1885 ELECTIONS
Until 1832, only freeholders with land
worth 40 shillings a year and free of charges, had the right to vote and
there was tremendous opposition for centuries to the idea of ordinary
people being allowed the franchise. Even in the Reform Act of 1832, it was
extended only to £50 copyholders in the counties and in the towns
householders with property worth £10 or more, which left out the majority
of people. The Second Reform Act of 1867 brought many working men in the
towns into the franchise, but it wasn't until 1885 that villagers enjoyed
the same rights. This of course applied only to men, and women had to wait
until the 20th century to achieve equality.
In Clavering, as in many villages, the
December 1885 elections were therefore a cause of enormous excitement to working
men who had the precious vote for the first time, and were being wooed by both
political parties, the Tories and the Whigs. Both parties organised political
rallies in Clavering, and both were well attended. About 300 agricultural
labourers attended the Tory meeting which was held in a large barn lit by oil
lamps to hear various speeches, which were listened to with little interruption.
The price of bread was a strong theme, and the speaker also said his party were
less war-mongering: the Liberals had engaged in 23 wars, but the Tories in only
7 wars in the previous 50 years
The Liberal meeting, held in the British School, was a much livelier affair,
described as 'the largest political gathering that ever took place in this
village', with the room packed to the doors. The guest speaker was the Liberal
candidate for Saffron Walden division, Herbert Gardner, who lived at Debden
Hall. At the end there were three cheers for the Queen, the Prime Minister
Gladstone and Mr. Gardner. Mr Gardner won the seat and remained at Westminster
for many years afterwards. But after the polls closed, the atmosphere was
something like the after-effects of a football match today – there was almost a
riot at Radwinter, lively goings-on in Newport, a mob on the rampage at Stansted
and at Clavering a riot centred on the Fox & Hounds public house.
In the thick of it all was have-a-go hero George Miller, lodging at the Fox, who
was County Court bailiff at Bishops Stortford. He tried to stop the riot and was
hit with a stick: ‘I saw all the defendants standing outside in the road,
throwing mud and stones at the windows... smashing all the panes of glass in the
tap room... 43 panes’. The roof and walls were also damaged. One big stone
thrown in had almost landed on a baby asleep in a bassinnette, and the
landlord’s wife, soon to have another baby, had fainted: ‘The house was
completely wrecked, and Mrs. Coleman had to be carried upstairs'.
Clavering had a village policeman, PC Frederick Faulkner but he took his time,
summoning reinforcements before wading in with three other officers. All was
confusion, and it was hard to see in the dark who was doing what. The trial was
equally confusing - some gave alibis for their mates - they were down the
Princess of Wales or elsewhere, so it can’t have been them throwing stones,
m’lud. Three men (Wombwell, Chesham and D Kemp) were acquitted for lack of
evidence but the other five were fined a total of £3.6s. damages or costs, or
one month in prison.
They get off lightly really - a generation earlier Clavering men involved in a
far less violent ‘riot’ had been set to the treadmill - but then the ‘Swing’
riots had been a threat to the status quo, whereas this was seen as high
spirits. Even the prosecutor admitted their over-excitement was understandable
since ‘most of them had become voters for the first time.’
Today election fever passes us by – indeed many people don't bother to vote at
all - and we have forgotten the pioneering efforts once made to give people the
basic human right of taking part in democracy, and the excitement that
surrounded elections.
© Jacqueline Cooper 2003
Note: this article is based on one published earlier in the Clavering & Langley
Parish News and is reproduced with the permission of the editor.
