ABSTRACT
Yorke returned to Britain in spring 1793, bringing with him French universalism, the citizen of the world persona, and cosmopolitanism. Yorke remained engaged with European radicalism but took to the outdoor platform in England, travelling the country as a radical orator, comparable to John Thelwall. Yet Yorke stood out as a dangerous revolutionary, taking considerable risks in his zealous speeches and forceful rhetoric. This chapter explores how such revolutionary radicalism was received by increasingly constitutionalist English radical societies and at a time of government suppression.
Radical performance on the outdoor platform is re-examined in relation to Yorke and other orators such as Thelwall, Feargus O’Connor, and John Wilkes, and a new ‘periphery’ public sphere identified. Yorke became a radical leader in Sheffield, promoting arming with pikes and the creation of a convention to challenge parliament. In 1794 Yorke led a radical meeting at Castle Hill Sheffield, attended by thousands, at which he spoke at length. Subsequently, a warrant was issued for his arrest for high treason. Yorke’s radical pamphlets reveal a complex radicalism and raise questions about the effect of an ‘outsider’ on English extra-parliamentary politics. It is argued that Yorke was the most revolutionary radical in England during 1793–5.
