ABSTRACT
On January 29, 1820 came the death of George III, little more than a month after the “Six Acts” had been placed upon the Statute Book in his name. Under the constitution of that time, a General Election was necessary within six months and, normally, “Peterloo” and the “Six Acts” might have been of some profit to Opposition. During the spring and summer of 1819, the distress of the industrial districts was again reaching alarming proportions. Of Leeds it was said that “the distress is so great that it is under consideration to afford from the parish funds means for conveying some hundreds of the cloth-manufacturers and their families to the Cape of Good Hope or Canada”. The growing distress had quickly had its repercussions on popular politics, and, by June, Reform meetings were once again becoming the order of the day.
