THE STORM OF POLITICS.

IT is quite probable that of all the municipalities in the country, Sheffield in
past generations has taken its politics as seriously as any other that can be
named.  Certainly in the very early elections fought at the beginning of our
period, storm and broken friendships were often caused by party feeling.
Paradise Square was known from end to end of the kingdom for its stormy meetings
and for the intensity of its partizanship. It was, however, symbolic of the
townsmen of those days that, so soon as the cause of turmoil had passed, so also
did the rancour and bitterness of feeling.

Take, for example, the election of 1866, when Messrs. Roebuck and Hadfield were
elected, with the Hon. J. F. S. Wortley defeated, standing as Liberal Unionist
as Mr. Stuart Wortley did in a later year when beaten by Mr. Waddy.  Mr. Robert
Leader was then heavily maltreated by the mob, and on the day following the
polling Mr. Leng, of the Telegraph, wrote as follows: " It must be a relief to
Mr. Hadfield that no more secret service money is to be required in this
election. The besom brigade which, " bedecked in his colours, yesterday scoured
the streets, may be disbanded. The gentlemen from the Fish Market and from Wagon
Yard, all gentlemen of high odour and rank, very rank, may be returned to their
stews and stalls.  The dirty roughs who last night turned High Street into a
hunting ground and ran howling after every well-dressed, clean-looking man under
the sagacious supposition that he must be a Wortleyite, or a Foster man, may be
restored to the bosoms of their families. Beer in floods and placards in bales
are wanted no more; the free and independent ones whose legs for the last day or
two have been quite independent of their control may sleep themselves sober and
settle down to work."

Take again the scene in the Square in 1874, when Mr. Joseph Chamberlain fought
his one election in Sheffield and the mob refused to hear the stranger, and Mr.
Mundella, lifting his hand towards the well known "Q in the Corner," said that
it was beer which was raising its voice that day and not the voice of reason;
and in 1868, when Mr. Mundella first sought Sheffield's suffrages, the election
lasted for a solid two months and passion was at fever heat. The lives of many
of Sheffield's representatives concerned in our period follow, and give other
instances of fierce feeling.

RT. HON. ANTHONY JOHN MUNDELLA. The death of Mr. Anthony John Mundella occurred
on July 21st, 1897, at his town house, Elvaston Place, and was received
with.very general sorrow throughout the country.  During his illness Her Majesty
made constant enquiries and, on his death, expressed her profound sorrow at the
loss of a statesman honoured everywhere.  The Duchess of Teck paid many visits
to the house during his last illness, and generally throughout the country
sincere regret was expressed.   The funeral took place at Nottingham and there
also the same sense of loss was evidenced. Mr. Mundella came to Sheffield
invited by my father, on behalf of the working men of the town, and first
addressed a meeting in Sheffield at Mr. Robert Leader's house, Moor End, at the
top of Barber Road, this being a meeting of women. The invitation really came
through a deputation of working men who had heard Mr. Mundella speak at
Nottingham on subjects dear to their hearts, and he was only 43 years old when
this invitation was accepted.  It was said of him that, with ease, he might have
become a very rich man had he sought riches; but the purpose of his life was the
betterment of the workers, and certainly during the many years when he
represented the town as a whole and, later, the division of Brightside, this
desire to assist the workers always stood first. In his very early political
life he interested himself in the establishment of Boards of Conciliation, which
might settle trade differences and prevent the workers using their one weapon at
that time, the strike, which inevitably led to such distress.  When he first
secured the affection and votes of Sheffield in 1867, Mr. Leng declared that the
new member would be "a nobody in the House," a statement straightway falsified
by Mr. Gladstone's act in asking him to second the Address and, in future years,
it was as member for Sheffield that he rose to his best.  Mr. Hadfield had been
a diligent, methodical member but Mr. Mundella, his colleague in the 1867
election, appeared to attend to everything and went everywhere, so that in a
sense he became Parliamentary agent to the Corporation and also to the Chamber
of Commerce.

STEADFAST TO SHEFFIELD. Tower Hamlets and other boroughs, including his native
town of Nottingham, sought him as its Member in later years, but he remained
steadfast to Sheffield.  The amount of work which he did was enormous. In 1878,
after piloting his Fisheries Bill through Parliament, in one confidential
utterance to a close friend he said, " I am worn out, and at the end of every
session it is the same.  I am spending my strength; I am on the treadmill every
day of my life."

Thirty years of such labour told their tale, but throughout all those years he
held his faculty for retaining myriad friends, and when the final illness struck
him down every phase of society joined in hope of his recovery. He had become
candidate for Sheffield, as already stated, through the workmen's interest in
his career, and a great factor was the manner in which he had settled the South
Lancashire coal strike. He was invited to stand on June 29, 1867, the meeting
being held at the Town Hall, Mr. Plimsoll in the chair, and three weeks later he
addressed his first meeting in Paradise Square, where 15,000 people congregated
and where a good deal of disorder occurred.  In 1869 he gave his first account
of a faithful stewardship, and for a decade subsequently his annual address was
delivered in Sheffield's famous forum. Probably the most exciting of these came
in 1878, when the chair was occupied by Mr. Fredk. Thorpe Mappin, and leading
Tories in the town stood on drays drawn up behind the thickly massed crowd, and
hurled their interruptions at the platform.  To such an extent did this go, that
finally Mr. Mappin stood up and declared his intention of naming those who were
causing the disturbance.  The remark caused further disturbance, whereupon the
chairman carried out his threat, naming one after the other as being guilty of
breaking the peace.  This was one of the most turbulent of all the meetings held
in the square, but the chairman's stern action had a beneficial result.  Mr.
Mappin's action was the more notable because, outside the fiery range of party
politics, those whom he named were his own personal friends.

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL. In 1880 Mr. Mundella was given the position of
Vice-President of the Council on Education by Mr. Gladstone, and in 1886 he rose
to the position of President of the Board of Trade.  His close attention to
matters of education had long before been recognized, and it was generally
believed that he was largely consulted by the blind statesman, Mr. Forster, when
that gentleman's great measure of education reform was being framed, and which
eventually had concrete shape in the Education Act of 1870.  In 1892, Mr.
Mundella's political life became clouded through his connexion with the New
Zealand  Loan Company.    He had been a director of the Company from 1865 to
1892, resigning his position in 1894, when the Company went, into liquidation,
and sold all his shares. But when Lord Rosebery gave him a place in his
Government, the appointment was made the cause of a savage political attack by
his opponents and, in May of that year, he resigned the position which had been
given him, making a personal statement of considerable length in the House of
Commons. He received widespread consolation from all sides of the House. Mr.
Gladstone, just then undergoing an operation for cataract, spoke very warmly of
Mr. Mundella's high-minded action and of his single heartedness in the country's
interests, whilst, at Birmingham, Lord Rosebery spoke of his grief at the loss
of such a colleague and of the ensuing weakness of his Government. Resolutions
of sympathy reached him from practically all the worker's associations in the
country, for he had done great things for the workers and especially interested
himself in questions respecting false marking.  In Sunday Schools also he was
greatly interested during his life; he was President of the Union in.1884, and
on his death a memorial service was conducted at S. Margaret's Church, in the
shadow of the abbey.

