Newport Rising | |||||||
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The attack of the Chartists on the Westgate Hotel |
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Belligerents | |||||||
Chartists |
Newport Council |
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
John Frost Zephaniah Williams William Jones |
Thomas Phillips (WIA) | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
45th Regiment of Foot | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
1,000–5,000 | 60 soldiers 500 special constables |
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
22 dead 50+ wounded |
4 wounded |
Newport Council
The Newport Rising was the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in Great Britain, when, on 4 November 1839, almost 10,000Chartist sympathisers, led by John Frost, marched on the town of Newport, Monmouthshire. The men, including many coal-miners, most with home-made arms, were intent on liberating fellow Chartists who were reported to have been taken prisoner in the town's Westgate Hotel. About 22 demonstrators were killed when troops opened fire on them. The leaders of the rebellion were convicted of high treason and were sentenced to a traitor's death. The sentence was later commuted to transportation for life.
The origins of Chartism in Wales can be traced to the foundation in the autumn of 1836 of Carmarthen Working Men's Association.
Among the factors that precipitated the rising were the House of Commons' rejection of the first Chartist petition, the People's Charter of 1838 (which called for universal suffrage, secret ballot, a salary for MPs, giving those who did not own property the right to vote, etc.) on 12 July 1839, and the conviction of the Chartist Henry Vincent for unlawful assembly and conspiracy on 2 August.
Some kind of rising had been in preparation for a few months and the march had been gathering momentum over the course of the whole weekend, as John Frost and his associates led the protesters down from the industrialised valley towns to the north of Newport. Some of the miners who joined the march had armed themselves with home-made pikes, bludgeons and firearms.