Editing Merthyr Rising

{{Short description|Violent labour protest in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales}}
{{refimprove|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox civil conflict
| title        = Merthyr Rising
| partof       = 
| image        = Merthyr Rising.jpg
| caption      = Illustration by [[Hablot Knight Browne]] depicting people raising a [[red flag (politics)|red flag]] during the Merthyr Rising of 1831
| date         = June 1831
| place        = [[Merthyr Tydfil]], Wales
| coordinates  = 
| causes       = Lowering of wages, unemployment
| goals        = 
| methods      = 
| status       = 
| result       = 
| side1        = 
| side2        = 
| side3        = 
| leadfigures1 = 
| leadfigures2 = 
| leadfigures3 = 
| howmany1     = 
| howmany2     = 
| howmany3     = 
| casualties1  = 
| casualties2  = 
| casualties3  = 
| fatalities   = {{circa|24}}
| injuries     =
| arrests      = 26
| detentions   =
| charged      =
| fined        =
| casualties_label = 
| notes            = 
}} 

[[File:Merthyr Tydfil Red Flag Graffiti.jpg|Graffiti in Merthyr Tydfil showing a person raising a red flag|thumb]]
The '''Merthyr Rising''', also referred to as the '''Merthyr Riots''',<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://journals.library.wales/view/1277425/1281257/21#?xywh=-2480%2C-16%2C8144%2C4193 |title=The Merthyr Riots: Settling the Account |journal=National Library of Wales Journal |year=1959 |author=Gwyn A Williams|volume=XI |number=2 |access-date=2021-08-12 |pages=124}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entries/f762c322-53c1-377b-ba9d-95d332a6b7bc |title=A history of Welsh protest |author=[[Phil Carradice]] |website=BBC Blogs - Wales |date=25 November 2011}}</ref> of 1831 was the violent climax to many years of simmering unrest among the large [[working class]] population of [[Merthyr Tydfil]] in [[Wales]] and the surrounding area. The Rising marked the first time the [[red flag (politics)|red flag]] was used a symbol of working class rebellion in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web |date=31 March 2015 |title=1831: the Merthyr Rising and Dic Penderyn |url=https://libcom.org/history/1831-merthyr-rising-dic-penderyn|author-last=Reddebrek |access-date=25 March 2022 |work=LibCom}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2 June 2020 |title= The Merthyr Rising 1831: rage, rebellion and the red flag |url=https://www.marxist.com/the-merthyr-rising-1831-rage-rebellion-and-the-red-flag.htm|author-last=Attard |author-first=Joe |access-date=25 March 2022 |work=International Marxist Tendency}}</ref>

==Beginnings==
Throughout May 1831 the coal miners and others who worked for [[William Crawshay II|William Crawshay]], took to the streets of Merthyr Tydfil, calling for reform, protesting against the lowering of their wages and general unemployment. Gradually the protest spread to nearby industrial towns and villages and by the end of May the whole area was in rebellion, and it is believed that for the first time the [[red flag (politics)|red flag]] of revolution was flown as a symbol of workers' revolt.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.100welshheroes.com/en/biography/dicpenderyn |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915013548/http://www.100welshheroes.com/en/biography/dicpenderyn |archive-date=15 September 2015|title=Dic Penderyn (Richard Lewis) |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> 
|work=100 Welsh Heroes }}</ref>

==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.

==Outcome==
[[File:Dic Penderyn Plaque (8053781082).jpg|thumb|Plaque to {{lang|cy|Dic Penderyn|italic=no}}, executed after the Merthyr Rising, outside [[Cardiff Market]]]]
By 7 June the authorities had regained control of the town through force, with up to 24 of the protesters killed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://libcom.org/library/1831-merthyr-tydfil-uprising|title=1831: Merthyr Tydfil uprising|website=libcom.org|language=en|access-date=2018-10-05}}</ref> Twenty-six people were arrested and put on [[trial (law)|trial]] for taking part in the revolt. Several were sentenced to terms of imprisonment, others sentenced to [[penal transportation]] to Australia, and two were sentenced to [[hanging|death by hanging]] – Lewis Lewis ({{lang|cy|Lewsyn yr Heliwr}}) for Robbery and Richard Lewis ({{lang|cy|[[Dic Penderyn]]}}) for stabbing a soldier (Private Donald Black of the Highland Regiment) in the leg with a seized [[bayonet]].

