1831 reform riots

There were civil disturbances in London, Leicester, Yeovil, Sherborne, Exeter, Bath and Worcester and riots at Nottingham, Derby and Bristol.

[3] Inhabitants of cities and towns were angry at the failure to pass the bill and there were serious disturbances in London, Leicester, Yeovil, Sherborne, Exeter, Bath and Worcester.

On 10 October a public meeting turned to violence, the attendees marched on Colwick Hall, home of John Musters, which was damaged.

[6] The same day the mob burned Nottingham Castle, home of anti-reform peer Henry Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle, who was away at parliament.

[6][7] Jails in Derby and Markeaton were also attacked and Lowe's Silk Mill in Beeston was burnt on 11 October, the same day the riots ceased.

[6][7] The Duke accused the Nottingham magistrates and the Home Office of failing to prevent the riots and, after a lengthy dispute, was awarded £21,000 in damages in August 1832.

[11] Grey resigned after the loss of the vote and King William IV called upon the Duke of Wellington, leader of the Tory party, to form a government.

The king, who had previously been opposed to reform, now agreed to use his powers to create enough new pro-reform peers to overcome the Tory majority in the upper house.

In some boroughs, the so-called potwallopers, this actually reduced the electorate as they had previously granted the vote to any man with a hearth big enough to boil a cauldron.