In much of what follows I quote from the obituary notice which appeared in the
Sheffield Daily Telegraph, the organ which had so often opposed him, but which,
in the hour of death, paid a very eloquent and graceful tribute to his work. 
"He was much more than a commercial and political force--he was a cultured
gentleman, very well informed.  Few men knew the poets better: he always kept in
touch with all that was best in modern thought and literature.  He had a
peculiar love of the beautiful and artistic, and generally he was a little ahead
of his time. When all the world was raging about Majolica, he was buying old
Chelsea and early English; while the world raved over oak chests he found the
purchase of English marqueterie and Chippendale more to his liking, and the
public taste followed him.  He gathered together weapons of war of all ages,
savage war battle axes, arms from the flint age and old firelocks, but his
social side was hidden away under the colossal public duties with which he
loaded himself." How he straightway gained the affection of his party, won the
1868 election and remained the member for Sheffield or Brightside for 33 years,
these things are well known.  The story of his Parliamentary life must be brief.
Early on he devoted himself to work in connexion with the amending of the
factory laws, especially those relating to women and children, and here he
gained his earliest successes. He was one of the earliest visits advocates of
compulsory education,    for his many visits to Saxony, where he had a large
commercial property in addition to his factory at Nottingham, had taught him
much. The Times told him in one article that such a thing as compulsory
education might do for Saxony but would not be endured by the Anglo-Saxons.

A NOTABLE EDUCATIONIST. Mr. Mundella's speech, in very earnest support of Mr. W.
E. Forster's bill in 1870, was characterized by Mr. Gladstone as "a pre-eminent
addition to debate."  He possessed a boundless versatility, and about that time
the Telegraph declared that "his activity is so great that he pervades the whole
land."  He made enemies by throwing his sympathies on the side of Russia against
the Turks in 1876, declaring that what the Turk had been through the centuries
he must remain, and he refused to believe in promises of reform.  In 1880 he was
head of the Education Department; in 1886 President of the Local Government
Board, and in that position made himself responsible for the Trade Marks
Conference in Rome, one of the first official efforts to secure obvious rights
and fair trading between competitors. From the year 1884 to 1892 he devoted a
great deal of his energy to stimulating Sheffield's heavy trades through
Government patronage, and when the Government proposed putting down a large
plant in Woolwich in 1884, he very strongly urged Sheffield's claims, asserting
that Brightside itself was quite ready to cater for all Government requirements.
 Thus those works as a result were encouraged by Government to put down plant
for large forgings.   Many times he prevented Woolwich officials securing orders
to the detriment of private enterprise as exemplified in Sheffield, and in 1892
Mr. B. P. Broomhead Colton-Fox wrote him that he was bound to say, although
differing so strongly from him in politics, that when the Government was not
fulfilling its promises made in 1884, to place orders for steel gun forgings
with Vickers', Firths' and Cammells', Mr. Mundella had rendered most important
assistance by bringing forward Sheffield's claims. A Parliamentary correspondent
of the Liverpool Albion had a paragraph in the paper in May, 1869, on Mr.
Mundella's maiden speech.  Always, in the House, a personality commands interest
on his rising, and it was so in this case, for the correspondent declares that
when Sheffield's new Member rose both Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright turned in
their seats and gave him marked attention.  "Both sides received him with favour
and, having long ago made himself in the commercial world, Mr. Mundella looks
like doing so in the House.  He made no attempt after oratorial effect, every
sentence held a fact, and he was complete master of his subject. Exclusives are
the spice of life to newspapers, but it was rather a shock to Sheffield to find
the resignation of Mr. Mundella from the Presidency of the Board of Trade first
announced in the London Daily Chronicle of May 14th, 1894. The resignation, pace
the Daily Chronicle, was " to prevent even the appearance of conflict between
public and private interests in the Department," a reference to his association
with the New Zealand Loan Company.

JOHN ARTHUR ROEBUCK. Mr. John Arthur Roebuck, son of a very famous Sheffield
doctor, died at Ashley Place, London, on November 30th, 1879, at the advanced
age of 78, and was buried at Bushey five days later.  The obituary notice in the
Telegraph extended over ten columns, together with a highly eulogistic leading
article penned by his long-time champion, Mr. Leng. Never a really strong party
man, often strikingly independent, and always a pronounced Imperialist as he
would be termed to-day, Mr. Roebuck's obituary in the paper named was a very
striking one.  In no sense were the deceased's weaknesses and failures condoned
or omitted. The full story of his stormy life was told and makes very
interesting reading. He was born during his parents' stay at Madras and was
taken to Canada, coming to this country in 1824 in order that he might study for
the Bar. He was admitted member of the Inner Temple in 1831 and practised on the
Northern Circuit, though making a poor living as a barrister. The Telegraph says
of him: "His was a mind eminently capable of "grasping general principles and
large questions of policy, but he could not bend it to minute details or
technicalities. He was fitted to become 'a Tribune of the People' and in that
respect succeeded." Throughout his life, especially during the earlier portion
of it, no man in England received more censure, and "his whole career was a
proof of the wisdom of the proverb that people who live in glass houses should
not throw stones."    Very early on  he  set  up a quarrel  with  the  entire 
newspaper press of England, and from the memory of that quarrel inspired by
himself he found it very difficult to escape, at least one duel resulting, and
challenges to two others being made to him by infuriated editors.  A prolific
writer of pamphlets, he kept various sections of the community seething with
unrest and indignation, and in the House made such violent attacks on the
Melbourne ministry that when, in due course, he sought re-election for Bath, he
found both sides combining to bring about his downfall and succeeding, an almost
unparalleled thing in the history of politics.

Despite these outbursts, however, he made many friends, and of the sincerity of
his beliefs there was no question.  His early life in Canada made him very
sympathetic whenever its considerations were before the House, and in 1834, and
again in 1837, he got Select Committees appointed  to consider her grievances.  
In the latter year he revealed himself as a strong and eloquent supporter of Mr.
Grote's proposal for the introduction of the ballot; he was equally eloquent in
praying for the repeal of the Septennial Act.  Then England's intervention in
Spanish affairs brought from him strong, sane, constitutional advice which,
however, went for nothing, his amendment being lost.  In June, 1837, he moved
the appointment of a Special Committee "to consider the state of the Nation,"
declaring that the House of Lords was obstructive, that the Ministry was useless
for good purposes, and that it had bitterly disappointed the hopes of the
people. There was no division on his motion.  In this way he found himself
acceptable to neither party, and his defeat at Bath followed.

TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE. However, he secured election again there in 1841, and in
the following year took a prominent part in the agitation respecting the Corn
Duties and also, on the introduction of the Income Tax, fighting very strongly
for the latter. Further, when the famous Chartist petition was brought to the
House by sixteen men, containing the signatures of over three million people, he
spoke with the greatest animosity and acerbity against the Chartists, creating a
scene in the House.  Later in the year 1842, he addressed the House at great
length and with characteristic invective on the subject of corruption during the
elections in the previous year, this bringing about Lord John Russell's Bill for
Preventing Bribery and Corruption at Elections, the Bill passing through
Parliament in the same year. His speech in 1843, in which he moved for the
appointment of a Select Committee to investigate into the causes which had led
to the war in Afghanistan, was spoken of by Lord John Russell as unparalleled
for invective, and the motion did not succeed.   In his speech Mr. Roebuck
referred to the war as unjust and impolitic, and spoke of Lord Palmerston's
"mischievous meddling and most pernicious influence on our foreign policy." The
Sebastopol enquiry formed one of the great features of Mr. Roebuck's larger
life.  It was in another of his vehement speeches, and at a time when illness
had laid a strong hand upon him, that he urged an enquiry into what was
generally agreed to be a scandal, and Disraeli himself complimented Mr. Roebuck
on his effort. The result was a majority of 147 for the appointment of the
Committee and, consequent upon that, the fall of the Government.  A new
Government under Lord Palmerston took office, but in it, though he was the
shatterer of the old one, Mr. Roebuck's name found no place.

"TEAR 'EM." It was following on a visit paid by him to Cherbourg in 1858 that he
gave himself the nickname which stuck to him to the end, and which we used in
Sheffield with very great and real affection.  Speaking at the Cutlers' Feast in
September of that year, he referred to his visit and added: "the farmer who goes
to sleep, having placed a watch-dog,'Tear 'Em,' in the yard, hears the dog bark.
 In the anger of semi-somnolence he says: 'I wish "Tear 'Em" would be quiet,'
and so bawls to the dog: 'Down,  "Tear 'Em." And ' Tear 'Em' goes down, and the
farmer is reawakened by the flashing of his flaming ricks.  I am 'Tear 'Em.'  I
tell you, gentle-men, that Cherbourg is a standing menace to England." Never a
constructive politician, Mr. Roebuck, nevertheless, spent many years in faithful
representation of Sheffield.  In May, 1849, he was returned unopposed for the
borough and returned again in contested elections in 1852, 1857 and 1865, but in
1868 he fell. He had at that time roused the rancour of the Trade Unionists by a
perfectly plain and honest speech respecting the dreadful exposures which had
been made at the previous year's enquiry by the Outrages Commission in the town.
And at a great meeting in Paradise Square during this 1868 election, he said: "I
support Trade Unions, but only when they do legal things.  When they commit
murder, when they ratten, picket, ill-treat their fellows, then I oppose them." 
 He retired from public life after his defeat but, six years later, just when he
had been asked to fight the Tower Hamlets constituency, he was called back to
Sheffield and accepted the invitation, once more securing a position as
representative of the town which, as he said after the poll, he loved so well
and which had been so kind to him. " He was," said the Telegraph, "indedependent
in thought and action to the last, and died in harness as he "would wish to
die."


A GREAT PAMPHLETEER…

In one of his many articles (and he was a contributor to various papers in
addition to being a profuse pamphleteer) Mr. J. A. Roebuck told us some very
interesting things about the amenities of newspapers eighty years ago. That was
in an article which he wrote in the Twopenny Dispatch, then giving extracts from
various papers, recalling the Eatonswill Gazette of Dickins, and which extracts 
Mr. Roebuck described as " an exquisite chorus of reciprocal abuse." He quoted
Cobbett as speaking of "that heap of dung," the Morning Herald ; the Times as so
far falling away from dignity as to characterize the Morning Chronicle as "that
squirt of dirty water"; and of the Morning Chronicle rather justifying what the
Times had said by speaking of the Post as "that slop pail of corruption…" Not to
be outdone by its lively contemporaries, the Standard, regarded by some of us in
more recent days as an old-fashioned paper, had a pleasing reference to  "our
blubber-headed contemporary, the Globe; whilst, in a more rotund denunciation,
the Morning Advertiser spoke of the Times as "the bully of Berkshire and the
braggadocio of Printing House Square." Even that did not end the list. Every
paper seems to have come under the lash at one time or another, and so the
Morning Herald arrived on the scene with the remark, "that spavined old hack,
the Courier."  Mr. Roebuck argued that the material here adduced was much too
rich to be lost to fame, and that it should be set to music and sung by the
rival editors at Covent Garden, and he added that these fights in the press were
like those of the Condottiere in Italy which lasted a whole day and never slew a
combatant. However, these exposures had a result which makes us appreciate the
character of the days in which they were made, for the future member for
Sheffield was "waited on" by Sir Francis Knowles on behalf of Albany
Fontanblanque, and by Lieut.-Colonel Campbell on behalf of Mr. Stirling,  two of
the editors concerned.  Roebuck had previously fought one duel  because of the
strictures he had passed on the newspaper press of England, that being with Mr.
Black of the Morning Chronicle, on Nov. 19th, 1835, when two shots were
exchanged without effect, and the meeting aroused the gibes of the wits of
England.  The cause of the duel may be summarized. The early days of the man who
was afterwards to shake all England by his fiery eloquence on vital subjects
found him constantly tilting with the newspaper press, for what reason it is
somewhat difficult to understand ,to-day, but it had the effect of making him
something of an Ishmael for the time being.  He indulged in gratuitous attacks
on the whole body, no paper escaped his scathing pen; and in the House of
Commons he declared that no press was so degraded, so thoroughly immoral, as
that of this country; it was impossible to imagine a greater despotism;  and
that from the highest to the lowest the most paltry corruption, the basest
cowardice, and blackest immorality were the governing principles of our
newspaper press.  Such things by a man always striving for a public career were
not calculated to make him popular, and his duel with Mr. Black was perhaps
inevitable result. A NOTABLE EFFORT. The Westminster Gazette published a very
interesting detail of Roebuck's career, which must be mentioned here.  It was
published at the time when, during the recent war, Germany appealed to America,
and President Wilson issued in reply his famous fourteen points.  It was
recalled that, during the American Civil War, England and France had been
appealed to, to bring the war to an end.  This, of course, was not on quite on
all fours with Germany's appeal, for Germany was at that time a belligerent. 
However, when the Civil War was at its height, Mr. Roebuck, M.P. for Sheffield,
paid a special visit to Napoleon III as an amateur ambassador, and urged him to
join with England in attempting to bring about an armistice. To this the Emperor
replied: "I should be delighted to concert with my esteemed ally, and offer my
services to put a stop to this terrible carnage."  However, the action of "Old
Tear'Em" was not officially endorsed by Lord Palmerston and Earl Russell, and
the proposal went no further. On December 4th, 1879, Mr. Waddy resigned his seat
for Barnstaple in order that he might contest the seat in Sheffield rendered
vacant through Mr. Roebuck's death, and arrived in Sheffield two days later. Mr.
C. B. Stuart Wortley also reached Sheffield about this time, and Mr. Henry
Broadhurst paid a three days visit to assist Mr. Waddy's candidature. In the
course of a speech which he afterwards delivered at Tunstall, the latter made a
statement which caused the greatest anger and feeling in many circles in
Sheffield. At that time there was a prospect of Mr. Mark Firth becoming
candidate for the seat in Sheffield, and Mr. Broadhurst said, according to the
Staffordshire Advertiser of December 13th, "Mr. Mark Firth's name is associated
with many great and important benevolent movements, but I know that he has taken
to himself much applause and esteem at some one else's expense. Every penny
spent by him in colleges, almshouses and other buildings was left to him by an
old maiden lady for those purposes.  He has been spending it in public works,
but he has never at any time mentioned the lady's name.  Everyone who loves
truth and justice must feel an interest in the Sheffield election for this
reason." Mr. B. P. Broomhead promptly published a letter stating that, from his
own knowledge, there was not an iota or suggestion of truth in Mr. Broadhurst's
allegations.

