Election Riots - Rotherham and Wath, 24th July, 1865
The town of Rotherham was entirely in the hands of a furious mob for several hours, until the arrival of the 15th Hussars from Sheffield enabled the police to make head against the rioters. There are conflicting accounts of the origin of the disturbances, but most of the accounts agree in imputing blame to the police, who used their truncheons upon the crowd when there was hardly a show of necessity. The crowd that was assembled in High Street and Westgate, two very narrow thoroughfares, manifested marked hostility to the Conservative colours, and so strong were their feelings that it was said a bit of blue in the sky would have been objected to. Nothing daunted, however, a man named Walker made a wager that he would ride through the crowd wearing the obnoxious colours. He made the attempt and was, of course, 'bonnetted' and knocked about. The police interfered, most unwisely, used their truncheons, and the crowd becoming exasperated charged down upon them and drove them pell-mell into the gateway of the Crown Inn.
Then the stone throwing began, and did not cease until the large hotel was, as to its exterior, a complete wreck. The mob then wrecked the shop of Mr. Evans hairdresser and hatter, leaving scarcely a trace of the framework of the window; they broke the windows of a jeweller name Taffinder; those of the Black Horse (a “blue house") and several other houses and shops in the street had their doors and windows and every pane of glass smashed. The mob procured stones from a new road near to the station, and threw them in hundreds. The police superintendent, Mr. Gillett, was severely cut on the head, and several of his men were injured by the brickbats. They were besieged in the Crown Inn, and could not prevent the crowd from breaking into one of the lower rooms and smashing all the furniture. In this state of things it was deemed advisable to get the assistance of the military, and a message sent to the Sheffield barracks was responded by the appearance of a troop of the 15th Hussars under Lieutenants Briscow and Bronne. The men rode into the town with drawn swords, and, as the crowd showed no disposition to disperse, Mr. G. W. Chambers, J.P., read the Riot Act, and then, the crowd being still obstinate, he and Major St. Leger (a justice) requested the soldiers to clear the streets. Dense masses of men and women filled High Street and all the side passages, and the appearance of the troopers, riding at a trot, with swords drawn, was received with loud yellling and groaning. The soldiers did their duty well, and bore the stone-throwing and taunts of the crowd in a very cool manner. They charged upon the dense mass of people, using the flat of their sabres and doing their utmost to drive away the excited crowd without having recourse to harsher measures. As the soldiers passed, the crowd came out of the passages and filled the streets in rear of them and began hooting and yelling and crying out 'Shame' to Mr. Chambers. That gentleman remained on horseback near the Crown Inn, and we can bear testimony to the forbearance which he showed during the dangerous crisis. Lieutenants Briscow and Bronne were in command of the Hussars and they distributed their men into two parties—one occupying High Street and the top of Westgate, and the other the open space near the Cattle Market, guarding the back entrance, to the Crown Inn. The men who were in High Street were constantly called upon to repel the rushes of the mob, who manifested great excitement, and we saw several stones thrown at the soldiers as they stood at the top of Westgate. The rioters had procured vast numbers of stones from the new road near to the Station,and they had used them in the attack upon the inns and shops in High-street.
Mr. Foljambe, M.P. was unceasing in his exertions to disperse the crowd, but he could do nothing. The presence of Sir Thomas White, who made himself rather conspicuous in the cleared space in between the Crown Inn and the top of Westgate, was loudly objected to by the mob, whose sympathies had nothing at all in common with the 'old Tory ' school of which the hon. baronet had recently declared himself a member. At 6 o’clock the stone throwing had ceased, but the streets were filled with dense crowds,who hooted and hissed the military most vigorously. We saw three separate attempts made to clear the street. The soldiers advanced at a trot upon the crowd, who fell back before them shouting and yelling defiantly. As soon as the soldiers reached the bottom of the street they faced about, and then the crowd surged up the road hooting and groaning and deriding the soldiers in a manner calculated very severely to try their temper. The men preserved their calmness wonderfully on the whole, but we saw several very heavy blows struck with the sabres (flat)and men fall beneath them. A terrible uproar at the top of the market attracted attention at this moment. The screams of women were heard amid the din, and men cried out that the soldiers were using their sabres. In another moment a mass of people, flying in terror and disorder, came up the narrow street, followed by about a dozen troopers, who were laying about them right and left with their sabres. A woman was knocked down and trampled upon, but that was done by the rush of the crowd. Portions of the flying rioters ran down High-street, and there came into collision with another detachment of cavalry. One of the officers made a final effort to clear the street, and his men advanced in line, driving the panic stricken rioters before them, forcng them out of the sheltered doorways and passages, with the points of their swords and in this manner several slight wounds were inflicted. One instance, however, where a severe wound was inflicted came under our notice. A man named Thomas David, of Parkgate, attempted to gain the shelter of the Black Horse doorway, but it was closed against him, and an officer of Hussars struck him twice through the upper part of the left arm with his sword. The weapon went clean through and injured the man’s chest, and it was said his lung was penetrated. He was apprehended by the police, who said he had been one of the foremost in the riot; but the man denied this, and said that he gave the officer no provocation whatever. A surgeon examined him, and found that he had received four stabs, and lost a great deal of blood. The private soldiers behaved in a very exemplary manner, but the patience of some of them was exhausted by the foolish obstinacy of the crowd, and the yelling and hooting that followed every movement which the crowd could construe into a retreat. They began to strike heavier blows with their sabres, and it would have needed very little, in the then excited state of both sides, to have caused a terrific scene If the crowd could have got arms.
About 40 captures were made, and the prisoners were temporarily lodged at the Crown Inn, but about 8 o’clock they were removed to the cells, under a strong escort of military and police. The crowd hooted and yelled, but the escort was too strong for them to dream of a rescue.
At Wath there was a serious disturbance, and it was not quelled until about 80 men arrived from Leeds.
The prisoners were brought up at the Rotherham Court house on Saturday and remanded until Tuesday, on charges of riot and destroying property. On Saturday the town was again in such an excited state that the military were again sent for.
Source: The Times newspaper