History of Sussex - Rebellions, Riots and Unrest

Rebellions, Riots and Unrest

Sussex, from its position, was constantly the scene of preparations for invasion, and was often concerned in rebellions.

In 1264 there was a civil war in England, between the forces of a group of barons, led by Simon de Montfort, against the royalist forces, led by Prince Edward, in the name of Henry III, known as the Second Barons' War. On 12 May 1264, Simon de Montfort forces occupied a hill known as 'Offam Hill' outside Lewes, the royalist forces tried to storm the hill but ultimately were defeated by the barons'. The actual site, of what became known as the Battle of Lewes, is somewhere between the town and the hill, the battle was bitterly fought for over five hours. In the 19th century, when a railway was being constructed in the area of the battle, navvies discovered a mass grave with around 2000 bodies in it.

During the Middle Ages the Wealden peasants rose up in revolt on two ocaasions, the Peasants' Revolt in 1381 under Watt Tyler, and in Jack Cade's rebellion of 1450. Cade's rebellion was not just supported by the peasant class, many gentlemen, craftspeople and artisans also the Abbot of Battle and Prior of Lewes flocked to his standard in revolt against the corrupt government of Henry VI. Jack Cade was fatally wounded in a skirmish at Heathfield in 1450.

At the time of the English Civil War the counties sympathies were divided, Arundel supported the king, Chichester, Lewes and the Cinque Ports were for parliament. Most of the west of the county were for the king and included a powerful group with the bishop of Chichester and Sir Edward Ford, sheriff of Sussex, in their number. Exceptionally, Chichester was for parliament largely due to an influential brewer named William Cawley. However the group of royalists led by Edward Ford managed to get a force together to capture Chichester, in 1642, for the king and imprisoned 200 parliamentarians.

The roundhead army under Sir William Waller besieged Arundel and after its fall marched on Chichester and restored it to parliament. A military governor, Algernon Sidney was appointed in 1645. Chichester was then demilitarised, in 1647-1648 and remained in parliaments hands for the rest of the civil war. The brewer William Cawley became a MP for Chichester in 1647 and was one of the signatories on King Charles I death warrant.

At the beginning of the 19th century agricultural labourers conditions took a turn for the worse with an increasing amount of them becoming unemployed, those in work faced their wages being forced down. Conditions became so bad that it was even reported to the House of Lords in 1830 that four harvest labourers (seasonal workers) had been found dead of starvation. The deteriorating conditions of work for the agricultural labourer eventually triggered off riots in Kent during the summer of 1830. Similar action spread across the county border to Sussex where the riots lasted for several weeks, although the unrest continued until 1832 and were known as the Swing Riots.

The Swing riots were accompanied by action against local farmers and land owners. Typically, what would happen is a threatening letter would be sent to a local farmer or leader demanding that automated equipment such as threshing machines should be withdrawn from service, wages should be increased and there would be a threat of consequences if this did not happen, the letter would be signed by a mythical Captain Swing. This would be followed up by the destruction of farm equipment and occasionally arson.

Eventually the army was mobilised to contain the situation in the eastern part of the county, whereas in the west the Duke of Richmond took action against the protesters by the use of the yeomanry and special constables. The Sussex Yeomanry were subsequently disparagingly nicknamed the workhouse guards. The protesters faced charges of arson, robbery, riot, machine breaking and assault. Those convicted faced imprisonment, transportation or ultimately execution. The grievances continued encouraging a wider demand for political reform, culminating in the introduction of the Reform Act 1832.

One of the main grievances of the Swing protesters had been what they saw as inadequate Poor Law benefits, Sussex had the highest poor-relief costs during the agricultural depression of 1815 to the 1830s and its workhouses were full. The general unrest, particularly about the state of the workhouses, was instrumental in the introduction of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834.