2. Honourable Frauds Words and Music by J Cunningham
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J Cunningham’s song is a wonderful satire on the machinations of rich people wanting more riches. On 30th December 1830, Northamptonshire landowners met at the White Horse Inn in Towcester to consider the projected railway line from London to Birmingham. The railway company’s prospectus was offering appealing inducements to potential investors:
‘First, the opening of new and distant sources of supply of provisions to the metropolis; Second, Easy, cheap and expeditious travelling; Third, The rapid and economical interchange of the great articles of consumption and of commerce, both internal and external; Lastly, the connexion by railways, of London with Liverpool, the rich pastures of the centre of England, and the greatest manufacturing districts; and, through the port of Liverpool, to afford a most expeditious communication with Ireland.’[1] However, it was unanimously agreed at the White Horse that all this would cause ‘great injury’ to local properties. Similar hostility was shown by Buckinghamshire landowners at the Cock Inn Stony Stratford; but at the Swan Inn Leighton Buzzard, it was resolved ‘by a very large majority’ that the projected railway would be ‘of great utility to the public and is deserving of its sanction and support.’ That meeting had been attended by a large number of small property-owners; the principal landowners remained resolutely adverse to the project, as Sir Astley Cooper (a major landowner) was given to articulate in the playscript of All Change[2]: ‘Your scheme is preposterous in the extreme. It is of so extravagant a character as to be positively absurd. Then look at the recklessness of your proceedings. You are proposing to cut up our estates in all directions for the purpose of making an unnecessary road. Do you think for one moment of the destruction of the property involved by it? Why, gentlemen, if this sort of thing is permitted to go on, you will in a few years destroy the noblesse!’ The railway engineer Robert Stephenson retorts: ‘Well, it is really provoking to find one who has been made a Sir for cutting a cyst[3] out of George IV’s neck, charging us with contemplating the destruction of the noblesse because we propose to confer on him the benefits of a railway!’ The London and Birmingham Railway Company first applied to Parliament for a private Act in 1832. Their Bill passed through the House of Commons but was vetoed in the Lords by an influential landowner, Lord Brownlow of Ashridge speaking on behalf of a group of objectors with land, road and canal interests, including Sir Astley Cooper and the Countess Bridgewater. ‘The Bill’s failure resulted in the Company’s expenses amounting to £72,869, a huge sum for the time, and it caused outrage. In order to placate influential landowners who remained unwilling to sell, the Company was obliged to pay them considerably above-market rates[4]. When a further application was made to Parliament the following year – a significant number of objectors’ palms having been greased in this way during the intervening period – the railway Bill went through almost unopposed and passed into law on 6th May, 1833.’[5] As the song reiterates: ‘Lords: We're an honourable tribe… Railway Directors: We say bribe!’ [1] From London & Birmingham railway plan of the line and adjacent country by CF Cheffins, 1839 [2] All Change focused on the coming of the railways to North Buckinghamshire during the years 1832-1865.This community musical documentary drama was first performed at Stantonbury Theatre in 1977, and again in 1982, 1985 and 1999 – the latter as the first drama to be staged in the newly opened MK Theatre. See https://www.livingarchive.org.uk/ [3]The original quotation, from Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson by Samuel Smiles, 1862, used the word ‘wen’ for ‘cyst’ [4] Land acquisition costs more than doubled – from £250,000 to £537,596 (from https://tringlocalhistory.org.uk ) [5] From Tring’s Vestry Minutes, 1833, quoted in https://tringlocalhistory.org.uk |
Associated Society of Railway Servants delegates to the 1st conference, 1872 (courtesy: httpwww.unionancestors.co.uk)
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