|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
Luddites
Luddites. Machine-breakers, so called after a mythical leader, General Ludd. In 1811–16 textile workers in the east midlands, south Lancashire, and west Yorkshire met secretly in public houses or on the moors, took oaths, and smashed the machinery of mill-owners who refused their demands. The attacks were for specific industrial objectives: the destruction of shearing frames and gig mills (Yorkshire), power looms (Lancashire), and resistance to the breakdown of custom in the midlands framework-knitting industry. These were economic grievances which sprang from structural and technical changes in the industry, aggravated by trade depression, unemployment, and high prices. At a time when trade unions were illegal, Luddism may be interpreted as collective bargaining by riot: frame-breaking in the east midlands was an attempt to coerce employers rather than hostility to machines as such. Some Luddites may have harboured revolutionary intentions: the organization was so shrouded in secrecy, and so difficult to penetrate, as to support fears of an underground movement aiming at armed insurrection. Despite the deployment of spies and informers and 12,000 troops in the north and midlands, the government experienced great difficulty in dealing with the Luddites who, after their nightly attacks, disappeared into sympathetic local communities. Eventually the Luddite bands were tracked down and the reputed leaders executed or transported. The background to Luddism in Yorkshire is vividly described in Charlotte Brontë's novel Shirley.
John F. C. Harrison |
|
|
Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "Luddites." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Luddites." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-Luddites.html JOHN CANNON. "Luddites." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-Luddites.html |
|
Luddite
Luddite A member of a 19th-century protest group of British workers, who destroyed machinery, which they believed was depriving them of their livelihood. The movement began in Nottinghamshire in 1811, when framework knitters began wrecking the special type of ‘wide frames’ used to make poor-quality stockings, which were undercutting the wages of skilled craftsmen. The men involved claimed to be acting under the leadership of a certain ‘ Ned Ludd’ or ‘ King Ludd’, although it is doubtful whether such a person ever existed. The outbreaks of violence spread rapidly and by the early part of 1812 were affecting Yorkshire and Lancashire. Large groups of men stormed the cotton and woollen mills in order to attack the power looms. The government responded harshly by making machine-breaking an offence punishable by death. There were further sporadic outbreaks in 1816, but the movement subsequently died out.
|
|
|
Cite this article
"Luddite." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Luddite." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-Luddite.html "Luddite." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-Luddite.html |
|
Luddites
Luddites Machine‐breakers, so called after a mythical leader, General Ludd. In 1811–16 textile workers in the east midlands, south Lancashire, and west Yorkshire met secretly in public houses or on the moors, took oaths, and smashed the machinery of mill‐owners who refused their demands. At a time when trade unions were illegal, Luddism may be interpreted as collective bargaining by riot: frame‐breaking in the east midlands was an attempt to coerce employers rather than hostility to machines as such. Eventually the Luddite bands were tracked down and the reputed leaders executed or transported.
|
|
|
Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "Luddites." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Luddites." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-Luddites.html JOHN CANNON. "Luddites." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-Luddites.html |
|
Luddites
Luddites name given to bands of workingmen in the industrial centers of England who rioted between 1811 and 1816. The uprisings began in Nottinghamshire, where groups of textile workers, in the name of a mythical figure called Ned Ludd, or King Ludd, destroyed knitting machines, to which they attributed the prevailing unemployment and low wages. In 1812 workers in Lancashire, Cheshire, and the West Riding of Yorkshire began to wreck cotton power looms and wool shearing machines. There was no political aim involved and no cohesion in the movement. Outbreaks of Luddism were very harshly suppressed by the government. |
|
|
Cite this article
"Luddites." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Luddites." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Luddites.html "Luddites." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Luddites.html |
|
Luddite
Lud·dite / ˈlədˌīt/ • n. a member of any of the bands of English workers who destroyed machinery, esp. in cotton and woolen mills, that they believed was threatening their jobs (1811–16). ∎ a person opposed to increased industrialization or new technology: a small-minded Luddite resisting progress. DERIVATIVES: Lud·dism / -ˌizəm/ n. Lud·dit·ism / -ˌītˌizəm/ n. |
|
|
Cite this article
"Luddite." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Luddite." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-luddite.html "Luddite." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-luddite.html |
|
Luddites
Luddites, a band of English craftsmen and labourers, organized 1811–16, who felt their livelihoods threatened by machinery and set about its destruction. The name is said to have come from Ned Ludd, who lived about 1779. Luddites appear in Shirley by C. Brontë, and Byron wrote ‘A Song for the Luddites’. The term is now commonly applied to any person who resists technological change.
|
|
|
Cite this article
MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Luddites." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Luddites." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-Luddites.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Luddites." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-Luddites.html |
|
Luddites
Luddites Unemployed workers in early 19th-century England who vandalized the machines that had put them out of work. They were chiefly hand-loom weavers who were replaced by mechanical looms. The riots started in the Nottingham area in 1811, and spread to Lancashire and Yorkshire before dying out after 1815.
|
|
|
Cite this article
"Luddites." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Luddites." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-Luddites.html "Luddites." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-Luddites.html |
|
Luddite
Luddite a member of any of the bands of English workers who destroyed machinery, especially in cotton and woollen mills, which they believed was threatening their jobs (1811–16). The name probably comes from Ned Lud, one of the participants in the destruction of machinery.
|
|
|
Cite this article
ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Luddite." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Luddite." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Luddite.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Luddite." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Luddite.html |
|
Luddite
Luddite •affright, alight, alright, aright, bedight, bight, bite, blight, bright, byte, cite, dight, Dwight, excite, fight, flight, fright, goodnight, height, ignite, impolite, indict, indite, invite, kite, knight, light, lite, might, mite, night, nite, outfight, outright, plight, polite, quite, right, rite, shite, sight, site, skintight, skite, sleight, slight, smite, Snow-white, spite, sprite, tight, tonight, trite, twite, underwrite, unite, uptight, white, wight, wright, write
•Shiite • Trotskyite • McCarthyite
•Vishnuite • Sivaite • albite
•snakebite • frostbite • soundbite
•kilobyte • columbite • love bite
•Moabite • megabyte • gigabyte
•Jacobite • Rechabite • jadeite
•lyddite • expedite • cordite • erudite
•Luddite • recondite • troglodyte
•hermaphrodite • extradite
|
|
|
Cite this article
"Luddite." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Luddite." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-Luddite.html "Luddite." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-Luddite.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
