Robin Longbottom explains how a ‘battle’ led to one commander being subjected to public ridicule

ON August 16, 1842, the Chartist movement brought the country to a standstill when they organised the first general strike.

They targeted the industrial towns in the north and Midlands, ‘striking’ at the mills and stopping work by draining dams and removing the plugs from steam engine boilers – giving rise to the name Plug Draw Riots.

Although there had been no violence in Keighley, a troop of the 17th Lancers was dispatched to the town from Leeds two days later.

A detachment of Earl Gray’s Yorkshire Yeomanry was also sent, these were part-time soldiers largely made up of the sons of local gentry and well-to-do farmers. They arrived in Keighley under the command of William Busfield Ferrand of Harden Grange (now called St Ives), near Bingley, who was the Tory MP for Knaresborough. A controversial character, he supported the Government's hated tax on corn and opposed the Ten Hour Bill, to limit working hours – and yet he was chairman of the Keighley Board of Guardians and self-styled “friend of the working classes”. The liberal press reported that “Mr Busfield Ferrand appeared at the head of a troop of noodles in Keighley on Friday last for the purpose of putting down any turn-outs (Chartist meetings) by physical force.” The word 'noodle' was a popular term used to describe a pretentious and ineffectual person.

Despite the presence of soldiers in the town, a Chartist meeting had been held on Lees Moor above Cross Roads two days after they arrived. Having missed their chance at dispersing that meeting, the authorities remained on high alert. The following Sunday James Mitchell, a mill owner from Lane Ends, Oakworth, arrived in the town with news that he had seen large bodies of men gathering once again on Lees Moor. The church bells were rung to raise the alarm and the troops, and some 50 special constables armed with staves, were assembled. They set off and when they arrived on the moor Busfield Ferrand led the charge into what turned out to be a Methodist Love Feast, a large religious gathering whose alarmed members fled in every direction. The press had a field day, referring to the incident as the “Battle of Lees Moor” and the “charge of the Devil’s dust-men”. The Lancers were eventually withdrawn to Leeds and the Yeomanry returned to their homes – and a red-faced Busfield Ferrand retreated to Harden Grange.

However, the press did not let up on ridiculing the event and Busfield Ferrand remained as unpopular as ever. A year later the Bradford Observer reported that when he passed through Keighley in an open carriage “no one cried God save him” for having “saved the town from pillage, and children from captivity, by charging and routing a large Ranters (Methodist) camp meeting on Lees Moor.”

Members of the Yeomanry, who were occasionally seen in the town, were also subjected to continued ridicule – the Leeds Times reporting that its correspondent had spotted a noodle outside a cobbler’s shop where a crowd was advising him to secure himself in the saddle with a ball of cobbler’s wax. The correspondent went on to report that the noodle was last seen heading towards York with other “veterans” and that it was rumoured in Keighley that they were going to an “old women’s tea drinking – to watch the movements of the ancient ladies and prevent mischief”.

In February, 1844, plans were announced for a new church in Oakworth and the Bradford Observer reported that it was to be built on land “given by our guardian friend, Mr Busfield Ferrand, and is within sight of Lees Moor, the memorable spot where Mr Ferrand and his troop of Invincibles gained complete victory over the Ranters.”