The Norwich Public Library and the French Revolution

The ecumenical atmosphere of mutual toleration amongst the founders of the Library was put under severe strain by the French Revolution of 1789 and the fear of a similar revolt occurring in England.

The year before the revolution, a founding subscriber of the Library - dissenter and leader of the parliamentary reform party John Barnard - chaired a dinner at the Maid’s Head Inn to commemorate the centenary of the Glorious Revolution in 1788. Toasts were drunk to King William, the Majesty of the People and “equal liberty to all mankind and virtue to defend it” and “freedom to the slaves.” A collection was made for the prisoners in city gaols.

Sir Thomas Beevor, older brother of Library founding subscribers John and James Beevor, proposed a toast at a meeting of the Independent Club in April 1789 to “the liberal-minded Members of Parliament who voted for the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts” (the acts which prevented non-conformists from holding public office) and then proposed another toast  to “the friends of freedom all over the world and success to the third estate of France in their noble struggle for liberty”.

Founding subscribers visit revolutionary France

If the Mr Rigby on the founding subscribers list was Dr Edward Rigby, then he was in France to witness the start of the revolution and the fall of the Bastille. He wrote of how he was repelled by the sight of the heads of the Governor and the Major Commandant of the Bastille being carried on pikes.  Despite this, his enthusiasm for the revolution was unimpaired.

Another founding subscriber, Alderman Elias Norgate, chaired a meeting of the Norwich dissenters at the Maid’s Head in November 1789, where the assembled declared themselves loyal subjects of the House of Brunswick but considered that "every member of a civil society was entitled to participate in all its rights and privileges unless he had done anything to forfeit them" – and therefore sought the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts.

A further visit to France took place the next year by another founding subscriber, William Taylor junior, in May 1790, who apparently kissed the earth on the land of liberty at Calais. He too wrote that he was dismayed by tales of terror, barbarism and superstition but was still full of admiration of the wisdom, talent and taste displayed by the National Assembly’s decrees. He translated some of them and read them at a meeting of the Norwich Revolution Society, of which his father, also a founding subscriber. was secretary.

By 1791, fears of a war with Russia were causing further divisions amongst the founding members. Jeremiah Ives junior moved a series of propositions at a Common Hall of citizens against going to war, on the grounds of costs and also ethical principles. Robert Harvey, also a founding member, agreed with Ives on the facts but argued against sending a petition to the King, arguing that this would embarrass ministers in their negotiations.

The Rights of Man

Thomas Paine by Laurent Dabos

The publication of “Rights of Man”, by Norfolk-born Thomas Paine in 1791 proved to be a further provocation to the Library members’ tolerance, particularly after he was found guilty of seditious libel in 1792.

In the same year, another of the Harvey family who was also a founding subscriber to the Library, John Harvey, became mayor. He was a supporter of the Tory Party, which under William Pitt the Younger "broadly represented the interests of the country gentry, the merchant classes, and official administerial groups".

Harvey put forward a resolution, passed by the sheriffs and aldermen, in support of the constitution and calling on all citizens to assist the magistrates in enforcing the law. Harvey then presided at a dinner at the King’s Head, where one of the toasts was:

“May the seeds of sedition never take root in British soil. May Pain be expelled from every British bosom.”

Presumably the pun was intended.

On the 19^th of January 1793, the Norfolk Chronicle published a letter from “A Subscriber” to the Public Library, from which one learns that the numbers of subscribers had reached 460. The letter was a protest against another subscriber who had queried whether "Rights of Man" should be circulated amongst members, now it had been declared a Libel and one of the members of the committee, a lawyer, who thought any citizen possessing the book should give it up to be burnt. The writer of the letter was the owner of the book, and

Four days later, on January 21st 1793, the French king Louis XVI was executed. On the 1^st of February France declared war on Britain and the Netherlands. Supporters of the French Revolution in England would now be seen as unpatriotic and even treasonable.

The Norwich Revolution Society merged a few months later with the Bell Corporation Club, which met at the Bell Inn, up until that point mainly for convivial rather than revolutionary purposes. Some of the founding subscribers were members of the Bell Corporation Club – William Barnard and the Messrs Taylor, for example. More than one hundred assembled at a club meeting to hear readings from Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man.  

