Tolpuddle Martyrs

Tolpuddle Martyrs name given to six English agricultural laborers who in 1834 were prosecuted for trade union activities and sentenced to transportation. In 1833 these laborers, led by George and James Loveless (or Lovelace), formed a branch of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Laborers at Tolpuddle, in Dorset. With the approval of the Whig government, which feared a renewal of the agricultural agitation of 1831, they were arrested on the trumped-up charge of administering illegal oaths and were sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia. Public reaction throughout the country made the six into popular heroes, and the sentence was finally remitted in 1836 after continuous agitation. One of the six returned to Tolpuddle; the others emigrated to Canada.

Tolpuddle martyrs six farm labourers from the village of Tolpuddle in Dorset who attempted to form a trade union and were sentenced in 1834 to seven years' transportation on a charge of administering unlawful oaths. Their harsh sentences caused widespread protests, and two years later they were pardoned and repatriated from Australia.

Tolpuddle Martyrs Name given to six British farm labourers in Dorset, s England, who were sentenced to transportation for forming a trade union (1834). The government was worried by the growth of organized labour, but as unions were not illegal, the Dorset men were charged with taking a seditious oath. After a public outcry, they were pardoned in 1836.