SAMUEL PLIMSOLL. The death of Samuel Plimsoll occurred at Folkestone on June
2nd, 1898.  Sheffield was the place of his early adoption, and in it for many
years he made his living, whilst when prosperity came to him he lived for a long
time in the very stately mansion, Whiteley Wood Hall.  Later, when his
Parliamentary duties took him to town, he distinguished himself, as all the
world knows, in securing betterment for our sailors in the merchant service, and
in checking and killing the custom, which he strongly denounced, of sending
heavily-insured and rotten ships to sea for the express purpose of foundering.
It was this which brought him into conflict with the authorities in the House of
Commons on July 22nd, 1875, when the Merchant Shipping Bill looked like being
withdrawn.  For some time it was evident that agitation was overcoming him, and,
at a critical point in the debate, he left his seat, walked to the Government
Bench, and there suddenly exclaimed:  "I protest, in the Name of God, against
any further delay in proceeding with this Bill.  The Bill itself is atrocious
and a sham, but I believe there are sufficient men of humanity and Christianity
in House to make it a good one.  I charge the Government that they playing into
the hands of murderers inside and outside this House who continue the murderous
system of sending men and rotten ships to sea." When the Prime Minister demanded
a reprimand, Mr. Plimsoll walked towards the door and, standing. at the bar with
up-lifted hand, said, " There a thousand lives at stake.  You do not know these
men as I do," and walked out. At a great meeting in Sheffield in April, 1876, he
was made recipient of many gifts in token of esteem for his efforts in this
direction, and the Vicar of  Sheffield,  Dr.  Sale,   very   strongly   urged  
enquiry   into   the   whole   matter. Before this, Sheffield had shown kindly
interest in  "the sailor's friend." When in 1873, he was acquitted in a libel
action which, if it had gone against him, would have meant ruin, a mass meeting
was held in the Temperance Hall, with the Mayor presiding, and he received a
reception which was overwhelming in its warmth.

FRIEND OF THE SAILORS. After Mr. Plimsoll's outburst in the House he left the
chamber, and several of his friends, knowing his state of health, went after
him, finding completely prostrated, and they returned to state his condition and
plead it in mitigation of what he had said.  They included Mr. Fawcett, Mr.
Ashley, Mr. Bass and  Mr. Sullivan.   Mr. Plimsoll's speech had contained the
following:  "I am determined to unmask the villains who send our seamen to
death." The Speaker intervened at once, expressing the hope that the words
uttered were not intended to apply to members of the House. The retort came at
once that they were so intended--that there were ship-knackers in the House, and
he did not intend to withdraw what he had said. A week later he returned to the
House, and addressing the Speaker said he quite recognized that it would be
impossible to conduct the government of that great country, to maintain its
honour and influence abroad, and the dignity and authority of the House at home,
unless its debates were conducted within limits.  He went on: "I exceeded those
limits; patriotism and common sense demand that I should withdraw such terms as
I used, as they transgressed Parliamentary usage, and I apologize to you, sir,
and to this House for using them.  But I trust it will not be inconsistent with
the respect I feel for, and have towards, this House, if I add that I do not
withdraw any statement of fact which I then made."

SIR C. E. HOWARD VINCENT. Sir C. E. Howard Vincent, so long Member of Parliament
for Sheffield's Central Division, died at Mentone in April, 1908.  He was born
May 31st, 1849, at Sinfield in Sussex, and educated at Westminster School,
entering Sandhurst when 16.  For some time, however, he could not make up his
mind as to his future, and Sheffielders who remember him may be surprised to
know that early in life the Church appealed to him a great deal. He was on the
fringe of diplomatic service when, in 1871, he went to Berlin as Queen's
Messenger, and afterwards the craze for roaming overcame him. However, generally
speaking, it was roaming with a purpose.  He visited Russia, and whilst there
learned the language; he went to Italy and picked up the Italian tongue as part
of the trip; and went to Australia to study its remodelled army. All this time
he was writing, earning something of a reputation on military matters, and, just
as a variation to all this, he was called to the Bar in 1873.  Two years later
he was wandering again, visiting the Danubian provinces and Constantinople. He
was appointed war-correspondent in the Russo-Turkish War by the London
Telegraph; but on attaching himself to the Headquarters of the Grand Duke
Nicholas he was sent back, as no correspondent was allowed who knew Russian.
When appointed Director of Criminal Investigation in town he was only 28 years
old, and promptly set off to study the methods in Paris, Vienna, Berlin and
Brussels, and he completely reorganized his department. In fact, he made no
small success of his reign there at a time when difficulties were constant,
especially over the Fenians and the forgers of rouble notes.  He did not hold
the office long.  It was perhaps natural that, to such a man, Parliamentary 
life appealed, and he resigned his position at Scotland Yard to seek another at
St. Stephen's. About this period came his very markedly-successful command of
the Queen's Westminsters, which was to some extent interfered with by another
extended tour, this time to Australia, India, Egypt and Canada. In 1885 he came
to Sheffield and wooed the Central Division, fighting his first election against
Mr. Samuel Plimsoll--two men facing one another in opposite camps, each of whom
was at one time or another the chosen hero of the Telegraph and Mr. Leng's very
powerful pen.  Sir Howard took an active part in the Fair Trade movement, was
very prone to waving the flag, and established the United Imperial Trade League.

Still, as was said of him, "he was largely looked upon as a dreamer in
commercial matters and lightly regarded."  In social legislation he did much in
regard to the restriction of immigration of destitute aliens, Old Age Pensions,
Judicial Trustees, and the Small Dwellings Act of 1899. He was, as will be
readily assumed after the foregoing, a man of great versatility, and held many
public offices.

A VARIED LIFE. In 1899 he was appointed Commander of the C.I.V., that fine force
sent out by the City of London to the Boer War, and though he failed to pass the
medical test he still went out to South Africa.  In Sheffield he was generally
liked. He had a cheeriness and bonhomie which told heavily and won him many
votes in spite of his politics, and the kissing of babies was to him part of the
political religion.  Sheffield took him good humouredly rather than seriously;
yet in Parliament, though at times he blundered in his zeal, he put Sheffield in
the forefront "at every end  and turn," to use a well-known jocalism. One of my
own recollections of his election methods may be permitted. He was addressing a
fervid meeting of workingmen in a public-house room in Broad Lane, and I
happened to be reporting that meeting.  Sir Howard, in the full flow of his
peroration and realizing that it was the football season, grasped his chance.  "
What I would say to you electors of the Central Division is, play up
centre-forward, play up centre-back --." He got no further. The meeting broke up
in roars of laughter, for he was addressing an audience expert in football.

