In October 1842, a group of Friends in Leeds, 'holding to the doctrine of the unlawfulness of all war under the gospel', formed the Leeds Peace Association. This was a local branch of the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace (the Peace Society). The first secretaries were Thomas Harvey and Wilson Waterfall, and its treasurer Joseph Walker. Membership remained small and its impact limited until 1851, when the first non-Quakers joined the committee, and activities were broadened beyond distributing peace literature. Allott describes how 'in the next ten years the Association created an informed public opinion in Leeds on war and foreign affairs'. The Association campaigned against the Militia Bill, and organised protests against the various colonial and other wars pursued by the British during that decade. These included the Kaffir War in South Africa of 1850-1852, the second Burma War of 1852, the Crimean War, the Persian War of 1856-1857, the Indian Mutiny of 1857-1858, the bombardment of Canton and the subsequent war with China, 1856-1860. Its members also particpated in the Arbitration and Peace Conference in Manchester in 1853. One of the Association's great events was in January 1855, when Richard Cobden, MP for the West Riding, addressed 1000s of people at an open-air public meeting in Leeds and condemned the war with Russia. The Association was active until at least late 1861.
From the guide to the Records of Leeds Peace Association of the Society of Friends, 1842-1861, (Leeds University Library)
