HISTORIC documents containing eyewitness accounts of the Newport Rising in Wales, in which workers took up arms to demand democracy almost 200 years ago, have been unearthed.

The papers on the 1839 uprising, comprising transcripts of witness testimonies used in court, were unearthed by Archives Wales and until recently were archived in their original, illegible form between the Newport Reference Library and Gwent Archives.

The uprising was led by the Chartists, a movement that called for parliamentary reform and democracy, and the legal proceedings that followed became known as the Chartist Trials.

The movement was most active between 1838 and 1848, at a time of growing agitation over workers’ wages and conditions.

Twenty years before the uprising, an estimated 18 workers were killed by troops at a peaceful demonstration in Manchester, which became known as the Peterloo Massacre.

The Newport Rising involved about 4,000 Chartists and disgruntled workers who marched on the city, reportedly with the intention of freeing comrades who had been arrested and imprisoned there while also demanding the right to vote in a secret ballot.

The marchers, who came from industrial towns around the Welsh city and had coal miners among their ranks, targeted the Westgate Inn, where they believed their comrades were being held.

The authorities swore in 500 constables and called in soldiers from a nearby barracks. Troops and constables fired on the protesters and hand-to-hand fighting took place.

It is believed that 22 demonstrators were killed, while four soldiers were injured.

In the unearthed testimonies, Thomas Hawkins, a tin plate manufacturer from Bassaleg, says: “I witnessed the effect of the attack on the Westgate Inn, I saw nine dead bodies lying in the stables belonging to and adjoining the Westgate Inn.

“I saw the mayor on a bed in the Westgate Inn, he had been wounded and when I saw him his linen was covered with blood.”

The mayor had overseen the armed response to the marchers and was knighted six weeks later by Queen Victoria.

Today the rising is commemorated, and names associated with it have been given to locations in Newport.

Gwent Archives’ Rhiannon Phillips said: “This year we will be highlighting these extensive witness testimonies from the Chartist Uprising of 1839.

“Having the opportunity to see these up close is an opportunity to get up close and personal with the story of our nation.”