Association for Preserving Liberty and Property against Republicans and Levellers

The Association for Preserving Liberty and Property against Republicans and Levellers was founded on 20 November 1792 by John Reeves at the Crown and Anchor tavern in the Strand, London.

The Association was "staggeringly successful, outstripping even the Constitutional societies", with more than 2,000 local branches established before long. [Boyd Hilton, "A Mad, Bad, and Dangerous People? England 1783–1846" (Clarendon Press, 2006), p. 69.] They disrupted radical meetings, attacked printers of Thomas Paine's works, initiated prosecutions for sedition and published loyalist pamphlets. [Hilton, pp. 69-70.] The Crown and Anchor association met for the final time on 21 June 1793. [Philip Schofield, ‘ [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23306 Reeves, John (1752–1829)] ’, "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008, accessed 27 July 2008.] These loyalist associations mostly disappeared within a year "after successfully suppressing the organizations of their opponents". [Robert Eccleshall, "English Conservatism since the Restoration" (Unwin Hyman, 1990), p. 35.]

Notes

Further reading

*D. E. Ginter, 'Loyalist Association movement of 1792–3 and British public opinion', "Historical Journal", ix (1966).
*Austin Mitchell, 'The Association movement of 1792–3', "Historical Journal", iv (1961).