Norwich MP William Windham, a Whig, wrote in October 1793 of his hostility to Jacobinism (the French revolutionary political movement), but did not share his views at a November dinner with his reformist supporters – all of whom were founder subscribers – Barnard, Ives, Rigby, William Taylor junior and Martineau.

"An amicable conflict upon the same shelves"

By 1794 there was a view that the library needed repair and a new one building. The library moved 150 metres to the disused Catholic chapel of the Duke of Norfolk’s Palace on St Andrew’s Street. To meet the costs, subscribers’ annual fees increased to £2 12 s and 6d – around £275. A series of lectures at the library started, with a Dr Smith, proprietor of the Linnean Museum, on Zoology and Botany.

By the late 1790s, one of the original subscribers, the brewer and Tory John Patteson, was taking the lead in recruiting men for the war with the French. He showed his brewery and shawl making to Prince William Frederick during his visit to Norwich in April 1797, after which the Prince also visited the library. Patteson and another founder subscriber, Alderman Robert Harvey junior, also accompanied the Prince on a tour of Norfolk county.

Despite the suspicions of their pro-French leanings, the reformist members of the Library were still active in their campaigning. Dr Rigby, James Crowe and William Barnard were one of a group of “several respectable gentlemen” who requested the Mayor in 1797 to convene a Common Hall to consider an address for the removal of the His Majesty’s Ministers.

James Crowe was an alderman and a Whig, whom the radical freemen tried hard to get nominated against William Herring, also a founding subscriber of the library, as Mayor. Neither Crowe, nor Robert Harvey, a Tory, wished for the mayoralty, and in the end Crowe was elected by a solid Tory vote, with his Whig friends voting against his appointment.

Prince William Frederick visited Norwich again, later in 1797, and dined with the founder of the Public Library, Philip Meadows Martineau. He also went to a party with William Herring, who had been mayor in 1796.

An article appeared in the Norfolk Chronicle in August 1797 complaining that despite the ecumenical beginnings of the library, The Enquirer, a series of essays by the political philosopher William Godwin had been rejected by the library committee.

“The stern republican, and the zealous royalist, the dispassionate moral writer and the sturdy Polemic, maintained an amicable conflict upon the same shelves, and the lawn robed Prelate might be found nodding to the plain Presbyter who slumbered by his side, perhaps under the same coverlid, whilst orthodox Divines were placed cheek by joie [sic] with incorrigible Sceptics.”

In 1798 the corporation chose John Browne, another founder subscriber to the Library, as mayor. He was a Tory and treasurer of the Norwich Voluntary contribution, captain of the St Peter’s Mancroft volunteers and an ironmonger. At the mayor’s feast he nonetheless raised a toast of “may our spirit and unanimity command a safe and honourable peace.”

At the same time, many Whigs were becoming disillusioned with France as a political model. Even William Taylor, the founding subscriber who had been so supportive of the Revolution, wrote of his dislike of the cause of national ambition and aggrandisement.

The wars dragged on but Norwich Tories and radicals maintained some kind of peace, despite riots in other cities. The naval victories of local boy Nelson brought cheer to the whole city.

Although the Test Act was still in force, dissenters served in various offices. In 1800, however, Alderman John Browne wrote an open letter to the Sheriff, pointing out that those elected to the council should have taken communion at the Church of England within one year before their election. Some dissenters had no issue with doing this, but others, particularly the Baptists and Independants, forbade their members from doing so.

William Barnard, a dissenter, councillor and founding subscriber, wrote in response, pointing out that he had originally been elected without his knowledge – so did he need to be thrown out? He also pointed to the long history of dissenters being accepted in office. This dispute caused the council elections of 1801 to be somewhat chaotic.

Finally, a peace treaty with the French was signed in April 1802 and a parliamentary election followed shortly after. This time another radical, William Smith, from a family of wealthy London grocers was chosen to represent the Whigs in Norwich alongside Robert Fellowes. By spending a substantial amount of money to bring in voters from London, they managed to defeat William Windham and Robert Frere, who had been proposed by Aldermen and founding subscribers Robert Harvey junior, James Hudson and Robert Morse. Smith and Fellowes had been proposed by Aldermen and founding subscriber members John Gurney and Jeremiah Ives junior.

By May 1803, England was once more at war with France, but this time all were on the side of the government.