Pitt The Younger

Today I'm a guest on fellow Pen & Sword author Catherine Curzon's wonderful Georgian blog. William Pitt the Younger was a reforming spirit in his early days as a politician, but changed his mind in the aftermath of the turbulent French Revolution and war with France. Pitt became an implacable opponent of parliamentary reform, and his spies kept close watch on the corresponding societies which grew up to discuss Radical ideas like those of Thomas Paine.

Images: France; Freedom. Britain: Slavery

An unusual opposition print, 1789. On the left can be seen Jacques Necker, the French finance minister, in a land of 'Freedom’; on the right, Pitt rules over a land of ‘Slavery’. Courtesy Library of Congress, LC-USZC2-3583

Britannia between Scylla & Charybdis

Pitt steers a small boat carrying Britannia, The Constitution, towards a castle with a flag inscribed "Haven of Public Happiness". They are pursued by ‘sharks’ Sheridan, Fox, and Dr Priestley (the Radical). James Gillray, 1793.Courtesy Library of Congress, LC-USZC4-3137

Sir Francis Burdett: Radical Reformer

Following on from my first guest blog post on Geri Walton's website, the next stop on my blog tour is on the wonderful All Things Georgian website.

Sir Francis Burdett, the Radical reformer, was an outspoken critic of repression, in particular the Tory government's repeated suspensions of Habeas Corpus during this era. This 1809 print by James Gillray, titled 'True reform of parliament, or Patriots lighting a revolutionary bonfire’ shows Sir Frances Burdett waving a red cap of liberty while Horne Tooke sets fire to a mass of papers including the Bill of Rights, and an angry mob attacks parliament. The building shown ablaze on the far right is the old Westminster Hall. The Houses of Parliament really did burn down (by accident) in 1834, but luckily Westminster Hall survived.  Courtesy Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ds-01039.   

It's Peterloo time again

It's now over three years since my blog post that a permanent memorial was planned for the Peterloo victims.  The Peterloo Massacre Campaign has erected a temporary memorial today, not just to mark the occasion, but as a reminder to the council that the ordinary men, women and children who died that day- who were all attending a pro-democracy meeting, remember - still have no monument worthy of their sacrifice.

Image: Henry Hunt addressing the people of Manchester in 1819.  Cassell’s Illustrated History of England Vol. VI, (Cassell, Petter and Galpin, c.1864). Author's collection.