowd destroyed power looms in Accrington and Blackburn and fatalities occurred in a conflict between soldiers and rioters outside a mill in Grimshaw Park.
The privations endured by the poor around Blackburn (and doubtless similar towns) were truly severe:
It is likely as a result of this difficulty (and possibly to start a new life for himself now that his imprisonment was behind him) that George Dewhurst made the decision to set sail to America. One certainly gets the feeling that he would not be sorry to escape contact with what he described (only the year before he left for America) as "the pestilential breath of the English Parliament".
He was certainly not the only inhabitant of Blackburn to make such a decision. An article in the Blackburn Mail comments on increasing numbers travelling to America to seek better conditions, but warns that things might not always be as positive as they seem:
It is known that George Dewhurst travelled from Liverpool on 22 July 1822 to New York on the 'Dalhousie Castle', a "fine fast-sailing ship" of 470 tons with accommodation for passengers that were "extensive and very comfortable", and "with beds and bedding at the ship's expense". Dewhurst arrived in America on 6 September 1827 but so far no more is known of his time there, or the exact date of his return to Blackburn (although this cannot have been later than 1830). It seems that Dewhurst met with little success in the United States, and Abram reports that some of his old neighbours made fun of him for having discovered that the "American Republic was no better than, if so good as, king-lord-squire-and-parson-ridden England". Dewhurst himself said on his return to England that he had found plenty of 'black coats' (persons who lived without working) in America, in truth more than in England.
Upon his return, perhaps after a short respite, Dewhurst once again involved himself in the political fray as was reported by another Blackburn citizen Thomas Rogerson who reported his activities to the then Home Secretary Robert Peel in November 1830:
The approbation of Rogerson did little to diminish Dewhurst's enthusiasm for reforming politics and he was to go on to play a significant role in the future political and social development of Blackburn.
Across the country inequalities in society and the suffering of the populace created a longing for reform that was both pressing and widespread. The memory of earlier revolutions in France and America, together with the hardships caused by the Corn Laws exacerbated the situation, as did the growing cause of Radicalism. The authorities responded to these threats to the status quo with greater repression and the use of spies to root out dissent. The clamour for reform would not be subdued however and another revolution in France in July 1830 strengthened the argument that reform was necessary to prevent a similar event from happening in England .
Schama argued that the view previously held by the political elite - that they could calm the populace with repressive measures alone, without the need to make any reforms - had collapsed. The argument now was simply to decide the "wisest means of self-preservation", and it was determined that the best way to achieve this was to extend the franchise through electoral reform. After some parliamentary wrangling the Great Reform Act of 1832 was passed. An indication of the demand for such legislation was evident when a setback in 1831, which looked like it might scupper the Act, led to widespread riots and demonstrations throughout the country. This included Blackburn, where petitions in favour of the Reform bill had been raised and "inflammatory speeches" were made at the Political Union which met weekly .
Some Radicals opposed the bill as they felt it did not go far enough (a leading example being Henry Hunt, who became known as "Orator Hunt" after his speech at Peterloo. George Dewhurst however strongly supported the Act, so much so that he was willing to work with those who might be considered political rivals to help bring it about. At a meeting at Blakey Moor in Blackburn to support the bill he walked arm-in-arm with William Feilden (the local Conservative). The event was recorded by Durham :
Dewhurst's support for the bill came at the cost of a disagreement with his friend the aforementioned Henry Hunt. Hunt suggested that Dewhurst had, at least for a time, "deserted the working classes, and joined his more opulent neighbours by supporting the Reform Bill" . The disagreement is recollected in The Preston Chronicle which recalls Dewhurst congratulating a Blackburn audience on the passing of the Bill which he regarded as a stepping stone to further reform. Apparently Hunt was "stung to the quick" by this remark and argued that the Reform Bill would prove to be "one of the worst measures ever passed for the working classes .." .
Dewhurst further emphasised the ongoing progress of reform in a speech made at a reform meeting in Blackburn in August 1835 and quoted by Lewis :
Whatever reservations were harboured by Hunt, the Reform Act of 1832 brought significant changes to the electoral system of the United Kingdom including extending the franchise to Blackburn as a two-member constituency. This was a significant step forward in the fight for universal suffrage, notwithstanding the fact that only those who had property at a rateable value of ã10 and above were eligible to vote (thus excluding the majority of men and all women). It can be imagined that Dewhurst felt that having representation for the town at a national level could only be advantageous.
Following the election Dewhurst spent years serving on the town's Improvement Commission, often in the role of chairman. His work provides a fascinating glimpse into the unglamorous but wholly necessary business of civic improvement. In some ways the smaller, quieter battles of the committee were just as important to improving the lot of his fellow citizens as his struggles of yesteryear. The Blackburn Standard of 12 August 1846 reported on the regular Friday meeting of the Commissioners in the Sessions Room in Blackburn. George Dewhurst was in the chair and that single meeting covered:
In such a way George Dewhurst dutifully kept on the work of local improvement and common justice. The passion of the early days that let to his imprisonment may have become more measured, but his commitment to those he felt compelled to serve remained as strong as ever.
