Every year for one weekend in July, the small village of Tolpuddle, Dorset is flooded with tourists, socialists, politicians and representatives from a host of British Trade Unions. These visitors, numbering in their thousands, flock to the area to ‘celebrate the start of trade unionism’ and remember the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs.[1]
On the morning of the 24th February 1834, six agricultural workers were arrested in the village on charges of having taken an illegal oath. The men, including the group’s leader, George Loveless, were members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. They had advocated for the raising of wages to 10 shillings per week from the average 7 shillings and refused to work for less. The following month, the men were found guilty of their charges and sentenced to transportation for seven years by Sir John Williams, landowner and prosecutor.
The story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs could have ended there were it not for the public outcry which followed their sentencing. On the 24th March, the Grand National Consolidated Trade Union called a ‘Grand Meeting of the Working Classes’ to campaign for the release of the six men. Over 10,000 people attended this initial meeting and support for the cause was spreading rapidly. The London Central Dorchester Committee was later formed to organise the campaign for the men’s’ pardoning and release. Popular protest became key to the campaign, with over 800 thousand people signing a petition and over 100,000 people marching through London on the 21st April. The government was obviously nervous about such protest, deploying hundreds of troops and swearing in over 5,000 Special Constables to deal with any potential disorder the crowds could bring.
These initial protests were unsuccessful. Once the protesters had reached Whitehall, led by Robert Owen, leader of the Grand National Consolidated Trade Union, the Home Secretary, Lord Melbourne, refused to accept the petition. However, the protests did not stop there. The campaign for the men’s release continued and pressure began to mount on the government. MPs such as Joseph Hume kept the question before parliament and more petitions arrived from across the country with over 800,000 signatures gathered in total.
Under the intense pressure from the British public, Lord John Russell, then Home Secretary, granted conditional pardons for all six of the Tolpuddle Martyrs in June 1985, ten months after they had arrived in the penal colonies. This is significant because, in English law, a convict could not be conditionally pardoned for a crime before four years after sentencing. Even with these pardons granted, national agitation continued and more petitions were presented to parliament until the government agreed on 14th March 1836 to grant the men full and free pardons. The trade unions had won their first major battle with the government and the six members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers travelled home to England.
The national outcry to the plight of the Tolpuddle Martyrs highlights the growing tension between workers and landowners in the years following the industrial revolution. Just four years earlier, in 1830, the Swing Riots had taken place across Southern England in protest of agricultural mechanisation and the harsh conditions that had been imposed upon labourers. During this period, rioting became common in agricultural areas. This was largely because of the extremely low wages being offered by landowners who were reaping the benefits of the recent population boom which resulted in a surplus of workers.
What makes the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs stand out is the non-violent, organised nature of their protests. This was the first time that petitions and protests organised by trade unions had succeeded in bringing justice to labourers. This both highlighted the strength of the working people when they banded together and signalled the rising power of trade unions.
By Chloe Milburn. Chloe is an MA Medieval Studies student at Royal Holloway, University of London.
[1] S. Beamish, ‘Pictures: Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival 2019’, Dorset Echo, 22nd July 2019, https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/17786961.pictures-tolpuddle-martyrs-festival-2019/ [accessed: 23/07/2019].