GEORGE HADFIELD. Mr. George Hadfield had reached the very great age of 92 when
he died in Manchester in April, 1879, having been member for Sheffield for a
period of 22 years.  His parents were Sheffielders, his father a successful
merchant in the town.  The son was given a sound education in Sheffield schools,
 and  in  1810  became  a  solicitor  in  Manchester,  and  in  that  city
became very interested in politics.  In 1835 he stood as a Conservative for
Bradford, finishing at the foot of the poll, totalling only 392 votes. Then he
came to his birthplace, and in the election of 1852 was elected, together with
Mr. Roebuck, the contest being fought on Free Trade, and the new member's maiden
speech in the House was on the subject of the Maynooth Grant.  It was Maynooth
which brought Mr. Gladstone's retirement in 1869. Mr. Hadfield, in the House,
showed himself strongly against the exclusion of dissenters from our
Universities. He carried through the Qualification for Officers Abolition Bill,
a private measure opposed by Government, yet passed into law.  He did everything
possible to elevate the status, socially and politically, of deserving
Nonconformists, and for that was accused in Sheffield of speaking with
bitterness and ill will of the Established Church.  It was said of him that he
had not a largeness of heart and liberality of vision sufficient to enable him
to see that it was possible to be a consistent Nonconformist and still make
allowances for the position of members of the Established Church.  During his
long representation of the town in the House, he showed a great care of
Sheffield's interests, and manifested an unwearied industry.  He retired from
Parliament when Gladstone dissolved in 1874, and two days later announced his
retirement from politics.

JOSEPH POINTER. The death of Mr. Joseph Pointer, then M.P. for Attercliffe, took
place at his home in Stafford Road, Sheffield, in 1914, deplored by all parties,
despite his occasional impetuosity in speech.  He was a Socialist, and, as such,
progressed steadily up the political ladder. When quite young he did much
propaganda work in Attercliffe; he was President of the local branch of the
I.L.P., and also of the Sheffield Trades and Labour Council. Twice he was
defeated in his efforts to secure a seat in the City Council, but became Member
of Parliament in his first election. He was son of a Sheffield working man, and,
always bent on improving his condition, secured a sound education at the
Attercliffe Board School and the Central Secondary School.  When 24 years old he
went to Ruskin College, Oxford, for six months, in order that he might study
constitutional history and sociology. He came back to Sheffield to be
apprenticed as pattern maker, and shortly afterwards became concerned in a
strike which cost him his situation. From that moment his employment was casual,
so that, when he became Attercliffe's Member in Parliament, he was working at a
local laundry.  He first stood for the Council in 1906, when beaten by Mr. Cecil
H. Wilson. In the ensuing year he was beaten by Mr. A. J. Bailey, but in 1908 he
secured one ambition and entered the Council as member for Brightside, resigning
his seat on becoming M.P.  In the Council he showed himself even more advanced
than had been thought, and made bitter attacks on the Duke of Norfolk, which
estranged many of his former friends. The death of Mr. Batty Langley in 1902
paved the way to Westminster, though there were four candidates at the election,
the polling being: J. Pointer 3,531, S. King Farlow (Conservative) 3,380, R. C.
Lambert (Liberal) 3,175, and Amold  Muir Wilson (Independent Conservative) 
2,803. All   Mr.  Pointer's  three  political  elections  came  within  the 
space  of twenty months, and on the second and third occasions he was only
opposed by the official Conservative nominee.  In 1910 he defeated Mr. King
Farlow by 7,755 against 6,079 votes, and in December of the same year defeated
Mr. George Walker by 6,532 against 5,354.  When he was first elected Mr. Pointer
made it quite clear that where Liberal and Labour interests clashed he would be
on the side of Labour, and he kept thoroughly to that declaration. Mr. Pointer's
maiden speech in the House of Commons was made on the evening of June 16th,
1909.  The Parliamentary correspondent of the Sheffield Telegraph spoke of him
as a feature of the House, remarkably regular in his attendances and equally
earnest in the attention he paid to speeches in the House and to procedure. 
Sensibly enough, he had taken time  to  realize  the  atmosphere  of  the 
Chamber, and awaited an opportune moment for the making of his maiden speech. It
came in the second reading of the Labour Exchanges Bill, and he was chosen to
express officially the Labour Party's views, and thus his embarrassment was
increased. For that occasion only he moved to the next seat to Mr. Henderson,
official leader of his party; twice he sought to catch the Speaker's eye, and in
the traditions of the House such an experience has been likened to the criminal
on the scaffold when the trap door refused to act.  Once he had started, Mr.
Pointer showed little nervousness.   His Labour colleagues had crowded in to
hear him, and he had the indulgence of the House always extended to a new
member.  He had found a quiet, easy Parliamentary style; he stood with his right
hand on his hip, his left on his breast clutching his notes; he provided no
scintillations, but the dull moments were very few, and, perhaps, observable
diffuseness might be pardoned.  His most earnest listener was Mr. Churchill, and
at the close Mr. Balfour and others made kindly reference to an interesting
speech.

A JUNIOR WHIP. He became Junior Whip of the Labour Party in the House of
Commons. The geniality of his manner drew to him many friends, but he could not
refrain from outbursts in the House, and once when he attacked the Speaker for
party leanings he found the whole House against him, and straightway apologized.
 He did very much useful work for Sheffield during his stay in the House,
especially in connexion with its many Corporation Bills, and altogether was a
useful, hard-working representative.  His funeral  in City Road Cemetery showed
by its entirely representative character how well liked he was.

