7 May 1831: In a spoof letter to the new and liberal William IV, a Sheffield metalworker expresses, in dialect, his hopes for the Reform Act and the election then underway
Abel Bywater. 1834. Letter to the King. The Sheffield Dialect, in Conversations “uppa Are Hull Arston”. Sheffield: A. Whitaker and Co. Get it:
.Unedited excerpt
If an excerpt is used in the book, it will be shorter, edited and, where applicable, translated.
At a meetin o’t frends a Reform, held uppa are hull arston, May 7, it furst year a Reform, it wer reggillarly agreed on, at this letter shud be sent to are Royal Reform King:-
Mester King, Sur, – Az wear all on uz won a yoar subjects, we think at hah its nowt bur are duta to express uz joy, an deloit, an admiration, an approbashon, an sitch loik, uppat glorias victora at yon lately getten ore’t ennamiz a reform. Pleaz yer honour, sur, its not are intenshon to puff ya up we prasen ya; bur we will say this, o avver, yo’nt best pluck ov onna chap at’s sitten uppa that throne this menni a year. Yoar summit loik a king, yo are. Yo’n dun moor gud sin yo cum nor hofe a grooas a king’s afooar ya ivver did, an yer name el be raich’t dane to mortalatta, iv ya nivver dun annuther hopeth o gud whoil ya livven; bur we knone varra weel at yoar that sooat an a chap, at yo ca’nt live wethate dooin gud to yer subjects.
Iv ya pleaz yer Madgasta, they yu’st to say abate are tuther king (yer brother, yo kno’n) at hah’t Duke wert chap wot droives the sovrin; bur, Sur, wear varra happa to say, an to see, at yo’n geen things sitch a glorias twist, at nah they sen, at hah’t Sovrin’s t’chap wot droives’t Duke, an we hooap at hah yo’l continna to droive booath’t Duke an all’t burrow mungrin crew till yo’n drivven em all intot Tems.
Sur, they sen hah iv’t reform bill passes into a law at it al shak yer crah’ne of a yer heead – fudge – dont believe em, it el revvit it ten toimes faster on ner ivver. Its nor a loikla thing, mun, wen a king’s crahne’s putten on iz heead be iz ministers an his people, wot tratur dare tutch it. Bur yoar not to be diddled we sitch oud woman jargon as that, no’ther; now, nor sooa, yo’n shone em hah its dun; an wen they varra little expected it anole. An, Sur, its are prayer at yo’l gooa the rig till yen fettled t’oil clean haht. An are advoice iz, at iv’t next parliament wean’t reform, at yo’l oil em hate ageean, an weel warrand it, at they’l o’ther reform or refrain’t next toime. Sur, wen we looken at benefits at this reform bill al put on uz wear rala astonisht at onna bodda shud be so mad as to oppooaz it. One gud effect a this bill el be the makken a 500,000 new constuents throot best ant mooast trustworthy men it land, an al mak moor strength for protectin properta, t’laws ant loyalty at kingdom. Pleaz yer honner, Sur, iz thiz owt loik a revvolushon at silla Wetheril an Peel toke’t aba’te. Bur, it el soon be all up we em, an its are desoir ot yo’l mak it intoo a law, at onna burrowmonger at’s catch’t cuttin iz throit, hangin, or dra’nden iz sen, or takkin onna sooat a poizen we a intenshon to kill iz zen, shall be berrid at fore lane ends, an a stake drivven throo im; for yo no’ne, Sur, at wen’t bill passes, theal be a wooal gang on em el ha to gooa hooam, an its thowt be sum at they’l near be able to survoive it; an, Sur, we think at hah it el beet best way for yo to let em gooa hooam it neet as nobbadda ma see em, an at yo’l be so koind az to provide mooarnin cooaches for em to gooa in, an at there may be a dumb peal rung at ivvera tahne they gooan throo, an’t cooaches stop whoil they sing’t follerin hymn, tain throot Sun newspaper:
Curses booath doir an deep,
Let uz we fervor heap
On Liberte.
