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The Swing Riots Project |
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| Swing Unmasked Book | Project
Leader Michael Holland |
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| The
purpose of this project was to determine the true extent of the Swing
Riots across England. This spate of agricultural rioting occurred in
parts of England between the beginning of 1830 through to the spring of
1832, although the main body of the rioting occurred between the summer
of 1830 and the autumn of 1832. Earlier research (Hobsbawm and Rudé’s
)
considered
the focus of the riots to be southern
England. The FACHRS Swing Project researchers have successfully
identified over 3000 reported instances of "Swing Protest"
activity, nearly double the reported instances documented in prior
research activities. The FACHRS research also confirmed that instances
of Swing Protest were far more (geographically) extensive than earlier
research had concluded.
If you are unsure if your locality experienced swing riots click here The fundamental cause of the outbreak of rioting was the threshing machine. Traditionally, the winter months were a time when farm labourers could be kept in employment by hand threshing the cereal crops that had been harvested that year. It was a hard and laborious process, but it kept the men employed When the wars against France broke out in 1795 a great many agricultural workers were absorbed into the armed forces either with the army and Royal Navy, or, on home defence with the militia. This in turn created a manpower shortage, which ultimately affected the ability of farmers to process, their crops for market. Industrialisation came to the rescue in the form of the threshing machine. This was found to be a far more efficient means of threshing cereals. Once the war ended and the men returned to agriculture, many farmers were reluctant to return to the old, inefficient, labour intensive ways. Therefore many farm labourers were forced to turn to the parish for support instead of being able to earn wages. Documented civil unrest associated with Swing protests primarily occurred between 1830 and 1832. FACHRS Members may access the initial findings presented at the 2003 Annual conference in the Members Community. If you are a FACHRS Member but do not have a user id and password yet use this link to apply for access. Note that lapsed members who have not paid the current year subscription are not provided with a user id and password. Discover more about SwingIf you are interested in discovering more about Swing Protest, here are some additional links Internet links. http://www.thedorsetpage.com/history/Captain_Swing/Captain_Swing.htm
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