The Bristol Riots of 1831 take place…

October 1831 CE

The Bristol Riots of 1831 take place after the House of Lords rejects the second Reform Bill, which aimed to get rid of some of the rotten boroughs and give Britain's fast growing industrial towns such as Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, Bradford and Leeds greater representation in the House of Commons.

Bristol had been represented in the House of Commons since 1295, but by 1830 only six thousand of the  population of one hundred and four thousand have the vote.

Local magistrate Sir Charles Wetherell, a strong opponent of the Bill, visits Bristol to open the new Assize Courts on October 29.

He threatens to imprison participants in a disturbance going on outside, and an angry mob chases him to the Mansion House in Queen Square.

The magistrate escapes in disguise but the mayor and officials are besieged in the Mansion House.

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Bristol Gloucestershire United Kingdom View →

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Isambard Kingdom Brunel View →

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Britain (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) View →

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Industrial Revolution, First View → Merthyr Rising of 1831 View →

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Labor and Service View → Government View → Custom and Law View → Movements View →

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