Are burrowmungrin score,
Alas, will nivver more
Triumph the people ore
England is free.Satan, to thee we pray,
Hurl patriot kings away,
Let ’em not stand.
An sin we seek in vain
Are burrows to retain
Let revolution reign
Oer all’t land.
Sur, weest send fore ratlin chaps hate a Yorksher at el doo yo sum gud – all reformers; an we believe at hah yo’l hav a grate majorratta e favor o’t bill, it nekst meetin, yo’l ha sitch a glorias set a reformers az nevver shode ther faces e that ha’ce afooar; an’t reflection o sitch a victora as yo’n getten el be a evverlastin consolation to yer sen, an it al shed sitch a lustre uppa yer name, as toime itsen, we all its changes an revolutions shall nivver, nivver tarnish. Bless yer sowl, mun, yo’n wun all uz harts at won single stroak, an weer all redda to folla ya, o’ther throo muck or blood, as’t case mut requoire. Nah, please yer Madgesta, afooar o bequoit roitin this letter, ween to beg won thing on yo, and that iz, at iv ivver yo cum to Shevvild, at yo’l cum “uppa are hull arston,” an bring all yer oud razors we ya, an weel mak em shave loik winkin. Sooa no mooar nah throo yer mooast royal and dutiful subjects,
WHEELSWARFS.
Are Hull Arston, Shevvild.
Comment
Comment
Wheelswarf: “the yellow sludge formed during grinding on a wet stone” (Bywater 1877).
Yorkshire did indeed return four Whigs in the 1831 election: Viscount Morpeth, George Strickland, John Charles Ramsden, and Sir John Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone.
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- 1831 United Kingdom general election (1) W/G ·
- Bywater, Abel (1795-1873) (2), Sheffield awl-blade maker, druggist, dialect and moralising pamphleteer - see the memoir by his friend Albert Middleton in the 1877 3rd edition of Sheffield Dialect W/G ·
- Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (2) W/G ·
- Charles Wetherell (1) W/G ·
- George IV (1762-1830) (8), King of the United Kingdom and of Hanover 1820-30, prince regent for his father, George III, 1811-20 W/G ·
- Howard, George William Frederick (1802-64) (2), 7th Earl of Carlisle, known as Viscount Morpeth 1825-48, MP, statesman, orator, writer W/G ·
- John Charles Ramsden (1) W/G ·
- John Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone (1) W/G ·
- Reform Act 1832 (11) W/G ·
- River Thames (3) W/G ·
- Rotten and pocket boroughs (2) W/G ·
- 📌Sheffield (80) W/G ·
- Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet (2) W/G ·
- Strickland, George (1782-1874) (1), also known as Sir George Cholmley, Whig MP and lawyer W/G ·
- The Sun (1792-1876) (1), London newspaper, Tory until 1825, Whig thereafter W/G ·
- Tories (1678-ca. 1760, ca. 1783-1834) (11), political faction and, later, party, supported divine right of kings, opposed state-sponsored Catholicism, succeeded by the Conservative Party W/G ·
- Wellesley, Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) (6), Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman, remembered in part for his role in the repeal of the Corn Laws W/G ·
- Whigs (1678-1859) (23), political faction and, later, party, supported parliamentarism, various forms of elite liberalism, manufacturing interests, opposed Catholic emancipation, succeeded by the Liberal Party W/G ·
- William IV (3) W/G ·
- Yorkshire (UK Parliament constituency) (1) W/G ·
- Yorkshire dialect (21) W/G ·
Comment
Comment
Wheelswarf: “the yellow sludge formed during grinding on a wet stone” (Bywater 1877).
Yorkshire did indeed return four Whigs in the 1831 election: Viscount Morpeth, George Strickland, John Charles Ramsden, and Sir John Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone.
