Out – Causes and Consequences of Electoral Violence: Evidence from England and Wales, 1832

This blog explores an incident of election violence which occurred 139 years ago today. There was some difficulty in selecting only one to highlight, as 5 April 1880 featured eight disturbances, two outright riots, one small incident, and a partridge in a pear tree:

In the Yorkshire town of Goole, the county election was in full swing. Historically said to be a rather quiet town during contests, a disturbance occurred ‘unlike any that has occurred before’. The crowd, which included a considerable number of non-voters, gradually increased in size throughout the day; eventually, some members began amusing themselves by pulling off the favours and rosettes of those who supported the ‘blue’ party. They ‘hooted and be-spattered with mud the blue vehicles and their opponents’, and then began to throw stones. Continue reading “Short EV Account: Trouble at Goole”

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…”