Bust of Samuel Holberry. Source: Sheffield Museums.
Samuel Holberry was one of the leaders of the Chartist movement in Sheffield which met regularly, holding large meetings – which frightened the authorities – and began to loudly demand that they deserved the vote and a secret ballot. In January 1840 Samuel Holberry was dragged from his bed in Eyre Lane and arrested, accused of organising a plot to take over the Town Hall with violence. Several of his associates were also arrested, some allegedly in the process of hiding weapons. A police informer had betrayed them.
At the trial where Holberry admitted he had aimed to upset the Government, he was found guilty and sentenced to four years in Northallerton House of Correction. There he was illegally made to work a treadmill and his health deteriorated. He was transferred to York Castle but he was already very ill. He died of consumption in June 1842 aged 27.
The Chartists organised his funeral. Sheffield came to a standstill as shops were shut, and up to 50,000 people lined the streets to see the funeral party go by. Contemporary newspaper accounts report people hanging from the trees to get a better look as the procession travelled from Attercliffe to the Cemetery. The cortege was led by a band of musicians playing hymns and the coffin was festooned with a large black banner, on one side of which read ‘Thou shalt do no murder’ and on the other ‘Vengeance is mine, and I will repay it, saith the Lord.’ This martyr’s funeral helped fix Holberry in the minds of Sheffield people as someone who fought for the rights of the ordinary man. He was seen as a hero at the time, and his legend endures with local landmarks and streets being named in his honour. He was buried in grave G 55 in the Nonconformist area of the Cemetery where his grave can still be seen today.