DANIEL CAMPBELL of Shawfield, member of Parliament
for the Glasgow district of burghs, voted for the modified tax of
threepence per barrel of beer brewed, and the 23rd June, 1725, was the
day fixed for its taking effect. The tax was highly unpopular, and in
Glasgow the excise officers were prevented from executing their duties
by the action of crowds of people strongly opposed to the measure. The
excitement was greatly increased by the arrival in
the evening of two companies of Lord Deloraine’s
Regiment of Foot under the command of Captain Bushell.
The magistrates gave orders to prepare the
guard-house, then situated at
the western corner of the Candleriggs and Trongate for
the accommodation of the troops. But the populace made an attack on the
town’s-officers, turned them out of the guard-house, locked it up, and
carried away the keys. Campbell of Shawfield had his Glasgow
house in the Trongate, facing to
Stockwell, on ground afterwards taken to form
Glassford Street. A rumour spread that he had sent for the troops, and
a large crowd, armed with hatchets and weapons of various kinds, made a
sudden attack on his city house. Provost Miller and the magistrates
tried to persuade the rioters to desist, but the cry of Down
with Shawfield’s house! No
malt-tax!" put the mob into such a frenzy that the mansion was
completely gutted.
The provost and magistrates met about midnight to
deliberate, and Captain Bushell sent to ask if he should parade his men,
but this was not thought advisable. Next day the troops took possession
of the guard-house, but crowds assembled and threw stones at the
sentinels. Captain Bushell, annoyed at this, ordered his men to form
into a hollow square in the centre of the street, in which position they
faced Trongate east, Trongate west, Candleriggs, and New or King Street.
The crowd continued their stone-throwing, and the troops had orders to
fire, which they did with fatal effbct, without the sanction of the
civil authority, and just as the magistrates were advancing in a body to
assist the captain with their advice. They protested, but he replied
that he and those under his command could not submit quietly to be
knocked down with stones.
The fury of the populace at the slaughter got beyond
all bounds; they broke open the doors of the town magazine, armed
themselves, and rang the fire-bell to alarm the city.
Provost Miller, seeing the troops
threatened with annihilation,
advised Captain Bushell to withdraw, which he did,
retreating to Dumbarton Castle, pursued by the enraged people, upon
whom the troops fired again with further fatal effect. In these
conflicts nine were killed and seventeen were wounded. Two soldiers were captured,
but one
made his escape, and the other was rescued from abuse by the better disposed citizens.
The Government became alarmed, and on the 9th of
July, General Wade marched on Glasgow with Deloraine’s Regi ment
of Foot, six troops of the Royal Dragoons, a troop
of the Earl of Stair’s Dragoons, and a company of Highlanders. He had
also with him one piece of artillery, and a large quantity of
ammunition and stores. The Lord-Advocate, Duncan Forbes, accompanied
this force. Nineteen persons
were apprehended and lodged in prison, and on the 16th July they
were sent to Edinburgh under military escort. The Lord-Advocate also
thought proper to issue warrants for the arrest of Provost Miller,
Bailies John Stirling, Jas. Johnston, and James Mitchell, Dean of Guild
John Stark, and Deacon Convener John Armour, all for alleged complicity
in the riots. They were imprisoned in the Tolbooth, bail being refused;
and they were on Saturday, 17th July, sent to Edinburgh under a guard of
the Royal Dragoons; and both sets of prisoners were placed under the
custody of the governor of Edinburgh Castle, on Monday, 19th July.
Next day (20th) the Lords of Justiciary unanimously granted the
application of the magistrates to be admitted to bail, and on Wednesday,
the 21st, two of them returned to Glasgow. About six miles from the city
they were met by two hundred citizens on horseback, who formed
themselves into a guard of honour, and the return to St. Mungo’s freedom
was triumphal in its character, bells being rung and every other
demonstration of joy shown. At the subsequent trial of the rioters, a
man and a woman were sentenced to perpetual banishment, eight were
liberated, and some were whipped through the streets of Glasgow. Captain
Bushell was charged with murder at the instance of the city magistrates,
but the Solicitor-General, in the absence of the Lord-Advocate, refused
his concurrence, and the case fell through. Campbell of Shawfield
applied to Parliament for compensation, and received a grant of £6080,
with which he purchased the Island of Islay, and so became Campbell of
Islay. The money was raised by a tax on the ale and beer sold in the
city, and the whole cost of the riot to the city was about £10,000.
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