Exhibition highlights the revolution that overturned Establishment rule

IT MAY not have been on the same scale as the storming of the Bastille, but for the residents of one East Yorkshire town it was their own small revolution.

A new exhibition, called Down with the Establishment, celebrates the story of how 150 years ago the residents of Hedon, near Hull, defeated the Old Corporation.

At the time the town was governed by a "cosy oligarchy" of aldermen, who could only be elected by Freemen and served for life.

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By the mid 19th century a group of professional men had had enough and they pushed through the Hedon Corporation and Borough Improvement Act of 1860. It drastically changed how the town was governed, creating a new town council largely made up of councillors, although tensions simmered on for another 25 years.

A one-act play written by Dr Martin Craven, called The Cow Case, which centres on a dispute between the Freemen and non-Freemen, will be performed by staff and students from South Holderness Technology College, in Hedon Town Hall on June 29, June 30 and July 1.

The exhibition at Hedon Museum is open to the public every Wednesday and Saturday until June 23. Admission is free. The museum is located in the car park off Iveson Close in the town.

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