On the Eve: William Benbow, Francis Macerone and the Transmission of Revolution

This chapter argues that instead of the 1830s being seen as a quiet gap between the noise of the post-Waterloo period and the rise of Chartism, it has its own, under-examined, violently radical, character. I concentrate on William Benbow and Francis Macerone, who produced inciting revolutionary works including Grand National Holiday and Defensive Instructions for the People, which pointed to the 1830s being a time of class conflict. During the 1820s Benbow produced cheap editions of poetry for the working classes. It was through Benbow that many readers, amongst them John Clare and Robert Browning, first read Shelley’s verse. Benbow also produced a cut-price edition of Byron’s Don Juan. However, Grand National Holiday was designed to promote a general strike that would lead to revolution. Colonel Francis Macerone, a revolutionary ultra-radical, created works that would be banned today, such as Defensive Instructions for the People. This pamphlet shows amateurs how to make pikes, bullets, incendiary devices, and bombs, as well as ways to engage in street-fighting against soldiers. I argue that Benbow and Macerone are central figures in pre-Chartist 1830s radicalism and examine the revolutionary early 1830s through their works published on the eve of the Reform Bill.