62:. He learned that many agricultural labourers were badly paid, or unemployed and half starved. The financial support for a laid off agricultural worker was less than that paid to support a criminal in prison. Cobbett realised that Parishes were trying to avoid having to provide support to the poor with many parishes sending labouring people to the United States to save the costs of supporting them as paupers. Cobbett had predicted that there would be problems with the agricultural workers and when rural disturbances started in Kent and spread to Sussex during August 1830, Cobbett described it as the "Labourers' war".
241:
flail known as either a swing or a swingel, which the thrasher brings down in contact with the corn. It can also represent a swinging corpse on the gallows or gibbet. Possibly a more plausible explanation is that after a work party had stopped to sharpen their scythes and were ready to recommence work the leader would shout out 'Swing!', the leader was usually known as the
Captain, hence 'Captain Swing'. The name 'Captain Swing’ became synonymous with the riots and soon symbolized the whole rural resistance.
24:
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173:"Blood and Vengance against Your Life and Your Property for taking away our Labour with Your Threshing Machine Seven of us near your Dwelling House have agreed that if you do not refrain from Your Threshing Machine we will Thresh Your Rick with Fire & Bathe Your Body in Blood How will the People of Reading Gaze to see Early Court all in a Blaze"
66:
agricultural prices. During the ensuing depression farmers were not able to pay their agricultural workers a sustainable wage. Farmers also stopped the custom of allowing their workers to take left over crops after the corn harvest, that would help them through the winter. This was compounded by the church tithes and the
108:
determined. Often they sought to enlist local parish officials and occasionally magistrates to raise levels of poor relief as well. Throughout
England, 2,000 protesters were brought to trial in 1830–1831; 252 were sentenced to death (though only 19 were actually hanged), 644 were imprisoned, and 481 were
285:
Madam — I have to request that you will send me by return of post the sum of £10, or else your house will be burned with the ground very shortly, as I know that you can well afford to spare that sum for a short time, until I have the effects to repay it. Keep this secret, or it will be the worse for
65:
The main causes of the disturbances were due to an excess of labour, predominantly by men who had been involved in the
Napoleonic wars, returning home. Also by itinerant Irish labourers prepared to work for next to nothing undercutting the local agricultural workers. This coincided with a fall in
240:
The authorities tried to identify who this 'Swing' was and apprehend him, it took a while for them to realise that
Captain Swing was probably an invented name. The origin of the name is not clear. But the word 'Swing' seems to have a deliberate double meaning. It could represent how the part of
107:
The protests were notable for their discipline, a tradition of popular protest that went back to the eighteenth century. The act of marching towards an offending farmer's homestead served not only to maintain group discipline, but also to warn the wider community that they were regimented and
426:
During the
Napoleonic wars, there was a shortage of farm labour, threshing machines were installed to plug the shortfall of labour. Historians have posited that when there was no longer a shortage of labour the cost and unreliability of the threshing machines did not actually make them cost
166:
Whereas it hath been humbly represented to His Royal
Highness the Prince Regent that Two anonymous threatening Letters have been received by Mr William Shackell of Early Court and Mr James Fuller of Loddon Bridge near Reading in the County of Berks of which the following are Copies
280:
Not all letters were from impoverished farm labourers trying to improve their lot; other people saw the use of the eponymous 'Swing' purely for private gain. For example a letter sent to a Mrs
Chandler of Church Farm, Pursey, Wiltshire, was an obvious attempt at extortion:
214:, Kent a threshing machine was destroyed by rioters. The ringleaders were arrested on the 27 September 1830, nine days after the word 'Swing' was graffitied on unpainted walls between Canterbury and Dover. Also two threatening letters were sent to local farmers, signed SWING:
185:"A Warning Whereas We are informed You are about to have a Threshing Machine to take away our Labour and If you do there is a plott laid among Us the Labourine People in this neighbourhood to set your Rick and Barns a fire and first opportunity to give you the Leaden fevour."
236:
Initially the authorities were not clear who was responsible for the wrecking of threshing machines and other farm equipment blaming it on poachers, smugglers or deer-stealers. However it wasn't long before it was realised that it was mainly local village labourers.
250:
Sir, Your name is down amongst the Black hearts in the Black Book and this is to advise you and the like of you, who are Parson
Justasses, to make your wills. Ye have been the Blackguard Enemies of the People on all occasions, Ye have not yet done as ye ought,...
232:
The letters threatened violence. The intention was to terrify the farmers. The local paper reported that farmers who received the first two letters, were so terrified that they placed their machines in the open field inviting their destruction.
150:
Threshing machines had been contentious since the
Napoleonic wars. Letters had been sent to farmers, in the Reading area, suggesting that they should get rid of their threshing machines as early as 1811, the following two were reproduced in
85:
It is all bad, our peasantry are in a state of ignorance and slavery: almost starving without the knowledge to attempt obtaining redress without violence, without violating laws, which are made to oppress the poor and protect the
46:
and the loss of their livelihoods. The name was made-up and it came to symbolise the anger of the poor labourers in rural
England who wanted a return to the pre-machine days when human labour was used.
