Editing Bull Ring, Birmingham (section)

===Bull Ring Riots, 1839===
In 1839, the Bull Ring was the location of the Bull Ring Riots. The first riot occurred on 4 July 1839, after [[List of mayors of Birmingham|Mayor]] [[William Scholefield]] had read the [[Riot Act]] before a meeting of [[Chartists]] and then deployed 60 officers of the [[Metropolitan Police]] when they failed to disperse.<ref name="Weaver Bull Ring">{{cite journal |last1=Weaver |first1=Michael |title=The Birmingham Bull Ring Riots of 1839: Variations on a Theme of Class Conflict |journal=Social Science Quarterly |date=1997 |volume=78 |issue=1 |pages=137–148 |jstor=42863680 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/42863680 |issn=0038-4941}}</ref> There was widespread vandalism and destruction of property. The riots prompted fears amongst the town's residents at the council's inability to prevent or control the riots and led to speculation that the council was tolerant of lawlessness.<ref>{{cite book|author=Rodrick, Anne Baltz|title=Self-Help and Civic Culture: Citizenship in the Victorian Birmingham|page=65|year=2004|publisher=Ashgate Publishing Ltd|isbn=0-7546-3307-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Max |last=Morris |title=From Cobbett to the Chartists, 1815-1848: extracts from contemporary sources |page=151 |year=1951 |publisher=Lawrence & Wishart}}</ref> Because of disorderly behaviour at fairs, in 1861 the area, along with [[Smithfield, Birmingham|Smithfield]] and Digbeth, became the only place in central Birmingham where fairs were permitted. In 1875, all fairs were banned from the town.<ref>A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7: The City of Birmingham (1964), pp. 251-252 [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22969 'Economic and Social History: Markets and Fairs'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140830011154/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22969 |date=30 August 2014 }} British History Online; Date Retrieved 29 May 2008</ref>

The area around the market site developed and, by the [[Victorian era]], a large number of shops were operating there. Immigrants set up businesses such as flower-sellers and [[umbrella]] vendors. The [[Lord Nelson]] statue became the location for [[preaching]] and political protests. Well-known preachers of the time were nicknamed ''Holy Joe'' and ''Jimmy Jesus''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=25170&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=10277 |title=The Bull Ring - Then and Now: Victorian and Edwardian Days |publisher=Birmingham City Council |access-date=29 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510164238/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=25170&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=10277 |archive-date=10 May 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>