Lewsyn yr Heliwr's sentence was downgraded to a life sentence and [[penal transportation]] to Australia after one of the police officers who had tried to disperse the crowd testified that he had tried to shield him from the rioters.  He was transported aboard the vessel ''John'' in 1832 and died 6 September 1847 in [[Port Macquarie]], New South Wales.<ref>{{cite web |title=Convict Records |url=https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/lewis/lewis/115663 |website=convictrecords.com.au |access-date=2 March 2025 |language=en}}</ref>

Following this reprieve, the Grey ministry was determined that at least one rebel should die as an example of what had happened. However, the people of Merthyr Tydfil were convinced that Richard Lewis (Dic Penderyn) was not responsible for the stabbing, and 11,000 signed a petition demanding his release. Nevertheless, the government refused, and Richard Lewis was hanged at [[Cardiff Market]] on August 13, 1831.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.benybont.co.uk/another/dic.htm |title=Who was Dic Penderyn? |website=www.benybont.co.uk |first=Raymond|last=Humphreys |publisher=Raymond Humphreys |access-date=7 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725203240/http://www.benybont.co.uk/another/dic.htm |archive-date=25 July 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1874, a Congregational minister, [[Evan Evans (minister)|the Rev. Evan Evans]], said that a man called Ianto Parker had given him a death-bed confession, saying that he had stabbed Donald Black and then fled to America fearing capture by the authorities.<ref name="Cardiff5">{{cite book |last=Sekar|first=Satish |title=The Cardiff Five: Innocent Beyond Any Doubt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M0Q7AwAAQBAJ |year=2012 |publisher=Waterside Press |isbn=978-1-904380-76-4 |page=182}}</ref><ref>{{cite DWB |last=Williams |first=David |authorlink=David Williams (historian) |title=Lewis, Richard ('Dic Penderyn'; 1807/8-1831) |id=s-LEWI-RIC-1807 |access-date=4 June 2018}}{{dead link |date=March 2025}}</ref> James Abbott, a hairdresser from Merthyr Tydfil who had testified at Penderyn's trial, later said that he had lied under oath, claiming that he had been instructed to do so by [[William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne|Lord Melbourne]].<ref name="Cardiff5"/>

== Legacy ==
In 2015, [[Welsh Labour]] MP [[Ann Clwyd]] presented a petition to the House of Commons calling for Dic Penderyn to be posthumously pardoned, stating that there was "strong feeling in Wales that Richard Lewis - Dic Penderyn - was wrongly executed."<ref>{{cite web |date=30 June 2015 |title=Dic Penderyn should be pardoned, MPs told in petition |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-33326324 |author-last=|author-first= |access-date=25 March 2022 |work=BBC}}</ref>

=== In creative works ===
In 1922, [[Lewis Davies (writer)|Lewis Davies]] wrote a novel, ''Lewsyn yr Heliwr'', inspired by the events of the Merthyr Riot of 1831. The novel won the National Eisteddfod, Caernarfon, 1921. The novel was published by Hughes and Son, Wrexham in 1922.<ref>{{cite web |title=c4-DAVI-LEW-1863 |url=https://bywgraffiadur.cymru/article/c4-DAVI-LEW-1863 |website=www.llyfrgell.cymru |access-date=}}{{dead link |date=March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Lewsyn yr heliwr : ystori yn disgrifio bywyd Cymreig |trans-title=Lewsyn yr heliwr : a story describing Welsh life |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/lewsyn-yr-heliwr-ystori-yn-disgrifio-bywyd-cymreig/oclc/40332189?referer=di&ht=edition |website=search.worldcat.org |access-date=2 March 2025 |language=en}}</ref>

[[Meic Stevens]]' song "Dic Penderyn" on his 1972 album {{lang|cy|Gwymon}} celebrates Richard Lewis.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gwymon: Amazon.co.uk: Music |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gwymon-Meic-Stevens/dp/B0014BT7GW |website=www.amazon.co.uk |access-date=2 March 2025 |quote=13 Dic Penderyn (Bonus Track)}}</ref>

[[The Men They Couldn't Hang]] recorded "Ironmasters" in 1985, which refers to the rising and its aftermath.

