Llanidloes - The Chartist Outbreak
4
Riot at the Trewythen Arms
On the morning of April 30th,1839 a Chartist meeting was called on the Long Bridge over the River Severn at Llanidloes, during which news came that three of their supporters had been arrested by the London policemen and were being held at the Trewythen Arms.
This prompted the crowd to head there from the bridge, only to find the Trewythen surrounded by fifty of Marsh's 'special constables' armed with wooden staves.
Trewythen Arms
Hotel, Llanidloes,
scene of the
Chartist outbreak
of April 1839
Photograph by
kind permission of
Llanidloes Museum
Shortly
afterwards the mob stormed the hotel (seen left, after the
later addition of a classical style timber porch) and released
their fellow Chartists.The interior of the hotel was wrecked, one of the London policemen was severely beaten, and the other two managed to escape and hide, fearing for their lives.
It is widely believed that Marsh himself started the riot
either to enable him to escape from the angry crowd or to deliberately
discredit the Chartists.
The authorities seem to have greatly exaggerated the scale of
the disorder in Llanidloes with reports of very large numbers
of armed Chartists, and called upon the Lord Lieutenant at Powis
Castle for immediate assistance to control the situation.
There are 5 pages on the Chartists. Use the box links below to view the other pages.
