In 1842 the Great Potato Famine hit Ireland. Caused by a fungus, especially in wet weather, the potato plants developed brown patches on the leaves and tubers and a white mould often visible beneath the leaves. The blight was devastating to the local and national economy. Families moved away from Ireland, many to America and, because it was a much easier journey, to Britain. By 1861 12.6% of the population of Leeds was of Irish origin.
Like any people moving to settle in a foreign country they suffered from that ubiquitous trait of humans, racism. Matters were not helped by the settlers outspoken condemnation of anything British. The cause of the famine was not simply the fault of the British government but that body's apparent inactivity at the time did not foster good feelings towards the British.

'Why didn't 'THEY' do something ?' is still said today following a calamity. Has anybody ever met 'THEM' ?

To the inhabitants of Leeds the Irish seemed incredibly alien. The Mercury newspaper, in 1895, reported with barely concealed astonishment a Marian festival taking place in a Leeds suburb.

'As the procession wended its way along the principal streets, the Rosary was recited … Hymns … sung, and we felt for the time being as if a sudden transformation into a Roman Catholic country had taken place.'

Implicit in that report is the inbred distrust of the Catholic Church. Folk memories of the Armada, Popery, King Henry VIII and wars with most of Europe, especially the French and Spanish are still with us.
This bubbling pot of resentment needed very little to boil over. Enter the Fenians.
Fenians - the short title of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a nationalist movement founded in New York in 1857. The movement advocated violence as a means of achieving its objectives. Best known for its attacks in London and Manchester membership was an imprisonable offence. Attacks in those two cities, and the resulting fatalities, came to be known as the 'Fenian Outrages'. The movement died out at the turn of the century when the Sinn Fein/IRA movement took up 'the cause'.

In September 1865 James McCarthy, a workman at Lawsons engineers in Mabgate, was brought before the mayor, it being suspected that he was the Secretary of the Leeds Fenian Society. The mayor cautioned McCarthy and passed the evidence on to the 'proper authorities'.

Fear and distrust continued in Leeds. In March 1866 rumours, untrue, circulated that the Irish were planning an uprising in the town on St Patrick's Day.

Later in that year, 1867, further explosions took place resulting in the execution, at Manchester, of those responsible.

On 13th December 1867 large placards with black borders were posted all over Leeds.

The Leeds mayor promptly banned the procession.

 Sunday arrives.
Immense crowds gathered in Leeds to watch the events.
The mounted special constables were present in large numbers. 150 infantrymen of the 70th Regiment waited at the Corn Exchange A battery of Royal Artillery, with field pieces!, were drawn up in front of the White Cloth Hall, guarded by a detachment of infantry with rifles. The Leeds Squadron of yeomanry was nearby led by the Earl of Harewood. The police took possession of Vicar's Croft and drew up in double line at the entrances to Kirkgate, George Street and Ludgate Hill. The magistrates stood nearby at Vicar's Croft and the Corn Exchange. The mayor, Darnton Lupton, presided over this army on horseback.
All was silent as the Town Hall clock struck twice.

No procession started.