Midlands Hunger Riots 1766

The Autumn of 1766 saw the worst period of civil unrest in the English Midlands since the revolution. The disruption of markets, the smashing of mills, the forced redistribution of foodstuff and attacks on hoarders that ensued followed the same pattern of popular protest that European peasantry had been making for centuries.

At the time the country was experiencing a severe economic depression that would last three years. There had been a very wet Summer followed by an equally dry Autumn and this had resulted in failed crops throughout Europe. Despite growing poverty amongst the rural population, the urban rich – especially in booming London – continued to demand grain in which to trade. In a poorly judged intervention, the government soon lifted its embargo on exports; blaming the middlemen for rising prices. There was an expectation that prices would return to normal, but soon the grain market began to take on an usually high level of  importance as national newspapers began to report prices with the same watchful eyes as they would bank or company stocks. It seems that the peasantry expected prices to be lowered to protect them, but when this didn’t happen their disillusionment increased the social pressure which led to rioting. It was clearly a case of the provincial, rural poor having to starve to feed the increasing, unchecked consumption of the urban rich. In this way it is easy to be reminded of the boat loads of food leaving Ireland during the Great Famine (1845-1852).

The first of the Midlands Riots began in the August, when Birmingham protesters forcibly took cheese and butter from market vendors and  sold them at a reduced price. It was a mark of Grain Riots that there was always a  forced redistribution of goods at a ‘just price’ as the protesters asserted their moral authority over the unscrupulous traders. In what historian E. P. Thompson called the ‘moral economy’ the peasantry would act as ‘regulators’ controlling the market to ensure a fairness of price. It seems that no one was allowed to make too much of a profit when it came to the basics of life. In the same way, the event also saw another demonstrative act of moral authority when protesters used ladders to scale the local gaol and released their imprisoned comrades.

By September the spirit of protest had reached Kidderminster. Here the rioting began when a farmer outbid two women for a bag of grain. The crowd, led by colliers from the Wyre Forest coal field, forced him to sell it back to the women at a reasonable price. The protest wasn’t entirely peaceful, however, as eight ‘rioters’ were shot dead. Later on, the townsfolk threatened to burn down a local mill when its owner had tried to raise the price of his flour. They were stopped when two mysterious ‘gentlemen’ stepped out of the throng to negotiate a deal. Eventually, the miller agreed not to buy any more wheat until the needs of the poor had been satisfied, and so, in turn, the crowd agreed to protect him from any more acts of violence. These protests had very clear objectives, and , it would seem, were better organized than the ‘mindless, uncontrollable mobs’ of popular myth; when their demands had been met they simply dispersed.

Unfortunately, because individual Grain Riots had a short duration and because they were very localized in their objectives, there is a noticeable lack of research about them, other than by local historians. The events in Kidderminster during the Autumn of 1766 were part of a much bigger picture that covered the whole of Europe and stretched far back in time. Indeed Grain Riots would continue as long as the rural peasantry continued to exist. Once their transformation into the urban working class was complete, however, this dominant mode of popular protest would itself change into new forms. And, eventually, the focus would move from the fight for a ‘just price’ to the struggle for universal suffrage.