| THE SWING RIOTS AND WONSTON | |||||
UNVEILING OF PLAQUE TO COMMEMORATE THE SIGNING OF APETITION TO THE KING IN SEPTEMBER 1830FOR PARLIAMENTARY REFORM, THE SUBSEQUENT 'SWING RIOTS'AND THE OUTCOME FOR SOME LOCAL PEOPLE.
"To the King's Most Excellent Majesty".Thus was headed the petition to King William IV for parliamentary reform, signed by some 177 men of the parishes of Wonston, Barton Stacey and Bullington, in September 1830. It described in graphic detail their state of misery with "not that sufficient to satisfy our hunger ..... we have not clothes to hide the nakedness of ourselves ..... nor fuel with which to warm us" and yet, all around them, the fields of Hampshire were rich in produce. They sought the vote, "not one of your majesty's subjects has ever been allowed to exercise his right of voting at an election", complained at the immense weight of taxes as a result of earlier "unnecessary and unjust wars", and quoted the law of the land that "money shall not be taken out of the pocket of the people in the shape of taxes without their consent or the consent of their representatives". The petition was drawn up in the White Swan Inn in Sutton Scotney, "a hamlet within the Parish of Wonston, about seven miles from Winchester and on the road from London to Salisbury". William Cobbett referred to it as, "more dear to me and it ought to be dear to every Englishman for it was at this spot that was singed the petition for parliamentary reform which labourer, Joseph Mason carried to the King, at Brighton". Cobbett chose to celebrate the successful passing of the Reform Bill in 1832 at Sutton Scotney and the Hampshire Chronicle, records the occasion. Sadly, the White Swan Inn was pulled down in the 1960's, but the other coaching inn, the Coach and Horses, which stands across The Square from the site of the White Swan, has been chosen as the place on which to erect a plaque to commemorate the history of that time. Many of the names of those who signed the petition are still the names of the village families, and the causes and events of The Swing Riots are now recognised within the local school's syllabus. 1830This plaque commemorates the petition for parliamentary reform signed in September 1830 by men from the parishes of Wonston, Bullington and Barton Stacey meeting in The White Swan Inn, in this Square, and carried on foot to the King, William IV, at Brighton by Joseph Mason. The Wonston signatories were:
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