SAMUEL DANKS WADDY. Another of Sheffield's Parliamentary representatives was Mr.
Samuel Danks Waddy, whose representation only lasted four months. He was born in
Gateshead in 1830, and died in London 72 years later.   He came to Sheffield
when quite a boy, his father having been appointed Head Master of Wesley
College.  The bulk of his schooling went on at the College, and afterwards he
was articled to Messrs. Pye Smith & Wightman, together with Mr. Dossey Wightman,
afterwards Sheffield's best known Coroner. Very quickly he established for
himself a great reputation, it being contended that "the worse the case the more
eagerly sought were Waddy's "services for the defence." However, the Sheffield
Sessions provided all too small a field for Waddy's ambition, and  when  Mr.
Overend retired Mr. Waddy stepped into his shoes.  He took silk in 1876, and in
1894 became Recorder of Sheffield, in succession to Sir Frank Lockwood, who had
become Solicitor-General.  The appointment was unfortunate in one way, in that
Sir Frank, with a facility which was unrivalled on the Bench, had made it his
custom to make lightning pen and ink sketches of prisoners and other people in
his court, which became the treasured possessions of everybody who secured one.
Waddy had no such delightful gifts. He had, however, accomplishments of another
kind, and, true or not, a delightful story used to be told of these two men.  It
was said how once Waddy, when, as he was wont, he was preaching in a little
village chapel during the Assizes at York, he found Lockwood and other
barristers filling the front pew. And so, immediately prior to the sermon, Waddy
announced that "Brother Lockwood will give out the next hymn," to the confusion
of the front pew and its immediate emptiness.  In 1896 Waddy was appointed Judge
of the Cheshire County Court in succession to Mr. Tom Hughes, immortalized as
author of Tom Brown's School Days, but two weeks later Mr. Thomas Ellison, Judge
of the Sheffield County Court, passed away, and Mr. Waddy was transferred to
Sheffield, first taking his seat on April 24th. Throughout his life he was a
staunch Wesleyan, and he had a Parliamentary career extending from 1874 to 1894.
 He first represented Barnstaple in 1874, and vacated his seat for the Brigg
Division in 1894 when given the Recordership of Sheffield. His first speech in
the House was on the Endowed Schools Act Amendment Bill. the Government yielding
to pressure from outside, and so, in the ensuing election of 1878, Mr. Waddy was
nominated with Mr. Mundella as Liberal representatives for Sheffield. On the
death of Mr. Roebuck in December, 1879, Mr. Waddy accepted the Chiltern
Hundreds, and, with Mr. Roebuck's funeral taking place on December 5th at
Bushey, Mr. Waddy was in Sheffield on the 6th eager to open his campaign against
Mr. C. B. Stuart Wortley. The story of the election, of his narrow success and
quick overthrow, is well remembered in Sheffield politics, and after these
elections the London Echo, in 1891, published the following pen picture of Mr.
Waddy: " He is a naturally old fashioned raucous Radical, a prematurely old man
of sixty, wearing the white neckcloth of the Nonconformist preacher, venerable
in his beard, and using Parliament professionally. His oratory at its best is
platitudinous, with windy suspirations and forced breathing, and with sound and
fury signifying nothing." Mr. Stuart Wortley, who later defeated Mr. Waddy in
the Hallam Division, made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on June 3rd,
1880, on the Employers' Liability Bill, of which he was a strong supporter.

ALFRED ALLOTT. On February 12th, 1901, the funeral of Mr. Alfred Allott was
announced in the Sheffield newspapers, the first notification to the public that
a once prominent figure in the city's history had passed away, and as a matter
of fact death occurred on the sixth of the month mentioned.  He was born in
Walsall in 1824, and made himself a notable figure in Sheffield alike in
politics, in social life, in his work as a professional man, and in commerce.
Actually he undertook too much, yet even in the days of his many troubles his
friends rallied round him loyally. He came to Sheffield when a very young man as
auditor of the Midland Railway Company's accounts, afterwards joining a local
firm of accountants, and eventually becoming senior partner in the firm of
Allott, Hadfield, Kidner and Hawson, with sumptuous offices in the Hartshead,
just then being given its present importance as a professional centre.  Coming
to Sheffield at the height of the railway boom, he naturally took part in many
schemes.  He was an ardent Nonconformist, and early identified himself with the
Congregational body in the town.  He also turned his attention to municipal
affairs, eventually becoming Alderman, and was on Sheffield's first School
Board. Politically he was a very keen supporter of Mr. Mundella from the opening
of that gentleman's activities to Sheffield elections.  In December, 1873, Mr.
Allott addressed a meeting in the Temperance Hall with a view to his being
nominated as a candidate in the then impending election, but he was howled down
when he attempted to address the meeting. The more staid of the party, however,
supported him, whilst the keener blades urged the nomination and election of Mr.
Joseph Chamberlain.  It is worth recalling here that neither the moderates nor
the hotheads succeeded, Mr. Roebuck emerging top of the poll, with Mr. Mundella
occupying the minor position in the returns.  The meeting in Paradise Square to
settle matters by show of hands was one of the most remarkable in the history of
Sheffield elections, and, according to the Sheffield Telegraph, Mr. Chamberlain
secured the favour of the packed square "by a large majority." Mr. Allott
accepted the vote. He was nominated, however, against his will, 621 votes being
cast for him.  Life ran on hard lines for him following this experience, for
with it he gave up all thoughts of a Parliamentary career, many of his very
large commercial interests failing, and his eventual bankruptcy causing him to
leave Sheffield and reside at Highbury in London. He had reached the age of 77
when death overtook him. Possibly it is not incorrect to say that Mr. Allott was
a man ahead of his time.  Certainly he was a man of remarkable gifts, one who
sensed the moment for enterprise, and one also who had all the professional
instinct which generally enables a man to avoid mistakes. For all that, he made
mistakes of grave and serious kind.  Perhaps, with just a little more control of
a natural eagerness, he would have taken a very high place.

RT. HON. JOHN PARKER. The days of pamphlets were brought back by the death of
the Rt. Hon. John Parker, which occurred in Onslow Square, London, at the age of
81. He was born at Tickhill and educated at Repton and Brazenose College,
Oxford; was member for Sheffield from 1832 to 1852.  As a barrister he travelled
the Northern Circuit.  He became Lord of the Treasury, First Secretary to the
Admiralty, Joint Secretary to !he Treasury, and Member of the Privy Council;
but, in spite of these honours and the sterling work he did for Sheffield, he
was rejected at the election of 1852--"one of the most useful members Sheffield
ever had, and possessed of excellent qualities."      Like many others in those
days, Mr. Parker was an earnest writer of pamphlets, and in 1817 presented a
petition with 20,000 signatures from the town, praying Parliament for its
enfranchisement.  He presented a like petition in 1822.  It was held, however,
that his pamphlet in 1830 had most to do with the enfranchisement of the town,
for in it he made out a clear case.  He wrote respecting Sheffield's position,
as compared with other towns: "It is at the head of its trade as they are; an
acknowledged centre of its district as they are.  It is extensively engaged in
prosecution of its own vast staple trade, and has the still fairer fame of
cultivating on nearly if not quite equal terms with them a full proportion of
scientific, literary,  and charitable institutions.  It does not accumulate the
vast fortunes of Manchester or Leeds, but there is in Sheffield less alternation
between the middle and the lower classes, between the highest and the lowest
wages;  and there exists more permanent comfort, instead of occasional glimpses
of prosperity such as characterize other towns.  The trade in Sheffield is
republican, not an oligarchy.  It is in the hands of the town, and not in the
hands of a few enormous capitalists."  That was a cultured way of referring to
the prevalence of the "little mester" in Sheffield--the class which, beyond all
question, made the Sheffield trade of to-day.

