Thomas Hardy was born in Larbert in Scotland on 3rd March 1752. Hardy's
father had been a sailor who died at sea on 3rd March 1752. After
a brief education at the local school, Thomas Hardy went to work for
his grandfather who taught him the trade of shoemaking.
At the age of twenty-two, Hardy moved to London
where he found work as a shoemaker. In 1781 he married the daughter
of a carpenter. The couple had six children but they all died young.
After working for several different employers, in 1791 Hardy decided
to open his own shop in the Piccadilly Road. Soon after starting his
business, Hardy heard about Thomas Paine
and eventually read his book Rights of Man.
Trade was difficult and Hardy gradually came to the conclusion that
his economic problems were being caused by a corrupt Parliament. Hardy
was especially angry about the costs of the war with France. Thomas
Hardy later wrote that he now knew that the men in the House
of Commons were "falsely calling themselves the representatives
of the people, but who were, in fact, selected by a comparatively
few individuals, who preferred their own particular aggrandisement
to the general interest of the community."
Thomas
Hardy and three friends began meeting to discuss whether or not working
men should have the vote. After much discussion they decided that
they should have that right and on the 25th January 1792 they held
a public meeting on parliamentary reform. Only eight people attended
but the men decided to form a parliamentary reform group called the
London Corresponding Society.
As well as campaigning for the vote, the strategy was to create links
with other reforming groups in Britain. Hardy was appointed as treasurer
and secretary of the organisation. The society passed a series of
resolutions and after being printed on handbills, they were distributed
to the public. These resolutions also included statements attacking
the government's foreign policy. A petition was started and by May
1793, 6,000 members of the public had signed saying their supported
the resolutions of the London Corresponding
Society.
At the end of 1793 Thomas Muir began plans
to hold a a convention in Edinburgh
for supporters of parliamentary reform. The London
Corresponding Society sent two delegates but the men and other
leaders of the convention were arrested, tried for sedition, and sentenced
to fourteen years transportation. The reformers were determined not
to be beaten and Thomas Hardy, John Horne Tooke
and John Thelwall began to organise another
convention.
When the authorities heard what was happening, Hardy and the other
two men were arrested and committed to the Tower
of London and charged with high treason. The government recruited
cartoonists such as James Gillray to mount
a propaganda campaign against the leaders of the London
Corresponding Society . The main objective of this campaign was
to link the reformers with with the actions of the revolutionaries
in France. As a result, of this campaign, a mob attacked Thomas Hardy's
house. Mrs. Hardy, pregnant with her sixth child, was forced to escape
out of a back window. Soon after this incident, Mrs. Hardy died in
childbirth and the child was still-born.
Thomas
Hardy's trial began at the Old Bailey on
28th October, 1794. The prosecution, led by Lord
Eldon, argued that the leaders of the London
Corresponding Society were guilty of treason as they organised
meetings where people were encouraged to disobey King and Parliament.
Attempts were made to link the activities of However, the prosecution
was unable to provide any evidence that Hardy and his co-defendents
had attempted to do this and the jury returned a verdict of "Not
Guilty".
The poor case against Hardy, and the death of his wife had created
a great deal of public sympathy for the shoemaker and a large crowd
was waiting outside the Old Bailey. The jubilant
crowd took the horses from his carriage and drew him through the streets
to his home where they observed a short period of silence in memory
of his wife and dead child.
After his trial Hardy ceased to be active in politics. He ran a small
shoeshop in Covent Garden until his retirement in 1815. Thomas
Hardy
died in
Pimlico on 11th October 1832.
(1)
Thomas Hardy, speech, 8th July, 1793.
We conceive it necessary to direct the public eye, to the cause
of our misfortunes, and to awaken the sleeping reason for our countrymen,
to the pursuit of the only remedy which can ever prove effectual,
namely; a thorough reform of Parliament, by the adoption of an equal
representation obtained by annual elections and universal suffrage.
To obtain a complete representation is our only aim - condemning all
party distinctions, we seek no advantage with every individual of
the community will not enjoy equally with ourselves.
(2)
Resolutions passed by the London Corresponding
Society in January, 1793.
(I) That nothing but a fair, adequate and annually renovated representation
in Parliament, can ensure the freedom of this country.
(II) That we are fully convinced, a thorough Parliamentary Reform,
would remove every grievance under which we labour.
(III) That we will never give up the pursuit of such Parliamentary
Reform.
(IV) That if it be a part of the power of the king to declare war
when and against whom he pleases, we are convinced that such power
must have been granted to him under the condition, that he should
ever be subservient to the national advantage.
(V) That the present war against France, and the existing alliance
with the Germantic Powers, so far as it relates to the prosecution
of that war, has hitherto produced, and is likely to produce nothing
but national calamity, if not utter ruin.
(VI) That it appears to us that the wars in which Great Britain has
engaged, within the last hundred years, have cost her upwards of three
hundred and seventy million! not to mention the private misery occasioned
thereby, or the lives sacrificed.
(VII) That we are persuaded the majority, if not the whole of those
wars, originated in Cabinet intrigue, rather than absolute necessity.
(VIII) That every nation has an unalienable right to choose the mode
in which it will be governed, and that it is an act of tyranny and
oppression in any other nation to interfere with, or attempt to control
their choice.
(IX) That peace being the greatest blessing, ought to be sought most
diligently by every wise government.
(X) That we do exhort every well wisher to this country, not to delay
in improving himself in constitutional knowledge.
(3)
Thomas Hardy, Memoirs (1832)
A majority of the people are not represented in Parliament; that
the majority of the House of Commons are chosen by a number of voters,
not exceeding twelve thousand; and that many large and populous towns
have not a single vote for a representative, such as Birmingham, 40,000
inhabitants, Manchester 30,000, Leeds 20,000, besides Sheffield, Bradford,
etc.
(4)
Thomas Hardy, Memoirs (1832)
A mob of ruffians assembled before my house and assailed the windows
with stones and brick-bats. They then attempted to break down the
shop door, and swore, with the most horrid oaths, that they would
either burn or pull down the house. Weak and enfeebled from her situation,
Mrs Hardy shouted to her neighbours, who advised her to escape through
a small back window. This she attempted, but being very large around
the waist, she stuck fast, and it was only by main force that she
could be dragged through, much injured by the bruises she had received.
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