English History: The Chartists

The ‘Plug Plot’ agitation of 1842


Source: University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, http://www.umassd.edu/ir/;
During the summer of 1842 during a deep trade depression, a wave of strikes broke out in Northern Industrial areas. When textile manufacturers sought to reduce wages, mobs took the plugs out of the boilers of the factory steam engines. The Chartist seized the moment and attempted to use the strike weapon as a means to have the Charter accepted. Thomas Cooper (1805-92), a Leicester journalist and Chartist leader, describes the situation in Manchester during August of 1842 that became known as the “Plug Plot.” Thomas Cooper. The Life of Thomas Cooper written by Himself, 2nd edn, 1872, pp. 109-1, 195, 206, 207-8; in J. T. Ward, ed., The Factory System, Vol..II, Birth and Growth (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1970), pp. 170-71.)


“The Plug-Plot,” of 1842, as it is still called in Lancashire, began in reductions of wages by the Anti-Corn-Law manufacturers, who did not conceal their purpose of driving the people to desperation, in order to paralyse the Government. The people advanced, at last, to a wild general strike, and pulled up the plugs so as to stop the works at the mills, and thus render labour impossible. Some wanted the men who spoke at the meetings held at the beginning of the strike to propose resolutions in favour of Corn Law Repeal; but they refused. The first meeting where the resolution was passed, “that all labour should cease until the People’s Charter became the law of the land,” was held on the 7th of August, on Mottram Moor. In the course of a week, the resolution had been passed in nearly all the great towns of Lancashire, and tens of thousands had held up their hands in favour of it ...

Samuel Bevinton was the strongest-minded man among the Chartists of the Potteries; and he said to me, “You had better get off to Manchester. You can do no more good here.” I agreed that he was right ...

When I entered the railway carriage at Crewe, some who were going to the Convention recognised me,-and, among the rest, Campbell, secretary of the “National Charter Association” ...So soon as the City of Long Chimneys came in sight, and every chimney was beheld smokeless, Campbell’s face changed, and with an oath he said, “Not a single mill at work! something must come out of this and something serious too!”

In the streets there were unmistakable signs of alarm on the part of the authorities. Troops of cavalry were going up and down the principal thoroughfares, accompanied by pieces of artillery, drawn by horses. In the evening, we held a meeting in the Reverend Mr. Schofield’s Chapel, where O'Connor, the Executive, and a considerable number of delegates were present; and it was agreed to open the Conference, or Convention, in form, the next morning, at nine o'clock. We met at that hour, the next morning, Wednesday, the 17th of August, when James Arthur of Carlisle was elected President. There were nearly sixty delegates present; and as they rose, in quick succession, to describe the state of their districts, it was evident they were, each and all, filled with the desire of keeping the people from returning to their labour. They believed the time had come for trying, successfully, to paralyse the Government ...