QUITE where Samuel Holberry sits in the annals of history is still open to some debate.
Undoubtedly he was a man of great liberal vision, a tireless campaigner for universal suffrage and a working class hero.
But
this Chartist, of Eyre Street, city centre, was also someone who, in
attempting to further his cause, sought to bring unparalleled terror to
the streets of Sheffield.
Holberry was born in Nottinghamshire but moved here in 1835 after leaving the army and taking work as a distiller.
He
had long held radical views but he became convinced working men must
take up arms after various Chartist meetings were broken up in Sheffield
by heavy-handed police.
On January 12 1840, Holberry led some 200
men in an attempt to seize control of the Town Hall in Waingate and
spark a nationwide revolution.
That it would be bloody, he had no
doubt. Gun shops were plundered, Holberry stockpiled hand grenades and
spikes were laid across Snig Hill in a bid to cripple any troops rushing
into town.
As it turned out, not a single shot was fired.
A
Rotherham landlord infiltrated secret meetings and passed information
to police who were able to round up the revolutionaries as they
gathered.
Holberry was sentenced to four years in York Gaol where he died of consumption aged just 27.
Tellingly,
more than 50,000 Sheffielders attended his funeral at the city’s
General Cemetery, while a commemorative cascade today stands in the
Peace Gardens.
from: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/h-is-for-samuel-holberry-1814-1842-1-4481488
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