Since 2013, a music festival named after the rising has been held annually in Merthyr to promote working class culture and social justice in arts.<ref>{{cite web |date=14 March 2022 |title=Merthyr Rising 2022 announces line-up for first time since pandemic |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/merthyr-rising-2022-announces-line-23363172 |author-last=John|author-first=Lucy |access-date=25 March 2022 |work=Wales Online}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.merthyrrising.uk/about |title=Merthyr Rising Festival - About |website=Merthyr Rising Festival}} {{dead link |date=March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=25 May 2019 |title=Keeping the Red Flag Flying|url=https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/05/keeping-the-red-flag-flying|author-last=Williams|author-first=Logan |access-date=25 March 2022 |work=Tribune}}</ref> 

In 2015, stylist Charlotte James and photographer Tom Johnson published a series titled Merthyr Rising, showcasing residents of the town.<ref>{{cite web |date=3 December 2015 |title=Merthyr Rising: the spirit of a determined Welsh town|url=https://crackmagazine.net/article/long-reads/merthyr-rising-the-spirit-of-a-determined-welsh-town/|author-last=Mallon|author-first=Steve|access-date=25 March 2022 |work=Crack Magazine}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=26 January 2016 |title= Miners to models: Merthyr Tydfil strikes a pose – in pictures |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/jan/26/merthyr-tydfil-merthyr-rising-fashion-street-style-tom-johnson-charlotte-james|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=25 March 2022 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>

Radical singer-songwriter [[David Rovics]] included a song about the Merthyr Rising, entitled "Cheese and Bread", in the 2018 album ''Ballad of a Wobbly''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/track/cheese-and-bread |title=Cheese and Bread from Ballad of a Wobbly by David Rovics |website=Bandcamp |access-date=2 March 2025}}</ref> 

The musical "My Land's Shore" by Robert Gould and Christopher J Orton centres on the riots. It was performed at the [[Bloomsbury Theatre]] by the [[University College London]] Musical Theatre society in February 2022.<ref>{{cite web |title=My Land's Shore |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/whats-on/my-lands-shore |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218181835/https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/whats-on/my-lands-shore |archive-date=18 February 2022 |website=University College London |access-date=18 February 2022}}</ref> 

The 2022 poetry anthology ''{{lang|cy|Gwrthryfel|italic=unset}} / Uprising'' contained two poems about Dic Penderyn and the Merthyr Rising.<ref>{{cite web|date=9 July 2022|title=Review: ''Gwrthryfel / Uprising'': An anthology of radical poetry from contemporary Wales|url=https://nation.cymru/culture/review-gwrthryfel-uprising-an-anthology-of-radical-poetry-from-contemporary-wales/|author-last=Atashi|author-first=Shara|access-date=11 August 2023|work=Nation.Cymru}}</ref>

In 2024, [[Ferocious Dog]] released a song titled "Merthyr Rising" in their album Kleptocracy.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Luke Dunmore |title=Music Review: Ferocious Dog – Kleptocracy |url=https://emergingrockbands.co.uk/music-review-ferocious-dog-kleptocracy/?v=7885444af42e |website=emergingrockbands.co.uk |access-date=2 March 2025}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of riots]]
* [[Trade unions in the United Kingdom]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/Dic_Penderyn.htm Old Merthyr Tydfil: Dic Penderyn and the Merthyr Rising] - Historical Photographs and Information Relating to the Merthyr Rising.

[[Category:1831 in Wales]]
[[Category:1831 riots]]
[[Category:June 1831]]
[[Category:Food riots]]
[[Category:Coal in Wales]]
[[Category:Riots and civil disorder in Wales]]
[[Category:Working class in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1831]]
[[Category:1831 murders in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:19th-century mass murder in the United Kingdom]]