58:
was a political activist who supported the working man. He rode around Kent and Sussex and spoke to agricultural workers about their problems. He then used this as source material for his journal the
286:
you, as I have spys about your neighbourhood. Direct to me, ‘X.Y.Z.’ The Nag’s Head, James-street, Covent Garden. ‘SWING’. P. S. Be not to make no delay in sending it
267:
Sir, This is to acquaint you that if your threshing machines are not destroyed by you directly we shall commence our labours. Signed on behalf of the whole... Swing
100:
Popular protests by farm workers occurred across agricultural areas of southern England. The main targets for protesting crowds were landowners/ landlords, whose
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that displaced workers. The displaced workers had no means to feed or clothe their families during the winter. A resident of Lewes in Sussex,
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Sussman, Herbert (1994). "Cyberpunk Meets Charles Babbage: 'The Difference Engine' as Alternative Victorian History".
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You are to notice that if you doant put away your thrashing machine against Monday next you shall have a "SWING".
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A character named "Findthee Swing" is a captain in the Ankh-Morpork "Unmentionables" secret police in
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This article is about the threatening letters of the Swing Riots. For other uses, see
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the English obstetrician, geologist and palaeontologist noted in his diary of 1830:
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You may Believe it so Help Mr Shackell Early Court to be left at Marquis Granby
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38:" was a name that was appended to several threatening letters during the rural
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they destroyed or dismantled, and whom they petitioned for a rise in wages.
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Macdonald, Stuart (1975). "The Progress of the Early Threshing Machine".
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Six for the Tolpuddle Martyrs: The Epic Struggle for Justice and Freedom
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Swing is portrayed as an actual person in the alternative reality novel
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The Common People, a History from the Norman Conquest to the Present
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Companion Encyclopedia of Geography: The Environment and Humankind
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Captain Swing & The Electrical Pirates Of Cindery Island
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of 1830, when labourers rioted over the introduction of new
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934:"Michelle Shocked's Short Rise and Long, Confounding Fall"
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Captain Swing and the electrical pirates of Cindery Island
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Captain Swing in Sussex and Kent: Rural Rebellion in 1830
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Griffin, Carl J. (2010). "The Violent Captain Swing?".
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881:(1). British Agricultural History Society: 63–77.
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299:The sender turned out to be a soldier in the
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983:"Captain Swing recruits a Mansfield vicar"
210:On Saturday night, 28 August 1830, in the
134:And smash your machines with all his might
132:To set all your buildings and crops alight
73:Added to this farmers began to introduce
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130:Oh Captain Swing, he'll come in the night
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744:Douglas, Ian; et al., eds. (2002).
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245:Examples of threatening "Swing" letters
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763:Ellis, Warren; Caceres, Raulo (2011).
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257:
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826:Hobsbawm, Eric; Rudé, George (1973).
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326:is a 1989 album by singer-songwriter
1020:Riots and civil disorder in England
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691:Charlesworth, Andrew, ed. (1983).
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697:University of Pennsylvania Press
875:The Agricultural History Review
830:. Harmonsworth: Penguin Books.
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136:That dastardly Captain Swing!
91:Quoted in Discovering Sussex,
18:Captain Swing (disambiguation)
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786:. Barnsley: Pen & Sword.
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110:transported to penal colonies
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160:Whitehall September 3 1811
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1015:Social history of England
913:Pratchett, Terry (2014).
370:Royal Shakespeare Company
864:London Gazette (1811) .
845:Harrison, L F C (1989).
767:. London: Avatar Press.
748:. Taylor & Francis.
643:Ellis & Caceres 2011
571:Hobsbawm & Rudé 1973
547:Hobsbawm & Rudé 1973
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273:Hobsbawm & Rudé 1973
195:Loddon Bridge Farm Berks
988:The Manchester Guardian
894:Matthews, Mike (2011).
719:"Peter Whelan obituary"
676:. Andover: Phillimore.
672:Brandon, Peter (2010).
917:. Corgi. p. 134.
368:, was produced by the
349:is a graphic novel by
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124:Typical 'Swing' letter
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985:article from 1831 in
932:Selke, Lori (2013) .
782:Gallop, Alan (2017).
315:The Difference Engine
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1010:Anonymity pseudonyms
939:San Francisco Weekly
849:. Glasgow: Fontana.
811:10.1093/pastj/gtq035
739:on 23 October 2021.
525:, pp. 249–253.
498:, pp. 149–180.
307:Cultural references
202:London Gazette 1811
803:Past & Present
674:Discovering Sussex
411:A custom known as
226:, pp. 149–180
153:The London Gazette
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102:threshing machines
75:threshing machines
60:Political Register
44:threshing machines
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956:Victorian Studies
905:978-1-8739-7647-0
898:. ChristieBooks.
868:(16520 ed.).
793:978-1-52671-250-9
755:978-0-415-27750-1
683:978-1-86077-616-8
535:Charlesworth 1983
510:, pp. 63–77.
70:of common land.
29:threshing machine
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805:(209): 149–180.
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735:. Archived from
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962:(1): 1–23.
915:Night Watch
340:Night Watch
258:Gallop 2017
143:Gallop 2017
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999:Categories
991:newspaper.
619:Selke 2013
435:References
427:effective.
945:April 12,
733:0261-3077
717:(2014) .
665:Citations
549:, Ch. 10.
337:'s novel
191:Mr Fuller
68:enclosure
887:40273647
819:40960936
413:gleaning
377:See also
372:in 1979.
301:Dragoons
289:—
270:—
260:, Part 1
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145:, Part 1
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399:Notes
251:Swing
86:rich.
947:2018
919:ISBN
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
