Law and disaster in Carlisle

Carlisle returned two Members of Parliament. There were three candidates Sir James Graham and Sir Philip Musgrave , both supported by the Lowthers and other established families in the area, and William James, a wealthy radical, who owned land near Carlisle.

The 1826 General Election took place against the national pressure for electoral reform and efforts to repeal the The Corn Laws, which supported farmers, but made food expensive. And  in the North West the very depressed state of the Cotton Industry.

“The distress which is so severely felt throughout the Cotton district is largely participated in this neighbourhood. Hitherto we have been pretty quiet, but the continuance of tranquillity is very doubtful…. We have very few military here; the castle, a very indifferent fortification, containing a large, number of arms and ammunition, is defended by about a dozen artillery man, and 60 raw recruits of the 55th foot”.

Morning Chronicle 5 May 1826

Never-the-less the “Carlisle Patriot” newspaper began its coverage of the election with the comment that on the Monday, “Carlisle is again involved in all the charming bustle of an election!”

Riot

The same edition carried a description of the riot on the next day. On Tuesday 9 June 1826, one candidate Sir Philip Musgrave a local landowner aged 26, decided to canvas the support of a Freeman, Mr Matthews at his weaving shop in Milbourne's Buildings on Shaddongate. At the time in Carlisle the only voters were the Freeman of the City, of which there were 695.

Shaddongate according to ‘The Carlisle Patriot’ newspaper was, “one of the suburbs of the city almost wholly occupied by gingham weavers.” Weavers whose businesses were struggling and who were directly affected by the high cost of food.”

Trapped

Musgrave and his small party found that Matthews was not alone, other weavers had joined the meeting. Musgrave was questioned on his views on the Corn Laws - Musgrave had voted against repealing them - as well as electoral reform and the national debt.

All seemed reasonably amicable, but, when the MP tried to leave, he found a crowd had gathered outside angry about his voting to keep the Corn Laws . As he and his friends passed through the crowd, stones were thrown. The MP and his party retreated to a nearby house. The crowd became an angry mob; and the house was besieged.

Some of the party escaped and raised the alarm.

Carlisle’s Mayor, William Hodgson, and a magistrate with some special constables set out to rescue Musgrave. They were met with stones. The Riot Act was read and the mob ordered to disperse. It did not.

A further attempt to reach Musgrave failed and soon the rescue party, including the Mayor, also had to take shelter in another house in Caldewgate. Again some of the party, got back over the Caldew. The army was now called out.

Raw Recruits

Carlisle Castle held the two Depot Companies of the 55th Foot. The 1820s saw the beginning of turning a rather decrepit medieval castle into the barrack complex that we see today, however this was a long process not completed until almost the end of the Century.

Depot Companies trained new recruits before they joined the rest of the Regiment. In 1826 the 55th Foot were in Cape Colony, that is South Africa. At this date regiments and their Depot companies in Britain moved round the country. It was a coincidence that fifty years later Carlisle Castle would be the permanent depot of the Regiment by then the 2nd Battalion of The Border Regiment.

According to the Carlisle Patriot of 10 June 1826 the detachment of the 55th that went to Sir Philip Musgrave’s help was 120 strong. The establishment of the two companies would have indeed been 120, but exactly 120 seems a little too neat. The 55th had arrived in Carlisle in June 1825 . The Carlisle Patriot newspaper noted that a large number of them were recruits:“…Some of them very young…”

The officer who would lead the men out to Shaddongate and who was presumably the senior officer of the Companies was Captain Alexander Gardner (Gardiner in the Carlisle Patriot and Gardner in the Army Lists). He had only been promoted to Captain in the previous year. He had joined the 55th in 1809 and was 26 years old.

Along with the 55th there was also a troop of the 5th Dragoon Guards and a small number of artillery men. The artillery detachment was commanded by Captain Thomas Luard. Louard was 30 years old.

The usual response to riots was to call out the Yeomanry but the urgency of the situation and the nearness of the Castle, led to the men at the Castle being called for. Ironically the trapped candidate, Sir Philip Musgrave, commanded a troop of the Westmorland Yeomanry. The Dragoons for some unknown reason stayed at the Castle, for now. The 55th Foot arrived along Irish Gate and were met with stones.

A member of the mob was quoted in the “Carlisle Patriot” as saying: “Oh the soldiers are only raw recruits and will soon beat them back.”

The Globe, a London newspaper, also had a low opinion of the men of the 55th. “Unfortunately for humanity, the soldiers engaged in this unhappy business are young in arms, and exhibited little of the coolness which is generally displayed by veterans.”

After a short period of uncertainty the soldiers were ordered to fix bayonets; prime their muskets and load ball. They then charged the mob. A witness described how the mob dispersed each time the men charged and when the soldiers stopped, gathered again and threw stones. Eventually Gardiner gave the order to fire down Shaddongate. Captain Luard, explained later that he had ordered his men to “aim high and do no harm.” It is not recorded if Gardiner did the same.

Witnesses described the army shooting as they charged the rioters. Around 30 shots were fired which suggests that this was directed and not volley fire. Witnesses also described men shooting down Queen Street, where the witnesses also said no stones had been thrown.

Tragedy

It soon became clear that shots had caused harm in Queen Street. Two people, Isabella Pattison and Mary Birril, were killed immediately and Robert Noble who died two weeks later from his wounds. Isabella Pattison was 14 years old and had taken refuge in a house that served as a school. Mary Birril was shot in the street. Robert Noble was watching events from a the window of his house. Some witnesses at the inquests into those killed, described one soldier standing on the dam, and aiming at houses in Queen Street. Musgrave was rescued.

The mob dispersed: the army returned to the Castle. Amidst the excitement the Mayor had been forgotten. Finally the 5th Dragoon Guards appeared on the scene and rescued William Hodgson and his party without apparently any drama.

Inquest

The inquest into the deaths of Isabella Pattison and Mary Birley found that their deaths:

“...Were occasioned by balls discharged from muskets by some soldier or soldiers belonging to the 55th Regiment of Foot. That in consequence of the Riot Act having been read, and the mob not dispersing, the soldiers were, in the first instance justified in firing their muskets; but the Jurors cannot refrain from expressing their opinion that they continued to fire in a very indiscreet and inconsiderate manner, and particularly at private houses, when the necessity for so doing seems to them to have ceased. That their deaths were in other respects accidental.”

Afterwards

The 55th left Carlisle in July for Scotland. In 1827 Alexander Gardiner exchanged his post with an officer on half pay, but in the 1828 Army list Gardiner is a Lieutenant again. By 1830 he has transferred from the 55th to the 32nd Foot. Gardiner died serving as a Captain with the 32nd during the Second Sikh War in 1849.

The Home Secretary, Robert Peel, used the sad event as further evidence that the country needed an organised police force. Mayor Hodgson had pointed out that Carlisle with a population of between

15,000 and 20,000 had two Constables.

There is a wonderful detailed account of the riots by Kevin Rafferty Rafferty, Kevin ‘Fire High and Do No Harm’, Thurnams, Carlisle, 2000.

The Editor