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Similar
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30 May 1835: Alfred Austin, future poet laureate, “Banjo-Byron that twangs the strum-strum,” is born into rural splendour at Ashwood, 48 Headingley Lane, Leeds
5 March 1829: Henry Burton of Hotham tells a rowdy public meeting at Beverley to petition parliament against Catholic emancipation and preserve “the Protestant constitution”
Comment
Comment
Via Roy Wiles (Wiles 1965).
Events
“Sunday last” is 25 August, but Fawcett managed to get in by 11 September:
On Wednesday last Mr. Fawcett for the first time performed Divine Service in the chapel of Holbeck, but was escorted to and from the chapel by a party of Dragoons, who kept guard at the doors during the service. Notwithstanding this precaution, some evil-disposed people found means to break the windows and throw a brickbat at Mr. Fawcett while he was in the reading- desk. The Sunday following he went through the service unmolested. And on Sunday last he preached a most excellent sermon, 46th verse of 13th chapter of Acts… The same night some prophane sacrilegious villains broke into the chapel and besmeared the seats with human excrements.
On 22 September he was able to conduct a reduced Sunday service in peace:
On Sunday last the Rev. Mr. Fawcett was received and behav’d to by his congregation at Holbeck with great decency… One of Mr. F.’s friends admitted their favourite preacher to his pulpit in the town-by this means the tumultuous part of the people were mostly drawn away from Holbeck, and the curate left at liberty to perform his duty amongst the peaceable and well-disposed inhabitants of the chapelry.
However, on 22 October we read that
In the night between the 16th and 17th inst., the windows of the chapel of Holbeck were again broken. No wonder, when Holbeck contains such a nest of vermin whom neither the laws of God or man can confine within the bounds of decency, etc.
For which John Robinson, a “Houlbecker,” was in November sentenced to be whipped and to pay a fine of £5 (Griffith Wright 1895).
In the summer of the following year he published his first Sunday’s sermon and and his resignation letter. I think that in the following Fawcett is quoting things actually said to him:
A man might oftentimes, by due Care and Watchfulness, perhaps very safely defeat the Schemes, and discourage the Practices of the private Pilferer; and yet, whenever this is done, it is commonly suspected to be done rather for the Preservation of his own Property, than out of a pure Regard to the Public-good: But when he is attack’d in his house, or upon the road by open Plunderers, and requir’d to deliver, or suffer himself to be rifl’d of what he is possess’d of, with some one of these dreadful Alternatives, of having his Brains immediately blown out,” or their hands “wash’d in his hearts Blood,” or “having bis “Entrails pull’d out at his Mouth,” or “being “buried alive,” it will Then surely be accounted highly Romantic in him to reject their demands, out of a Pretence to prevent the bad Influence of their Example; and he will be generally suspected of giving a Proof of his Fool-hardiness or his Avarice, rather than of his public Spirit, by such a Refusal.
In the resignation letter he says that he
perform’d the Duty of the Curacy for near Three Months after he gain’d Admission into the Chapel, and this too, rather to prepare a Say for the peaceable Reception of any other Person whom the Patron shou’d think proper to nominate, that out of any Prospect of reconciling the People to himself.
Fawcett declines to attribute responsibility (“Who the Incendiaries were, the Sufferer neither Pretends to Know, nor Desires to be Inform’d”). He also explicitly excuses the lord of the manor, who at this juncture I take to be Lord Irwin (aka Henry Ingram, 7th Viscount of Irvine) rather than the Whiggish Scholey family, as well as other leading citizens (Fawcett 1755).
Was Fawcett a lousy preacher, or was the mob’s alternative, whoever he was, utterly adorable? Was there a Whiggish or Radical element at work? Was there some element of revenge for Samuel Kirshaw’s victory over James Scott in the struggle from 1745-51 for the vicarage of Leeds (Taylor 1865)? Perhaps you know.
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