Leeds dripping riot
The Leeds dripping riot was an act of civil disorder that occurred in Leeds, England on 22 February 1865. The riot was a response to the imprisonment of a local woman for the theft of dripping. During the riot one person was seriously injured and subsequently died while five people were arrested and charged with riotous conduct.
Background
Eliza Stafford was a cook employed by Henry Chorley, a surgeon and local magistrate, at his house at 8 Park Square,
Protests
The case was widely reported and many people considered the prosecution petty and the punishment harsh.[4] The critics also drew attention to the circumstances of the trial which for reasons unexplained had been heard in private, not in public as normal, and before magistrates known to Chorley.[4] The Times reported chalked inscriptions expressing support for Stafford appearing throughout Leeds and Chorley being insulted and accosted in the street.[5] The protests culminated in a demonstration, estimated at being between 12,000 and 15,000 people, outside the prison on the Saturday before Stafford was due to be released from which a smaller number of people, about 700, protested outside Chorley's house. Apart from some snowballs being thrown, these protests all passed off peacefully.[6]
Riot
On Tuesday 22 February, Eliza Stafford's period of imprisonment expired and at about 9 am a crowd of several thousand gathered outside Armley Gaol in expectation of her release. However Stafford had been released earlier around 7 am and had left Leeds to travel to Scarborough where her daughter resided.[3]
The crowd, denied its target, mostly dispersed but about a thousand people marched from the prison to Chorley's house and threw stones that broke several windows in the house. The
This effectively ended the riot and, reinforced by the Bradford Police with two
Aftermath
The men arrested were tried for riotous conduct but the magistrates took a lenient view and only one was imprisoned and then only for a week. The sentencing magistrate described the incident as "very silly excitement" and the other four defendants were bound over in the sum of £10.[9]
Henry Chorley died in 1878;[10] of Eliza Stafford there is no subsequent history.
References
- ^ a b "The "Dripping" Row". Leeds Mercury. Vol. 102, no. 8384. 23 February 1865. p. 2 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ a b c d "Street row in Leeds". Leeds Mercury. Vol. 102, no. 8, 384. 23 February 1865. p. 3 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ ASIN B00DRB8KSS.
- ^ a b "All the fat in the fire: the doctor and his cook". Leeds Times. Vol. XXXII, no. 1, 663. 4 February 1865. p. 5 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Popular Vengeance". The Times. No. 25, 116. 23 February 1865. p. 12.
- London Evening Standard. No. 12, 647. 20 February 1865. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Serious disturbance in Leeds: The military called out". Bradford Observer. Vol. XXXII, no. 1, 619. 23 February 1865. p. 5 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ ASIN B00AZ17Y0I.
- ^ "Dripping disturbances". Leeds Times. Vol. XXXII, no. 1, 666. 25 February 1865. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. No. 9, 571. 6 March 1878. p. 4 – via British Newspaper Archive.