Editing Merthyr Rising (section)

==Events==
After storming Merthyr town, the rebels sacked the local debtors' court and the goods that had been collected. Account books containing debtors' details were also destroyed. Among the shouts were cries of {{lang|cy|caws a bara}} ('cheese and bread') and {{lang|cy|i lawr â'r Brenin}} ('down with the king').

On Tuesday 1 June 1831, the protesters marched to local mines and persuaded the men on shift there to stop working and join their protest. In the meantime, the [[Whig government, 1830–1834|Grey ministry]] had ordered in the army, with contingents of the [[93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot]] dispatched to Merthyr Tydfil to restore order. Since the crowd was now too large to be dispersed, the soldiers were ordered to protect essential buildings and people.

On 2 June, while local employers and magistrates were holding a meeting with the [[High Sheriff of Glamorgan]] at the Castle Inn, a group led by Lewis Lewis (known as {{lang|cy|Lewsyn yr Heliwr}}, 'Lewis the hunter') marched there to demand a reduction in the price of bread and an increase in their wages. The demands were rejected, and after being advised to return to their homes, the crowd attacked the inn. Engaged by the Sutherland Highlanders, after the rioters seized some of their weapons, the troops were commanded to open fire. After a protracted struggle in which hundreds sustained injury, some fatal, the Highlanders were compelled to withdraw to [[Penydarren House]], and abandon the town to the rioters.

Some 7,000 to 10,000 workers marched under a [[red flag (politics)|red flag]], which was later adopted internationally as the symbol of communists and socialists. For four days, [[magistrate (England and Wales)|magistrates]] and [[ironmaster]]s were under siege in the Castle Hotel, and the protesters effectively controlled Merthyr.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Wales">The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press 2008.{{page needed|date=June 2013}}</ref>

For eight days, Penydarren House was the sole refuge of authority. With armed insurrection fully in place in the town by 4 June, the rioters had commandeered arms and explosives, set up road-blocks, formed guerrilla detachments, and had banners capped with a symbolic loaf and dyed in blood. Those who had military experience had taken the lead in drilling the armed para-military formation, and created an effective central command and communication system.

This allowed them to control the town and engage the formal military system, including:
*Ambushing the 93rd's baggage-train on the Brecon Road, under escort of 40 of the [[Glamorgan Yeomanry]], driving them into the Brecon hills.
*Beating off a relief force of 100 cavalry sent from Penydarren House.
*Ambushing and disarming the Swansea Yeomanry on the Swansea Road, and throwing them back in disorder to [[Neath]].
*Organising a mass demonstration against Penydarren House.

Having sent messengers, who had started strikes in Northern [[Monmouthshire (historic)|Monmouthshire]], Neath and [[Swansea Valley]]s, the riots reached their peak. However, panic had spread to the family-oriented and peaceful town folk, who had now started to flee what was an out-of-control town. With the rioters arranging a mass meeting for Sunday 6th, the government representatives in Penydarren House managed to split the rioters' council. When 450 troops marched to the mass meeting at Waun above Dowlais with levelled weapons, the meeting dispersed and the riots were effectively over.