Dewhurst was a member of Blackburn's Improvement Commissioners for many years before the town was incorporated and in 1851 was elected to the first Town Council. He was to represent the ward of St Pauls until he died in 1857.
His appeal to voters to be their representative was both humble and effective:
Although baptised and married in the Church of England, George Dewhurst was a self-confessed dissenter of the Unitarian tradition (at least in 1832, it is possible that his views changed in later life).
One might be forgiven for thinking that the demand for womenâÂÂs suffrage began with Emmeline Pankhurst and the formation of the Suffragette movement in the early 20th century. However, as early as the 18th century Mary Wollstonecraft had argued for women to share the same political rights as men. Agitation to obtain voting rights for women also figured in the reform movement in the first half of the 19th century alongside the demand for the extension of the vote for men. During this time a number of female reform societies were set up, with the first being established in June 1819 in DewhurstâÂÂs home town of Blackburn. Radical meetings also began to encourage women to vote with men for or against resolutions by a show of hand, adding support to the notion that women as well as men had the right to be represented.
In 1832 Henry Hunt (a friend of George Dewhurst) presented a petition to parliament on behalf of a Yorkshire woman from Leeds named Mary Smith. SmithâÂÂs petition argued two primary points: one that as she paid taxes she should not be excluded from the election of a representative that would be responsible for spending them and secondly, as she was subject to the punishments of the law (not excepting execution) she ought to have a voice in making them. Smith also made the point that in the latter case it seemed unfair that both judges and jurors were all male. The petition was met with ridicule as can be seen in the response of Sir Frederick Trench who argued that if a jury made up half of males and half females were locked up together âÂÂ⦠as now often happened with juries. This might lead to rather queer predicamentsâÂÂ.
It might be assumed that Dewhurst, with his early connection with the radical movement and his friendship with Hunt, would have been prepared for and sympathetic to the cause of womenâÂÂs suffrage. This doesnâÂÂt seem to have been the case as LewisâÂÂs discovery of a speech made by Dewhurst and recorded in the Bolton Chronicle in February 1831 makes clear:
<blockquote>In the marriage vow the woman gave up her rights to her husband; and he from that time became responsible for their exercise (hear). If it [the vote] were extended to females, it might create disturbance in many families, as the husband and wife might be at variance as to the candidate whom they ought to support. </blockquote> <blockquote>(Laughter.) He was aware that women were as capable of judging either in political or religious matters as men; and in most matters they were far superior to them, being more virtuous, more sober, and more persevering than men. He thought, however, that it would be quite sufficient it the franchise were extended to men. </blockquote>
George Dewhurst died at his home on Queen Street on 14th of August 1857 of kidney disease and was buried five days later at Blackburn Cemetery. He was still a Councillor of the town on the day of his death.
Dewhurst's contribution to the cause of reform couldn't have been more clearly articulated than in a letter from Mr John Sparrow that was read out at a meeting held at the White Bull Inn in Blackburn in 1857. The meeting was held to consider the possibility of erecting a memorial to Dewhurst and was chaired by Mr Alderman Rutherford. Mr Sparrow was unable to attend as "magisterial matters prevented his attendance" but his letter expressed his view that no man had "laboured more earnestly" than Dewhurst "during the whole of his life in the cause of reform and social progress".
The resolution adopted by the meeting was glowing in its praise:
The meeting was concluded with a "display of cordial and enthusiastic feeling", and a vote of thanks to the chairman .
Unsurprisingly the people of Blackburn went on to commission a monument to Dewhurst at the cemetery and in April 1858 the Blackburn Standard reported that it had been erected. It was the first public monument in the cemetery at that time, completed by the builder John Hacking and stood about 17 feet in height . It was reported that when first erected the monument was "conspicuous from a considerable distance" .
The monument is inscribed with the following:
George Dewhurst's contribution to the cause of reform was clearly recognised before and shortly after the time of his death. His memorial in Blackburn Cemetery has already been mentioned, but he also received a fine silver cup from fellow Radical reformers with the inscription:
The cup can currently be seen in Blackburn Museum.
Shortly after Dewhurst's death a small drinking fountain made of Peterhead granite was inserted in the west wall of the market house with the inscription "1858. Erected by the friends of the late George Dewhurst". It was later moved beneath Darwen Street railway bridge and then (following the prompting of Margery Woods, one of Dewhurst's descendants) to Fleming Square.
Despite the acclaim that George Dewhurst enjoyed during his lifetime as "one of Blackburn's most remarkable sons", recognition of the importance of his role faded from memory over the decades that followed his death. More recently this recognition has been revitalised by the enthusiasm of those with a passion for local and family history. An online supporters group has been set up and has been influential in bringing Dewhurst's role to much greater prominence. The aforementioned silver cup was successfully acquired through crowdfunding, and members share memories of George Dewhurst and his ancestors and act to preserve his memory.
Recently Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery held a George Dewhurst day and Dewhurst descendants have also announced that they have put in an application to have a road named after George Dewhurst which has now been put into effect.
An animation was created in celebration of George Dewhurst by the BA (Hons) student Bee Joy ()