Pièce HBY/15 - Letter from H W Needham, Chartist in Sheffield

Samuel Holberry was a prominent Chartist activist.

Holberry was born in Gamston, Nottinghamshire, the youngest of nine children. In 1832 he joined the army, leaving in 1835 and moving to Sheffield, where began working as a distiller, and married Mary Cooper.

Together with other activists campaigning to extend the political rights given by the Reform Act 1832, he engaged in a number of peaceful protests. After a rebellion in Newport, Monmouthshire (now known as the Newport Rising) was put down in 1839, Samuel and a group of conspirators planned a Sheffield Rising.

The groups began to organise a militia, and supposedly 'provided themselves with arms, and fixed upon a plan for taking some, and firing other parts of the town'.

The plot was exposed by the landlord of a pub in Rotherham who had infiltrated the group. Leaders were identified, and both Samuel and Mary were arrested. In contrast to many members of the group, Samuel freely admitted that he had aimed to upset the Government and was willing to die for the Charter. He was convicted of conspiracy to riot and sedition and was sentenced to four years' imprisonment. He was placed in Northallerton House of Correction.

In gaol, Samuel developed consumption and died after being transferred to York Castle in 1842. He was buried in Sheffield General Cemetery, with 50,000 people attending his funeral.