1. THE WITHAM FIRES AND THE 1820S
   • The 1820s: Historical Background
   • Witham and the Fires
2. THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND THE WITHAM FIRES
   • The initial reaction to an offence
   • Whether to prosecute
   • The trial
   • Sentences and Petitions
3. THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND
   • National and local interests
   • Poverty and prosperity
   • Strangers and friends
4. CONCLUSION
   • Acknowledgements
   • Select Bibliography
   • Select List of Sources

The 1820s: Historical Background

The 1820s are difficult years to classify. Many old manufacturing activities, such as the cloth industry of Witham and the rest of north Essex, had virtually disappeared. The new ones of northern England were growing, but England was still a predominantly rural country. Essex, adjoining London, was part of a 'rural' area, but also had much non-agricultural activity. The population of all areas was increasing, but less rapidly than in the previous decade. The worst of the post-war slump had passed, but the railways and the boom that they created had not yet arrived. The economy was unsettled, as typified by the cyclical boom of 1825 and the crash of 1826 which broke many country banks and businesses.²

In most areas a permanent police force was still a thing of the future. After various earlier schemes, the Metropolitan Police were established in London in 1829, but the county forces were only authorised after 1839; the Essex force, set up in that year, was one of the first.³ Recorded crime had increased rapidly since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. In part this was the normal post-war pattern that had been seen at intervals during the previous century, but fluctuations and regional variations made it difficult to interpret in detail.⁴ The most obvious 'troubles' were in the manufacturing districts, but the countryside had what Dunbabin has called an 'endemic' tendency to crime and disorder.⁵ In particular, the 1820s fell between early 19th century farmworkers' protests in Essex and East Anglia, and the even more extensive 'Swing' disturbances which affected the whole of lowland England in 1830.⁶

There was much discussion during the 1820s about social policy, but in general, effective legislation on the subject did not begin to appear until the end of the decade. The law in 1820 still allowed for capital punishment, usually by hanging, for a large number of types of offence, including burglary, robbery, many types of stealing, and arson. Between 1825 and 1828 the Tory government, under the guidance of Home Secretary Robert Peel, passed a series of enactments relating to the criminal law; they were mainly of a consolidating nature.⁷ A Select Committee reported in 1826 and 1828, and its findings were to form the basis for the reforms of the Whig governments of the 1830s, which considerably reduced the number of offences subject to the death penalty.⁸ By the 1820s concern was being felt and demonstrated about the expense of poor relief, but the new Act restricting it by law was not passed until 1834.⁹ In Essex the relationship between Anglicans and other Protestants was perhaps the most important religious issue; Congregationalists, also known as Independents, formed the main body of non-Anglicans, and the term 'Dissenter' usually applied to them.¹⁰ In 1828 the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts allowed Dissenting Protestants to become magistrates.¹¹ But both political parties were more involved in the issue of Catholic emancipation which was finally 'granted' in 1829.¹²

It was in this context that a wave of arson began at Witham in November 1828. A full account of the affair could occupy a whole book in itself, so that this section will merely attempt to outline the main events.

Next page: Witham and the Fires