tolpuddle matyrs

• Examples of groups opposed to new technology

  Luddites and swing riotiers
• What was the 1825 combination act


  Permitted trade unions to negotiate wages and conditions

  Could not use intimidation of picketing
• Why did the Tolpuddle Martyrs form a union?

  Farm workers wanted to negotiate a better pay after their wages were cut from 9 shillings a week (a loaf of bread) to 7 shillings in 1833

  Also protested new farm machinery - meant fewer workers were needed with no specialist skills so wages were cut
• What happened in February 1834


  - the men met under the sycamore tree in the village or in a members' cottage

  - george loveless was arrested
• Was being in trade unions illegal?

  No but the act to legalise unionism said no secret oaths
• What crime did the tolpuddle matyrs commit

  Made an oath to keep the union secret
• Why did the government fear equality

  Following French Revolution landowners and gov feared ideas of equality and freedom was spread - worsened by ludittes and swing rioters
• Who got the matyrs arrested

  Tolpuddle land owners
• How were the matyrs punished

  - found guilty of making an unlawful oath

  - sentences to 7 years transpiration in Australia

  - put in "chain gangs" and endured hard labour
• How did Robert Owen respond?

  Called a meeting of GNCTU with 10,000 people
• How did the public respond

  - march at Copenhagen fields

  - 1000s of working class supporters

  - orators such as William Corbett and Robert Owen

  - gathered petitions demanding the return of the matyrs
• How did the government respond to the petitions

  We're reluctant but the persistent campaign payed off - 14th march 1836 all 6 matyrs were given a full and free pardon