As America celebrates its 250th Birthday this weekend we take a look at what effect the momentous events over the water played in Manchester
Manchester as far as we are aware played no part in the American Declaration of Independence but its consequences would have in the future profound effects on the growing town
Manchester at the time of the Declaration of Independence had a population of around 25,000, it would double in the next twenty years
When news arrived in the town of the crisis across the Atlantic, the town was supportive of the King’s response
A meeting at the Bull’s Head backed the response of George III and “looked on with horror at this unnatural war” and were treat to support the king in any measures needed to suppress the rebellion in the colonies
However the mood would change. A letter published in the London Evening Post said to have been written in Manchester expressed concerned that the townsfolk may be being seen as anti American and that the address from the Bull’s Head may have been composed in haste
“All the houses in Manchester, who have ever had any commerce with America, refused to sign the Address, as impohtick and
ungrateful ”
The town’s history of Jacobite symbolism dating back to 1745 would loom over its reaction to the war of Independence but for the moment Manchester,like most of the country responded to the appeal for funds for troops
Another meeting at the Bulls Head saw £866 subscribed but a petition left in Crompton’s Coffee House saw 4,000 sign asking the King to begin a peace process with the rebels
The Manchester Mercury, a weekly journal of stern Tory and Administration sympathies snd dedicated to the anti colonial cause,would keep the people of the town up to date with news from across the Atlantic, much of its news being gleamed from the London newspaper
When News arrived of British troops landing ng on Long Island and the rebel defeat in the autumn of 1776
“in many Places in this County, the
Bells were set a Ringing, and in the Evening there were Bonfires, Illuminations, and every other Demonstration of Joy ”
In June 1777 Samuel Curwen an American Loyalist one of a growing number of people forced to leave the New World detected “ample signs of lingering Stuart sympathies” when he visited Manchester and while he praised the noble buildings of King Street, it was clear he was not impressed by the attitudes of the populus
Nevertheless during thatsummer of
1777 Mancunians celebrated George 111’s birthday, the fourth of June, with particular ceremony and enthusiasm ;
“bells were rung, vollies fired by the militia in St. Ann’s Square, followed by
the playing of God Save the King, and a day of rejoicing brought to a close by the holding of a brilliant Assembly?
The war was turning against the loyalists as the year drew to a close and in response the Town offered to raise a regiment
It became known as the Royal Manchester Volunteers, or 72nd Foot.’
On 24 December the first public muster had taken place when a number of the regiment’s newly approved officers paraded the streets
“with Drums and Fifes, the Regimental band of Music, and a handsome blue Silk Flag, to beat up for Volunteers “. In the
afternoon the recruiting party was joined in St. Ann’s Square by a detachment of the 4th Dragoons who, ” after paying a Compli-
ment to the Flag, discharged several Vollies in honour of the loyal Toasts which were then Drunk. A Number of fine spirited Lads flocked to the Standard, and were enlisted in the
course of the Day. . .”.
By the end of March the Royal Manchester Volunteers had reached a full strength of over 1000 men and were reviewed in Castle Field prior to their departure for Portsmouth where they would embark for Gibraltar.
In part two Whig opponents of the war and the riot act is read in Manchester
