Introduction

On 28 September 1862 the Workingmen's Garibaldian Committee organised a sympathy meeting at Hyde Park, London for Giuseppe Garibaldi, leader of the Italian Risorgimento, who was injured and had been captured at Aspromonte during the Second Italian War of Independence. Garibaldi was an immensely popular figure among all sections of British society. Members of the working class applauded Garibaldi's perceived radicalism, while middle-class supporters considered Garibaldi to be a successful businessperson and a fine example of the virtues of political economy (Finn, 1993, p 205). At the meeting, attended by some 20,000 people, Secularists spoke on behalf of Garibaldi's republican offensive against Catholic Rome. Soon, scuffles broke out among the police and mainly Irish Catholic sympathisers (Gilley, 1973, pp 704–5; see also Richter, 1981, pp 51–2). The following week around 100,000 people came to Hyde Park to hear once again a number of orators speaking about Garibaldi. More disturbances ensued. The state was itself divided over how to govern this particular public space of activism. A Marlborough Street magistrate who presided over the trial of Garibaldian rioters recommended the outright banning of meetings; a view that was echoed by the Hyde Park superintendent.

Sir Richard Mayne, a commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, agreed that too many gatherings had occurred in the Park since the 1860s but he also realised that to ban them would be counter-productive. Based on their accumulated knowledge gained through surveillance, Mayne decided instead to let the police judge which topics were deemed ‘popular and exciting’ and to issue bans on such topics at their discretion. This was a considerable improvement over previous mechanisms of governing public demonstrations at Hyde Park. Through the Recreation Grounds Act 1859 parks managers could enforce byelaws, although they had no power to impose a fine. The Public Improvement Act 1860 improved the condition by conferring the power of making byelaws to the Bath and Wash Houses Act 1846, which enabled a penalty not exceeding £5 to be imposed on any person breaching a byelaw. Local authorities would often swear in park keepers and labourers as special constables to make sure members of the public followed these rules and regulations. In all these matters, the degree and extent of governance became the prerogative of local authorities themselves (Conway, 1991, pp 203–7).