Back

England - 1795

London Corresponding Society

Obverse:

Four figures stand in a semi-circle. In the foreground is a fasces, or bundle of sticks.

Legend:

LONDON CORRESPONDING SOCIETY

Edge:

PAYABLE AT DUBLIN CORK OR BELFAST . X X .

Reverse:

A dove flying bearing an olive branch.

Legend:

UNITED FOR A REFORM OF PARLIAMENT

Exergue:

. 1795 .

Vern's Comments:

This was at a time of great upheaval in the world. Even in Great Britain people were agitating for more rights, forming political groups such as the LCS. In the following excerpt the author has just finished talking about other seditious groups the government had prosecuted and followed with this tidbit:

"Pitt suspended the Habeas Corpus Act (until 1801) in answer to the growing threat; and followed this action with acts making it treasonable to denounce the constitution, by speech or in writing, and forbidding seditious meetings.

These moves dealt the radical London Corresponding Society a severe blow, but its members continued to fight in support of Paine's ideals and struck a token (DH Middx 285) depicting four figures, with the words 'London Corresponding Society'. The reverse shows a dove with an olive branch, and 'United for a reform of Parliament, 1795'. This society had been started in 1792 with an entrance fee of 1s and a weekly subscription of 1d, its members calling each other 'citizen'. It linked Manchester, Stockport, Sheffield and Norwich with London, and campaigned strongly for such reforms as universal manhood suffrage and yearly parliaments. Its founder was a shoemaker, Thomas Hardy, who was one of those acquitted of high treason in 1794. On 27 October 1795, 150,000 members had gathered at Copenhagen Fields, London, and passed a resolution virtually calling for civil war. An unpoliced London, thoroughly frightened by the fearsome events of the French Revolution, was easily stirred. On 29 October, the King's coach was stoned, though on the following day the Covent Garden audience greeted the King by singing the National Anthem six times over. The 1795 Acts faced the society with the problem of being unable to hold meetings legally and it soon had a debt of £185. By 1798 it was so changed that it even debated a motion to form a corps to resist the French invasion then feared. The establishment of the day had won."

pp. 125-126, Trade Tokens, A Social and Economic History.

England — Middlesex

D & H 286b — Corresponding Society

O: The fable of the bundle of sticks. LONDON CORRESPONDING SOCIETY. Very similar to last, but the first letter of legend touches the old man's robe.

A. 204c

R: A dove flying with an olive branch. UNITED FOR A REFORM OF PARLIAMENT

E: PAYABLE AT DUBLIN CORK OR BELFAST . X X .

London Corresponding Society