|
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 |
|||
Swing riots
Swing riots, 1830. Collective action by agricultural workers began in east Kent late in August 1830 with two attacks on the hated threshing-machines, which were believed to take winter work away from agricultural labourers. The disturbances continued until December and spread to much of southern and eastern England. The protesters combined demands for higher wages and tithe reductions with destruction of the threshing-machines. Barns and hay ricks were fired, and threatening letters—often signed by the mythical ‘ Captain Swing’—were sent in all directions. Hobsbawm and Rudé, in their classic study of the riots, considered them to be mainly a southern and East Anglian phenomenon, but subsequent research has revealed just how widespread Swing riots really were, with virtually every county south of the Scottish border involved. More than 1,400 separate incidents have been recorded. In the wake of the disturbances 19 people were executed, 481 transported, and more than 700 imprisoned.
John Beckett |
|
|
Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "Swing riots." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Swing riots." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-Swingriots.html JOHN CANNON. "Swing riots." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-Swingriots.html |
|
Swing riots
Swing riots, 1830. Collective action by agricultural workers began in east Kent late in August 1830 with two attacks on the hated threshing‐machines, which were believed to take winter work away from agricultural labourers. The disturbances continued until December and spread to much of southern and eastern England. Barns and hay ricks were fired, and threatening letters—often signed by the mythical ‘Captain Swing’—were sent in all directions. In the wake of the disturbances 19 people were executed, 481 transported, and more than 700 imprisoned.
|
|
|
Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "Swing riots." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Swing riots." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-Swingriots.html JOHN CANNON. "Swing riots." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-Swingriots.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
