This blog explores an incident of election violence which occurred #OnThisDay 139 years ago – the very first recorded incident of violence for the 1880 UK General election. We’ll be tweeting the many other incidents throughout the rest of March and into April:
In the run-up to the 1880 election for Derby, it was widely rumoured that the Conservative candidate, Thomas Collins, would be appearing at the open-air marketplace to give a speech to locals, both electors and non-electors. On Monday night between six and seven o’clock at night, an ‘immense crowd’ gathered at the square in anticipation of his arrival. Gradually, however, the conviction came over the crowd that Collins would not be attending, as he was ‘otherwise engaged’. Continue reading “Short EV Account: On Your Marks, Get Set…”