Exeter Bread Riots 1854
by Jenna Dawlish In 2011 there was rioting in London. It was a year before the Olympics was due to be held and the world watched as people from all classes rioted and looted. There was much discussion as to why it happened (the shooting dead of a young man by the police was the principle initiating reason). However, it soon became clear that there was an underlying reason for the rioting, and that there were other soci-economic reasons. Young people were fed up of lack of prospects and money and this spilled onto streets. Rewind about 150 years previously, to a small Devon town called Exeter. It's 1854 and the lower classes - known as the "underclass" are tired and fed up of the price of food going higher and higher. They end up rioting in much the same way as the Londoners. I have transcribed the following from the newspaper the Exeter Flying Post. It describes the riots and the authorities' reaction to it. There was much discussion in 2011 about whether or not to br...