The mysterious story of Robert Stafford 

Early years

For accepting the child to bring up, Menham was paid forty guineas. This was a very large amount at the time, about as much as Menham might earn in eight or nine months. It also throws light on the probable date. A guinea (one pound one shilling) was replaced in 1820 by the sovereign worth only one pound.

I have included some of the history of the period as it helps to understand the period better. Of course Old Jim did not tell me this.

After the end of the Napoleonic War (1815) the old collieries close to the River Tyne were being worked out and closing down and new pits were opening further to the north around Cramlington and Bedlington. Here conditions were much tougher. The old landed families, like the Ridleys of Blagdon, had got out of mining the coal themselves and been replaced by a new and ruthless breed, typical of the Industrial Revolution.

At some date Menham's family moved to Bedlington where they were living in 1839. Old Jim had little to say about these intervening years while Rob grew up. But it seems he had a great affinity for horses. Near where they lived foxhunters were turned loose in a field during the summer months and Rob and another lad Delighted in going at night and riding these horses bareback under the moon.

Now politics rears its ugly head. After years of agitation the Great Reform Bill was passed in 1832, however this only gave the vote to what we might call the middle classes. Working men were excluded. Many of course were quite uneducated

A great campaign was launched to repair this omission. This was known as the Chartist Movement. A Charter was presented to Parliament which would have extended the vote to all men. However the House of Commons was now dominated by the middle classes (i.e. the employers) and the Charter was thrown out by about 500 votes to 6.

The Chartist movement split into two rival camps: those who wished to continue with peaceful agitation and those who believed the only way was to resort to force. The latter became known as the Physical Force Men. One of their leaders was Julian Harney who spent much of his time in the north east.

The Chartists first attempted to rouse their London members to open revolution but London was apathetic. The Chartist strength lay in the industrial towns of the north and midlands. They next planned to launch a long march starting from the Northumberland coalfield and picking up more men at Leeds, Bradford, Derby, Nottingham etc so that it reached a huge number as it progressed to London.

The plan now sounds quite absurd but at the time it was taken seriously. I was completely out of touch with Chartism and Old Jim never mentioned the word. He spoke only of Harney who addressed the pitmen so eloquently he might have charmed the birds from the trees. He was a Cockney lad with the gift of the gab. When Old Jim spoke of the Chartists marching to London I was quite out of touch with history and asked: 'What were they going to do in London?' A strange expression came across his face. 'They were going to take over' he said solemnly.

If there had been a knock on the door I think he would nearly have jumped through the roof. I needed to remind myself that this had happened over a hundred years before.

The whole Chartist movement was riddled with government spies and the march never started. After an abortive uprising at Newport the government targetted all active Chartists. I feel sure this is when Rob made up his mind to get out of the country.

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