Attack on Sir Charles Wetherell at Bristol, 29 October 1831
Illustration by William Barnes Wollen (1857–1936) from Cassell's Century Edition History of England, pub circa 1901. Illustration by William Barnes Wollen (1857–1936) from Cassell's Century Edition History of England, pub circa 1901. Info from wiki: Sir Charles Wetherell (1770 – 17 August 1846) was an English lawyer, politician and judge. He was Solicitor-General between 1824 and 1826 and Attorney General between 20 September 1826 and 27 April 1827 and again between 19 February 1828 and 29 June 1829. In May 1829, Wetherell made a violent speech in opposition to Catholic Emancipation, and was dismissed by the Duke of Wellington. He was Recorder of Bristol during the riots of 1831. The Bristol Riots of 1831 took place after the House of Lords rejected the second Reform Bill, which aimed to get rid of some of the rotten boroughs and give Britain's fast growing industrial towns such as Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, Bradford and Leeds greater representation in the House of Commons. Bristol had been represented in the House of Commons since 1295, but by 1830 only 6,000 of the 104,000 population had the vote. Local magistrate Sir Charles Wetherell, a strong opponent of the Bill, visited Bristol to open the new Assize Courts, on 29 October. He threatened to imprison participants in a disturbance going on outside, and an angry mob chased him to the Mansion House in Queen Square. The magistrate escaped in disguise but the mayor and officials were besieged in the Mansion-house
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