The Tolpuddle Martyrs

In the early 1830s, farm labourers in Dorset were very poor, and their wages were being cut.

In 1830, the Swing Riots had spread across southern England, as farm workers burned hay ricks and smashed threshing machines. Landowners and the government were afraid of more unrest.

Trade unions had been made legal in the 1820s, but many in authority saw them as dangerous.

In the village of Tolpuddle, George Loveless, a Methodist preacher, and other labourers formed a trade union, the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers, to resist wage cuts. New members swore a secret oath.

In 1834, six of the men were arrested. They were not charged with forming a union, which was legal, but with swearing an illegal oath, under a law of 1797.

At their trial in Dorchester, they were found guilty and sentenced to seven years' transportation to Australia.

Causes:

• Fear of unrest: the authorities feared that unions would lead to more protests like the Swing Riots.
• Deterrence: the harsh sentence was meant as an example, to stop other workers forming unions.
• Using the law: by using an old law about oaths, the authorities could punish union members even though unions were legal.

Significance: the case is an example of a changing definition of crime: the law was used to treat workers' organisation as a crime against authority.

Causes:

• Public protest: tens of thousands of people marched through London in 1834 in support of the men.
• A huge petition, signed by hundreds of thousands of people, was sent to Parliament.
• Support from MPs and newspapers, who argued that the sentence was unjust.

In 1836, the government pardoned the men, and they returned to England.

Significance: the case shows how attitudes in society and public pressure could change the outcome of a case. The Tolpuddle Martyrs are still remembered as heroes of the trade union movement.