Revolt of the housewives

1795 food riots during a time of dearth

The 1795 food riots are known as the revolt of the housewives, a term coined by John Lawrence Hammond and Barbara Hammond for a series of food riots and disturbances in England in 1795. They arose out of exceptional food scarcity. Women played conspicuous roles in the riots.[1]

## Background

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The Hammonds set the riots in the context of the enclosure of land in the period from c.1760, which removed common rights – to cultivate, or graze animals, or collect fuel – previously exercised by Yeomen, Copyholders, Cottagers and Squatters, to their great disadvantage or ruin; exacerbated by the constraints of the English Poor Laws, which served to prevent the poor from moving to or settling in other parishes.[2] The riots occurred within the period of the French Revolution, a time in which the British ruling class had heightened concerns about the risk of revolution.

The winter of 1794–95 was exceptionally harsh: January 1795 was the coldest month ever in the Central England temperature series with an average of −3.1 °C or 26.4 °F.,[3] and great floods are reported in February on the Rivers Severn and Wye resulting from ice breakup, snowmelt and heavy rainfall.[4][5] Such poor weather led to exceptional scarcity of food early in the year, precipitating a crisis that, with enclosure and the poor law, had long been in the making.[6]

## 1795 riots

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Scarcity of food led to riots across the country, in which women led or were conspicuous by their involvement. Rioters forced the redistribution of available food-stocks; the Hammonds' characterise them as being disciplined and of good order, and, on finding themselves "masters of their situation", the rioters set fair prices for seized food and paid the proceeds over to its original owner.[1]

Riots involving women forcing food redistribution were reported in Aylesbury in March 1795, and in Carlisle, Ipswich, Fordingbridge, Bath, and Deddington, as well as in the counties of Wiltshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. In Seaford, East Sussex, militia brought in by magistrates to quell the riots joined with the rioters to redistribute meat and flour, for which two ringleaders among the soldiers were shot on 13 June. In Chudleigh, two mills were destroyed, albeit in this instance the Ipswich Journal speculates that men wearing petticoats were amongst the rioters.[7]

## Responses

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Local actions were taken by magistrates against named rioters – such as a 3-month prison sentence for Sarah Rogers of Fordingbridge, who redistributed butter belonging to Hannah Dawson at a fair price. More positively, a number of local initiatives are reported, especially in the provision of fuel at reasonable prices for poor parishioners; and more complex support such as the Speenhamland system.[8]

National discussion turned on a number of questions, such as of diet: could the poor be persuaded to subsist on cheaper brown breads and dispense with their use of tea? It appeared that they could not. Deliberations were made into the desirability of pegging minimum wages to the cost of provisions such as by Edmund Burke (against) and Arthur Young (for); a number of magistrates benches and quarter sessions had made such a recommendation. Samuel Whitbread introduced a minimum wage bill into Parliament late in 1795, winning support from Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Charles Grey and Charles James Fox; but the bill was opposed by William Pitt the Younger, and failed to pass a second reading.[8]

The government also undertook to bring in grains from abroad from Canada, Europe, and even Bengal.

## Notes

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1. ^ a b Hammond & Hammond 1912, pp. 120–122.
2. ^ Hammond & Hammond 1912, pp. 97–122.
3. ^ Hadley Centre Ranked Central England temperature.
4. ^ "Some historic examples of flood reports". Lower Severn Community Flood Information Network. Retrieved 2012-05-08.
5. ^ Eisel, John (2010). "The Great Flood of 1795". Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club. 58: 189–97.
6. ^ Hammond & Hammond 1912, p. 120.
7. ^ Hammond & Hammond 1912, pp. 121–122.
8. ^ a b Hammond & Hammond 1912, pp. 123–165.

## References

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* Hammond, J. L.; Hammond, Barbara (1912). The Village Labourer 1760-1832. Longhman Green & Co.

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Riots in England

12th–17th centuries|

* 1189–1190 Massacres of the Jews
* The revolt of 1196
* 1355 St Scholastica Day riot
* 1381 Peasants' Revolt
* Treason Act 1381
* 1517 Evil May Day
* 1668 Bawdy House riots

18th century|

* 1710 Sacheverell riots
* 1714 Coronation riots
* 1715 England riots
* Riot Act
* 1766 food riots
* 1766 Nottingham cheese riot
* 1768 Massacre of St George's Fields
* 1769 Spitalfield riots
* 1780 Gordon riots
* 1791 Priestley riots
* 1793 Bristol Bridge riot
* 1795 Revolt of the housewives

19th century|

* 1809 Old Price riots
* 1816 Spa Fields riots
* 1816 Ely and Littleport riots
* 1819 Peterloo Massacre
* 1821 Cinderloo Uprising
* 1830 Swing riots
* Captain Swing
* 1831 reform riots
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* 1832 Days of May
* 1838 Battle of Bossenden Wood
* 1842 Pottery Riots
* 1865 Leeds dripping riot
* 1866 Hyde Park demonstration
* 1887 Bloody Sunday
* 1896 Newlyn riots

20th century|

| 1900s–1940s|

* 1907 Brown Dog riots
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* 1919 Battle of Bow Street
* 1919 Luton Peace Day riots
* 1932 Old Market riot (Bristol)
* 1932 National Hunger March
* 1936 Battle of Cable Street
* 1943 Battle of Bamber Bridge
* 1944 Park Street riot
* 1945 Aldershot riot

|

1950s–1970s|

* 1958 Notting Hill race riots
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* 1974 Red Lion Square disorders
* 1975 Chapeltown riot
* 1977 Battle of Lewisham
* 1979 Death of Blair Peach

1980s|

* 1980 St Pauls riot
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* Murder of Keith Blakelock
* 1987 Chapeltown riot
* 1989 Dewsbury riot

1990s|

* 1990 Poll Tax riots
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* 1991 Handsworth riots
* 1992 Hartcliffe riot (Bristol)
* 1993 Welling riots
* 1994 Criminal Justice Bill riot
* 1995 Manningham riot
* 1995 Brixton riot
* 1996 Trafalgar Square riots
* 1999 Carnival Against Capital riot

21st century|

| 2000s|

* 2001 Bradford riots
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* 2001 Harehills riot
* 2005 Birmingham riots
* 2009 G20 London summit protests
* Death of Ian Tomlinson
* 2009 Upton Park riot

|

2010s|

* 2010 UK student protests
* 2011 Stokes Croft riot (Bristol)
* 2011 UK anti-austerity protests
* 2011 London anti-cuts protest
* 2011 England riots
* Killing of Mark Duggan
* House of Reeves fire
* Timeline

2020s|

* George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom
* Actions against memorials in the United Kingdom during the George Floyd protests
* 2022 Leicester unrest
* 2024 Harehills riot
* 2024 United Kingdom riots

Reports|

* 1981 Scarman report

Related|

* Riots in Leeds
* Riots in London
* Riot Act
* Public Order Act 1986
* Territorial Support Group

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