SIR ELLIS ASHMEAD-BARTLETT. Sir Ellis Ashmead Bartlett had earned his title, for
he had proved a rare  party  man and was particularly  dependable  in 
divisions.    That  he was as useful in other ways it is difficult to make
clear. He represented the Ecclesall Division of Sheffield from 1885 to his death
in 1902, being returned on five occasions and fighting four strenuous campaigns
against Mr. Cyril Dodd, Mr. W. Owen (for Labour), Mr. R. E. Leader, and Mr.
Reginald Vaile; but never was he in real danger of defeat, for Ecclesall voted
blindly blue in those days.  He died as the result of a chill taken when
cycling. He was born at Brooklyn, U.S.A., in 1849, and at Oxford had a brilliant
career as scholar and athlete. He was a noted oarsman, without figuring in the
eight, and a very fine mile runner. It was none of those things which attracted
him to Sir William Leng who, years later, became his firm friend and stalwart
supporter.  Much more to Sir William's mind was the fact that the young man had
defeated by a large majority a rising hope of the liberal party in Mr. H. H.
Asquith for Presidency of the Union at Oxford.   Leaving Oxford, the young
political aspirant became Member for the Eye Division in the Eastern Counties,
but that constituency was abolished under the provisions of the Redistribution
Act.  By this time he had secured a certain popularity and, with Sheffield given
five divisions under the Act just referred to, he came to Sheffield at the
invitation of Sir William Leng. He became popular enough: his speeches had not
the solidity to which Sheffield politicians had grown accustomed, but he had an
engaging manner and address, and those qualities carried him a long way.  In the
House he was constant in carrying Sheffield into the limelight, but as a
constructive politician he failed.  His speech, at a time when Russia was much
in the public eye, contained one eloquent reference to "the coasts of Poland," a
phrase which was never forgotten in Sheffield. Always he had the Sheffield
Telegraph behind him; and with that and a never-to-be-forgotten eyeglass, he
carried on.

His friendship with Sir William Leng arose very curiously.  That voracious
reader, during one of his travels, picked up a book which interested him greatly
and, seeking out the publisher, Sir William secured the author's name, made
lavish purchases of the book, and broadcasted it amongst his friends.  Bartlett,
in turn, was staggered at the sudden interest in a book which previously had
hung fire very badly, and he in turn sought the publisher and found out who his
patron was.  An introduction followed, and from that moment the two became fast
friends; and his patron, and also Ecclesall, stuck to him to his death. He had
many other interests. In November, 1898, he secured a concession from the Sultan
of Turkey for a monopoly in provision of electric light for Smyrna and Salonika,
but this was discovered by the German Ambassador, who refused to permit the
concession to go through.  So the Sultan, ever conciliatory and ever generous,
gave Ashmead Bartlett an Arab thoroughbred instead, and passed the concession on
to Germany.

CHRISTOPHER PORRITT. There have been three outstanding figures in Sheffield
politics as agents to the respective parties.  One, Mr. John Charles Skinner,
who still leads a busy life in the interests of Liberalism; the others, Mr.
Christopher Porritt, who died March, 1905, and Mr. J. C. Shaw. To say that it
was through Mr. Porritt's amazing zeal and skill that the Conservative party in
Sheffield really owes its existence, is not to say a word too much.  He, like
his great rival, was an extraordinary worker.   Method marked each of them,
neither spared himself in the least degree, and to each came a great personal
success. Mr. Porritt came to Sheffield from Burnley in 1880, his first service
to his party being in the nature of a triumph.  At a by-election shortly before,
Mr. Waddy had defeated the Hon. Chas. Bielby Stuart Wortley, this election being
consequent on the death of Mr. Roebuck, the margin between the two candidates
being seventy-eight.  But in 1880, the first election in Sheffield conducted by
the new Conservative agent, Mr. Porritt secured a wonderful success for his
party and enormous kudos for himself. Mr. Waddy was defeated by forty votes and,
for the first time in its political history, Sheffield was represented by a
Conservative. This was Mr. Stuart Wortley, who retained his seat until there
came his elevation to the House of Lords.  That was the last election in
Sheffield prior to the splitting up of the borough into five political
divisions.  From that time the fight between the two agents, their unsparing
zeal, their skill and systematic efforts were continuous; and the various
elections were conducted from the respective offices as generals conduct their
schemes in war.  Mr. Porritt was five times Chairman of the North of England
Conservative Registration Agents Association, but in November, 1890 he resigned
his political offices and became local manager of the Mutual Assurance Company. 
Later he resigned that position, going to Doncaster, where again he took up the
duties of a Conservative Agent.

JOHN CHARLES SHAW. Mr. John Charles Shaw, one of the most successful political
organizers in the country for a period of fifty years, who as Chief Organizer
for the whole country did wonders for the Conservative party, died at Moseley,
near Birmingham, having reached the great age of 86.  He was chief officer of 
the  Midland  Union  of  Conservative Associations, and had only  retired  from 
that  position  when  he  reached  his  eightieth  year. He was born in
Sheffield, where, in his early manhood, he had a most successful career. 
Belonging to the well-known Shaw family in Attercliffe, he was articled to his
uncle, Dr. Shaw, afterwards entering the legal profession, and finally selecting
politics for a career. After the Sheffield Flood in 1864 he was engaged by Mr.
J. Newbould, solicitor to the Flood Commissioners, to deal with compensation
claims, and had thirty clerks under him in the work.  During the busy time a
byelection occurred in the town.  Mr. Shaw was pressed into service, and that
was the immediate stepping-stone to his political career.  He became a
professional politician.  How greatly he was trusted may be estimated from the
fact that after being secretary and treasurer of the Redistribution Association
for the whole of South Yorkshire, and also holding various local positions, he
was appointed in 1875 organizing secretary for the Conservative party for the
whole of England and Wales. He held that post for ten years, during which time
he was responsible to the Whips for the efficiency of the organization; and
modern party organization practically owed its existence to him.  He was a very
real pioneer and the first to introduce methods which to-day are in general use.
Various testimonials were given to him from time to time. In 1885 Conservatives
in the West Riding presented him, at Wakefield, with £200, a silver salver and
an address; and when he resigned the secretaryship of the Midland Union in 1912,
he was given another address and a cheque for £1,120. In his early life in
Sheffield Mr. Shaw was a very notable athlete, one of the best cross-country
runners, frequently taking part in the historic scramble from the Sandygate
cricket ground to Stannington Church and back--a struggle which still goes on. 
He also held a prominent position in what became organized football; he was one
of the oldest players in the ranks of the Sheffield Football Club, which was
established in 1855; and was president of the Sheffield Athletic Association for
a period of sixteen years.

