Every November 5, between 1820 and 1865, Guildford shopkeepers closed their businesses early, barricaded their shop fronts and prepared buckets of water to put out fires. The rioters, who called themselves the "Guys", gathered outside the town early in the morning, wearing outlandish costumes and masks. Carrying clubs studded with hobnails, lighted torches and bundles of wood, they then marched into Guildford like an invading army. A witness described their chilling "cry":

Their cry will never be forgotten by anyone who ever heard it. It was a thrilling, piercing note of peculiar intensity, and was a warning for all peacable citizens to be on their guard.

   GC Williamson, Guildford In The Olden Time, 1904

For the rioters, Bonfire Night was an opportunity to avenge themselves against fellow citizens who had offended them in any way. Opposite Holy Trinity Church, the Guys built a huge bonfire, piling up gates, railings and doors ripped from the houses of their enemies. Writing in 1912, the folklorist Charlotte Burne described a typical Bonfire Night:

Fireworks were let off; the rioters danced round the fire, and went up and down the street, insulting those they met, breaking windows, and doing other damage. It is known that many otherwise peacable citizens took part in the riots, and more than once a disguised rioter found to his horror that some of the woodwork he was helping to destroy came from his own premises. 

     Burne, Folk-Lore, December 1912

Suppressing the Guys

Local magistrates made repeated attempts to suppress the Guys. In 1843, when two ringleaders were fined, their payments were raised by a public subscription and they were led from prison by a cheering crowd. In the 1850s, when the police tried to prevent rioting, the Guys blew horns to summon reinforcements.

The year 1863 saw two riots, when the Guys took to the streets not just on Bonfire Night but also on March 10, to celebrate the Prince of Wales's wedding day. On Bonfire Night, the Guys attacked a local magistrate's house, and demolished the whole front wall with hammers and axes.

Yet Guildford was becoming increasingly prosperous, and the growing numbers of middle class townsfolk had little sympathy with rioters. In 1863, they elected a new Mayor, PW Jacob, who had promised to break the power of the Guys.

Jacob brought in more police to confront the rioters. This led to increased rioting, with the first fatality coming in 1864, when a police constable died of his wounds during Bonfire Night. An even bigger riot took place in 1865, when another policeman was almost killed. Jacob's response was to arm the police with cutlasses, and send for a detachment of Lancers, who cleared the streets. This was the last serious riot. When the Guys tried to retake the town, in 1866 and 1868, they were quickly dispersed by cavalry. By 1870, according to a report, there was "scarcely a squib" in the whole of Guildford.