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This was the time of the Basingstoke riots against the Salvation Army by a group calling themselves the Massagainians.
These events led to the Riot Act being read on two separate occasions. They gave rise to questions in the House of Commons that resulted in the publication of a Parliamentary paper entitled Basingstoke Disturbances and made headlines in the national press.
One London paper said that Basingstoke “appears to be inhabited chiefly by a race of barbarians”.
The Salvation Army was a brash new organisation which many in Basingstoke saw as a bunch of uniformed invaders who wanted to shut the pubs and breweries, put their employees out of work and stop their customers enjoying themselves.
READ MORE: The history of Salvation Army prosecution in Basingstoke
Nearly every week some kind of trouble broke out, notably the so-called Battle of Church Square in March 1881 when an estimated 3,000 people crowded into the square, many of whom were involved in the fighting.
%image(‘11731315’, type=”article-full”, alt=”Hants & Berks Gazette office was among the places attacked by the Massagainians.”)
The following is just one episode in the struggles between the two sides.
As a result of a private prosecution Captain Richard Moses of the Salvation Army had taken out against 12 Massagainians for “violent behaviour” in obstructing a Salvation Army procession, the Basingstoke magistrates bound the 12 over to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for three months, themselves in the sum of £5, and one other surety each of £5 – an enormous amount of money in those days.
They were given two days to find the money and their sureties, or they would be sent to prison for 14 days.
One of the 12 managed to find the money and a surety, and another absconded.
On September 8, 1881, the remaining ten surrendered themselves to receive their sentence. They wore hats decorated with coloured ribbons and were marched to the railway station, handcuffed in pairs, singing “Britons never shall be slaves”.
The streets were lined with cheering crowds of their supporters waving flags and handkerchiefs, many of whom took tickets to Winchester to accompany them to the prison gates.
Shortly before the prisoners’ sentence was due to end, a notice was circulated around town inviting people to a dinner at the Corn Exchange to welcome them home.
%image(‘16995894’, type=”article-full”, alt=”The notice advertising the Massagainians dinner in Basingstoke.”)
Early in the morning of September 21, 1881, preparations began for the return of the Massagainians.
The town was bustling with people erecting flags on the roof of the Corn Exchange and stretching strings of flags and bunting in triumphal arches from one side of Winchester Street to the other.
The decorations were in such profusion that the Hants and Berks Gazette commented that a stranger would have believed that a royal entry to the town was about to take place.
In the Corn Exchange men were arranging a pyramid of six 36-gallon barrels of XXX beer labelled “Massagainian Stingo”.
Horse-drawn vans continually drew up at the Corn Exchange from various parts of the town to unload vast quantities of meat, fowls, ducks, bottles of wine and other items for a great feast.
%image(‘16995988’, type=”article-full”, alt=”Corn Exchange”)
By four o’clock an enormous crowd had gathered in Winchester Street and the Market Place to welcome the Massagainians home.
At half-past five a lad on a penny-farthing rode into town from Winchester Road shouting, “They’re just behind!”
A great cheer sprang up as the procession came into sight – a cart containing a band playing “Hail the Conquering Heroes Come” followed by outriders “dressed in gay scarlet” and a coach drawn by four horses with the Massagainians on board.
As they passed the Town Hall, a group of young women stood on the balcony waving their handkerchiefs like maidens at a medieval tournament.
%image(‘16995978’, type=”article-full”, alt=”Basingstoke Town Hall balcony where the maidens stood.”)
At seven o’clock the Corn Exchange was packed to bursting point. 521 people sat down to enjoy the feast.
Allowing for supporters who had volunteered to act as waiters, an estimated 600 people were there, including several councillors and prominent farmers and millers from the outlying villages.
SEE ALSO: Travellers leave Basingstoke recreation ground – but move to retail park
When the last course was finished (“Massagainian Puddings all on fire”), and the tables cleared, there was a series of toasts, interspersed with songs, including “Sweet Violets” and “We Don’t Want To Fight, But By Jingo If We Do”.
Each of the ten were presented with a silver watch. By the time that copious amounts of Massagainian Stingo and the other booze on offer had been drunk and all was merry, everyone was ready to sing “The Massagainian Song”, the lyrics of which had been printed on handbills especially for the occasion.
%image(‘16995997’, type=”article-full”, alt=”Handbill with the lyrics of the Massagainian Song.”)
Once again news from Basingstoke made the national press.
News of the dinner was even reported in an Irish newspaper.
The Winchester Observer criticised the Town Council for letting the Corn Exchange for the Massagainian Banquet, commenting that “Civilisation has doubtless restraints which the free spirits of Basingstoke would like to see removed”, and a letter in the Gazette claimed that the dinner for the “Massagainian Martyrs” had “made the name of Basingstoke a disgrace throughout the civilised world”.