LORD ROSEBERY'S VISIT. Lord Rosebery's famous visit to Sheffield in 1903
provided one of the city's foremost men with a fund of recollection in after
years.  Mr. Arthur Neal told me that when Lord Rosebery came to Sheffield he was
accompanied by his daughter, Lady Crewe. The expected carriage had not arrived
for them, so they were taken into the station master's office. Eventually the
messenger who had been trying to telephone to Sir Frederick Mappin's house came
back with the statement that there was no telephone attachment, and it suddenly
dawned on those who had met the guests that Sir Frederick had always refused to
have the telephone installed at Thornbury.  Suggestions of a cab were made, but
Lord Rosebery waved them aside.  "We will walk," he replied.  "How far is it!" 
"Three miles or so, and all up hill." "Well, we can do it, can't we, Peggy ! "he
returned, " but we shall want a guide."  So they started out, Sir William Clegg
acting as guide, whilst Mr. Neal waited for the promised carriage. Many others
remain within the scope of this review. Mr. Stuart Wortley's splendid services
for the town during a period, 1880-1910, inevitably carried him into the House
of Lords; Mr. Batty Langley represented Attercliffe faithfully during the period
1894-1909, though he was seldom notable in debate; Mr. Fred Maddison,
Sheffield's first Labour representative, was active in Sheffield's interests,
1897-1900; Mr. J. F. Hope carries on the Hallam traditions, and proved long ago
an admirable representative. Generally speaking, all who have represented
Sheffield, either as a whole or in different divisions of the city, have fought
very hard for Sheffield's interests in the House, especially during black times
in Sheffield's trade when different Governments have failed of their promises to
the great East End works.  Sir Samuel Roberts, who very early in his
Parliamentary career was called upon to second the Address, and Sir Tudor
Walters, who was first elected for Brightside in 1906, were insistent in their
calls on Government help for Sheffield trade, and Sir Samuel in many other ways
also. The Hon. Bernard Coleridge, Member from 1885 to 1894, stands out as the
most brilliant speaker who ever charmed a Sheffield audience. Very quickly he
was termed "the silver-tongued," and he deserved the term.  A slight figure on a
platform, seldom impassioned, but always entirely sure of himself in every word
he spoke, his speeches were always perfect cameos of culture.  He became Lord
Chief Justice in a later day. If I go further it is to recall Parliamentary
candidates who proved unsuccessful, gentlemenlike Mr. Brodie Hoare, a London
banker, who fought a despairing fight against Mr. Coleridge in Atterciiffe in
1885; Mr. F. W. Maude, fighting a like stern chase against the same victor in
1886, and the first candidate in Sheffield to sail under the Liberal Unionist
flag;     and Mr.R.C. Lambert, a very prince of good fellowship, in the election
of 1909, brought about by the retirement of Mr. Batty Langley. Lord Edmund
Talbot's two campaigns against Mr. Mundella for Brightside in 1885 and 1886 are
well remembered for the courtesy which existed on both sides. One recalls,
rather gratefully, Mr. Robert Cameron's effort against Colonel Howard Vincent
for the Central in 1892, and Mr. A. J. Bailey's two brilliant efforts to secure
the overthrow of Mr. J. F. Hope, both in 1910.  Then, in Ecclesall, the Liberals
put forward splendid candidates in Mr. Cyril Dodd, Mr. R. E. Leader, Mr.
Reginald Vaile (one the most cultured of all Sheffield candidates), and Mr. John
Derry, none of whom could achieve the overthrow of Sir Ellis Ashmead Bartlett or
Sir Samuel Roberts,the sitting members.  Other figures are associated with
Hallam, where Mr. Stuart Wortley remained impregnable, though his opponents were
such rivals as Sir Charles Warren, Mr. R. Hammond and Mr. Arthur Neal.  Truly
Sheffield, as a whole or in its separate divisions, has had very many admirable
candidates in the field on both in politics. It is interesting to recall that at
his first meeting, in 1865, Mr. Stuart Wortley said that he was before the
electors as a Liberal-Con servative with every intention of being as independent
in vote and opinion as Mr. Roebuck himself had been.  "The difference between
the Radical and Conservative was more in degree than in kind." To this may be
added the story of the Chartists in Sheffield.  The movement in England
flourished in the latter days of the eighteenth century, but received a fresh
impetus from the awful misery in this country following on the Napoleonic wars,
and perhaps even more particularly on the economic changes consequent on the
introduction of machinery in England. The movement was checked awhile by the
introduction and passing of the Reform Bill in 1832, but even then it was
quickly found that the economic and political grievances of the labouring part
of the population were unredressed,  whereas the  middle class had been 
enfranchised.   Two separate movements resulted from this state of things, one
socialistic, associated with the name of Robert Owen, the other radical, aiming
at the enfranchisement of the masses. The latter was represented in the Working
Men's Association, by whom, in 1838, the people's Charter was drawn up, with
Fergus O'Connor as the principal advocate, an orator whose speeches had a vast
and widespread influence on the people.  Monster meetings were held in various
parts of the country, with petitions to Parliament containing millions of
signatures, the greater part of which proved to be fictitious, and the movement
brought into being a large number of newspapers of which The Northern Star,
under the control of O'Connor, had a circulation of 50,000.  All this meant
trouble for the Government, and in November, 1839, the first serious outbreak
occurred, this being at Newport, Mon. On September 15th armed policemen were
stationed at the church gates in Sheffield and in the church itself, to prevent
disturbances, the Chartists thereupon assembling at Sky Edge.  Matters were
quickly becoming very serious, and on the 18th, when a further gathering was
contemplated at Sky Edge, it became known that the troops had been served with
ball cartridge, and the proposed meeting was abandoned. Nothing further was
heard of the movement until November 25th, when the magistrates prevented the
holding of a meeting in Figtree Lane, the headquarters of the Chartists. Still,
matters were serious, and torchlight meetings were held at Sky Edge and Spital
Hill at the end of the month, whilst an attempt was made to burn down S. Mary's
Church, inflammable material being thrown through the windows. James Bronterre
O'Brien, lecturing at the Circus, declared the objects of the Chartists to be to
divide the lands of the country in small portions among the people, at the death
of the present owners, compensating their heirs, and to pay off the National
Debt by considering interest as principal. On January 11th, 1840, came a most
serious attempt by the Chartists, as on that day they organized an attempt to
take and burn Sheffield. It was nipped in the bud, being discovered rather
accidentally, and the magistrates, police and military were keenly on the alert,
so that it was found possible to effect the arrest of the ringleader, Samuel
Holberry, at his house in Eyre Lane. This was at midnight, and in his house a
quantity of hand grenades and other combustibles were found.  However, despite
the absence of their leader, others of the party attended the trysting place,
encountering single watchmen, and shots were exchanged.  Two or three watchmen
were wounded, but many prisoners were taken by the police, and from January to
March tried at York. Nightly meetings and preachings had been begun in July. 
These caused some alarm in the town, and following an appeal by householders the
magistrates issued a warning to the inhabitants not to attend such gatherings. 
One result of this was that at the meetings a list of tradesmen who refused to
contribute to the funds was read over. On August 5th the chartist Convention
having referred the fixing of the " sacred month" to the people, a meeting was
held in Paradise Square, when it was resolved, "that while we believe that
nothing less than a universal stand can get the Charter, we believe that this
town and district are not as yet sufficiently organized for the adoption of the
'sacred month,' but nevertheless, we wait the decision of the General
Convention, and pledge ourselves to adopt and carry out all measures
unconditionally recommended by them for securing the people's Charter." Solemn
processions were afterwards decided upon and three of these took place in the
streets of the town on August 12th, the result being that on the following day
the magistrates issued a proclamation forbidding Chartist meetings, the
processions having brought about rioting and improper conduct in the streets. On
the evening of the proclamation another riot took place,   and the streets were
cleared by the military and police without any serious injury being done.
Between 70 and 80 people were, however, taken into custody, most of these being
discharged. A disturbance took place in connexion with one visit of the
Chartists to the church and, on the following day, what were termed "silent
meetings" were begun.  Prior to this the vicar and churchwardens had sought the
protection of the magistrates against recurrence of the scenes in the church,
and at the second "silent meeting" held in Paradise Square a pistol was fired
and windows were broken.  When the Chartists assembled a third time in the
Square on September 12th they were dispersed by the military and police; they
went straightway and assembled at Doctor's Fields, being again dispersed and 36
prisoners taken.