The Plumstead Common Riots of 1876: A Study in Mid-Victorian Protest
Abstract
AbstractDespite widespread recognition of the importance of open spaces as the 'lungs of the capital', the year 1876 saw the Lords of the Manor of Plumstead, the Provost and Scholars of Queen's College Oxford, attempt to sell the majority of Plumstead Common. With more respectable means of protest unable to secure the traditional right of access of local people, it was left to an emigrant Irishman, John De Morgan, and his Commons Protection League to prevent its enclosure.