1820 Scottish Rebellion

The 1820 Scottish Rising has been increasingly studied in recent decades. This collection of essays looks especially at local players on the ground across multiple regional centres in the west of Scotland, as well as the wider political circumstances within government and civil society that provide the rising's context. It examines insurrectionist preparation by radicals, the progress of the events of 1820, contemporary accounts and legacy memorialisation of 1820, including newspaper and literary testimony, and the monumental 'afterlife' of the rising. As well as the famous march of radicals led by John Baird and Andrew Hardie, so often seen as the centre of the 1820 'moment', this volume casts light on other, more neglected insurrectionary activity within the rising and a wide set of cultural circumstances that make 1820 more complex than many would like to believe. 1820: Scottish Rebellion demonstrates that the legacy of 1820 may be approached in numerous ways that cross disciplinary boundaries and cause us to question conventional historical interpretations.

A brand-new history of Scotland's radical war for democracy in 1820.

The untold story of 19th century Scottish revolutionaries who fought for an independent republic is recounted in this “astonishing book” (Observer, UK). In April of 1820, the last armed uprising on British soil ignited in Glasgow. The attempt to sever the Union and establish a radical Scottish republic ended in executions, imprisonments, transportations and eighty-five trials for high treason. Yet despite its political and social importance, the story of this working-class revolution has all but vanished from the historical record. In The Radical Rising, historians Peter Berresford-Ellis and Seumas Mac a’Ghobhainn restore the radical rising to its rightful place in history. With an incisive analysis of the rising itself and the events which led up to it, this volume vividly recaptures the extraordinary heroism of insurrection leaders John Baird and Andrew Hardie, as well as the savagery with which the movement was crushed by the forces of the British state.

In April 1820 there was a general strike in west-central Scotland that was followed by an armed rising to win workers the right to form trade unions, to vote and for the creation of a Scottish Parliament. After a battle with troops at Bonnymuir, it failed and the leaders, John Baird, Andrew Hardie and James Wilson were executed, and eighteen transported to Australia after show trials held under English Law. This book, using new information, traces the events of and leading to the insurrection, the role of spies and agents in the events, together with a detailed look at the trials, and what became of those transported. It is hoped that on the bicentenary of the Rising, the men who were sacrificed everything for democracy will be given the recognition they have been long denied.

In April 1820, a series of dramatic events exploded around Glasgow, central Scotland and Ayrshire. Demanding political reform and better living and working conditions, 60,000 weavers and other workers went on strike. Revolution was in the air. It was the culmination of several years of unrest, which had seen huge mass meetings in Glasgow and Paisley. In Manchester in 1819, in what became known as Peterloo, drunken yeomanry with their sabres drawn infamously rode into a peaceful crowd calling for reform, killing fifteen people and wounding hundreds more. In 1820, some Scottish Radicals marched under a flag emblazoned with the words 'Scotland Free, or Scotland a Desart' [sic]. Others armed themselves and set off for the Carron Ironworks, seeking cannons. Intercepted by Government soldiers, a bloody skirmish took place at Bonnymuir near Falkirk. A curfew was imposed on Glasgow and Paisley. Aiming to free Radical prisoners, a crowd in Greenock was attacked by the Port Glasgow militia. Among the dead and wounded were a 65-year-old woman and a young boy. In the recriminations that followed, three men were hanged and nineteen were transported to Australia from Scotland. In this book Maggie Craig sets the rising into the wider social and political context of the time and paints an intense portrait of the people who were caught up in these momentous events.