POLITICAL HISTORY 



and even went so far as to fire upon a small body of yeomanry, but then dispersed without doing 

 anything more. A number of arrests were made, and though no convictions appear to have been 

 obtained the authorities were able to suppress the manifestations of unrest for the time being. ^^ Three 

 years later, however, in March 1820, Huddersfield was again a centre of disturbance. A projected 

 attack on that town came to nothing, but an assembly of labourers on Grange Moor with intent to 

 attack Barnsley ended in the arrest of twenty-two men, who were persuaded to plead guilty and were 

 then transported for seven years.'^ In 1825 the Bradford district was the scene of a great strike of 

 woolcombers and weavers, who formed a union to the number of 20,000 members, and held out for 

 twenty-three weeks before they were beaten. ^^ The next year there was rioting at Bradford, 

 directed against the employment of machinery, but although the military had to be called out little 

 harm was done.^' Bradford was again the scene of riots in 1837 when the new Poor Law was 

 enforced,'* and there were Chartist outbreaks here and at Sheffield and Dewsbury in January 1 840." 

 The great distress prevalent during the summer of 1842 led to further rioting, Chartist mobs stopping 

 the mills in the neighbourhood of Leeds, close to which town they were dispersed by the police and 

 the Lancers, under command of Prince George of Cambridge. No less than two thousand persons 

 were committed to prison for rioting in Yorkshire at this time.'* The unrest continued for some 

 years and Bradford was concerned in Chartist rioting as late as May 1 848. Since that time the history 

 of the county has been mainly concerned with the growth of its manufacturing centres ; the strikes 

 and other industrial incidents belonging to the realm of Economic History, with which we are not 

 here concerned. 



As early as 1821 there was talk or enfranchising the town of Leeds in place of Grampound, 

 which for excessive corruption had lost its right to return members. The first proposal was that all 

 owners of property worth ;^io should have the vote ; the qualification was then raised to ^^20 and in 

 the end the House of Lords rejected the claims of Leeds to be represented but gave two extra 

 members to the county instead, Yorkshire thus returning four members.'* By the Reform Bill of 

 1832 Aldborough, Boroughbridge, and Hedon were disfranchised ; Northallerton andThirsk lost one 

 member each, while Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield, and Halifax obtained two members, and Huddersfield, 

 Wakefield, and Whitby one each." At the first election following, one of the two members for 

 Leeds was Thomas Babington Macaulay, the historian.-""* 



At the present time the North Riding is divided into the parliamentary divisions of Cleveland 

 Richmond, Thirsk with Malton, and Whitby ; the East Riding into Buckrose, Holderness and 

 Howdenshire ; the West into Barkston Ash, Barnsley, Colne Valley, Doncaster, Elland, Hallamshire 

 Holmfirth, Keighley, Morley, Normanton, Osgoldcross, Otley, Pudsey, Ripon, Rotherham, Shipley! 

 Skipton, Sowerby, and Spen Valley. Bradford and Hull return three members, Halifax and York 

 two each, Leeds five, Sheffield (with Atterclifie, Brightside, Ecclesall, and Hallam) five, while 

 Huddersfield, Middlesbrough, Pontefract, and Wakefield each return one member. 



Five regiments of the line have been associated with Yorkshire.^ The 14th, West Yorkshire 

 Regiment, of which the head quarters are at York, was raised by James 11 at the time of the 



Monmouth rebellion in 1685 but first saw service under William III, and on two occasions at 



Glenshiel in 1705 and at Culloden in 1745 — took part in the defeat of the Jacobites. Further 

 identification with the Hanoverian cause was shown when the badge of the White Horse was given 

 to the regiment by George III in 1765, for their good conduct when stationed at Windsor. They 

 earned great distinction during the Peninsular War, when they adopted « ^a ira ' as their regimental 

 quickstep. At Waterloo the battalion engaged was composed mainly of recruits, who proved worthy 

 of their regiment's traditions. Another battalion served in India from 1815 to 1826, and for its 

 gallantry at Bhurtpore received the colour honour of the tiger. In 1876 the 14th became 'the 

 Prince of Wales's Own,' and it has since done good service in South Africa, where the 4th battalion 

 of militia took part in the war. The 15th, East Yorkshire Regiment, stationed at Beverley was 

 raised at the same time as the 14th and has, if anything, a more distinguished record. Blenheim 

 (1704), Ramillies (1706), and Oudenarde (1708) are amongst their colour honours, and after the 

 storming of Louisburg in 1758 under Wolfe they assisted at the capture of Quebec, of which they 

 were put in garrison, their colonel being appointed governor. But after serving in the West Indies 

 they saw no more fighting till the war in South Africa, where they were joined by their volunteer 

 battalion. The 19th, Yorkshire Regiment, afterwards known as 'Alexandra, Princess of Wales's 

 Own,' stationed at Richmond, unlike the 14th and 15 th, was raised in the interest of William III 



'" T. Allen, Hist. Yorks. (1829), i, 206-8 ; Commons' Joum. Ixxiii, 778-80. 



" Schroeder, Ann. ofTorks. i, 226. " Ibid. 238. ra ThiM ■,,, 



»* Mayhall, Ann. of York, 449. ''^• 



»Mbid.46s. » Ibid. 483. " Ibid, c eg 



™ Schroeder, op. cit. i, 229. " Ibid. 250. 100 jujj ' 



' Rudolf, Short Hist, of Territorial Re^ments. 



3 43:^ 55 



