The History Making Tolpuddle Martyrs

                                            

Plaque dedicated to the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Image Credit: Adam Bishop/Wikipedia CC4.0.

 

The Tolpuddle Martyrs Were Ordinary Men 

The Tolpuddle Martyrs were six farm workers from Tolpuddle in Dorset, England that challenged the landowner Squire James Frampton and his managers about their poor working conditions and low wages.

The Tolpuddle Martyrs:

• George Loveless.
• James Loveless, brother of George Loveless.
• John Standfield.
• Thomas Standfield, father of John. Thomas was married Dinniah, nee Loveless, George and James' sister. The Standfield's and Lovelesses worked on the same farm.
• James Brine. (He married Thomas Standfield's daughter Elizabeth).
• James Hammett.

Barely able to cope on a wage of 9 shillings per week in 1830, the amount steadily decreased until in 1833 it was just 7 shillings per week with a 1 shilling reduction rumoured. That ensured starvation unless all the family (if there was one) were put to work. A tiny amount of flour, a peck, cost three shillings. (The Observer, 29th November 1830).

The martyrs story inspired the establishment of the earliest British trade unions tasked with protecting employees rights. Almost two hundred years later the men are still celebrated as ordinary people that changed lives forever, but at a devastating cost.

Fears Of An English Revolution

Agricultural labourers in other regions of England had already achieved a wage increase or a wage freeze by protesting, most notably in the 1830 Swing Riots.

In 1832 the six Tolpuddle men, none of them radicals or idealists, formed the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers, a small trade union funded by subscription fees. An oath of loyalty and secrecy was sworn as the inductee looked at an image of a skeleton, the symbol of mortality. They met in each others homes and under the village sycamore tree, later known as the Martyrs Tree.

The society members wanted wages of 10 shillings a week, still a meagre amount compared to the squire's wealth.

Frampton, in common with many establishment figures, was petrified of an English Revolution similar to the French one and so the existence of friendly societies (unions) was perceived as a threat and this motivated him to contact the Home Secretary William Lamb, Lord Melbourne (the future Prime Minister) to warn him about the dangers in his area.

The Tolpuddle Martyrs Trial

Melbourne was unswervingly against these societies and unions and he had a vested interest in Dorset because his brother-in-law William Ponsonby was the county's Member of Parliament.

He urged Frampton to employ spies and to enforce the 1797 Unlawful Oaths Act, the law that post French Revolution made the swearing of secret oaths illegal. The act was established to halt naval mutinies.

Frampton's spy and society member Edward Legg confirmed that a secret oath was sworn and the squire seized his opportunity to do his "duty". The six Tolpuddle society founders were arrested on the morning of 24th February 1834.

The following month they were tried at the Old Town Court in Dorchester. People realised that it was a grossly unfair trial. William Ponsonby M.P. was the head juror and the jury featured Squire Frampton, his son, his step-brother and several of the men who had signed the arrest warrants. Judge Williams was equally prejudiced against the defendants.

A Public Outcry

Judge Williams declared that the men were guilty; he claimed that "the safety of the country was at stake." He handed down the harshest sentence available to him: Transportation to Australia where each man would spend seven years in a penal colony. After their term was served, they faced the possibility of being sold into slavery because they wouldn't be able to afford their fare to travel home.

The press men in the court gallery ensured that news about the severity of the sentences spread quickly (by Georgian standards). There was outrage.

Other friendly societies rallied; they saw that they were just as vulnerable to unfair judgements. In the name of justice, unrest spread across the country and marches were organised. Petitions were signed by thousands.

The government and the landowners were stunned by the outcry but Lord Melbourne elected to do nothing to lessen or quash the Tolpuddle Martyrs convictions. Judge Williams was awarded a knighthood in April 1834.

A Pardon From King William IV

Five of the Tolpuddle Martyrs arrived in Sydney on 17th August 1834 and George Loveless reached Australia on 4th September 1834.

Their wives and families appealed for parish poor relief, money to help them to survive. Squire Frampton refused to assist them. The campaigners for justice for the Tolpuddle Martyrs came to their rescue.

By 1836 there had been a change in government and the sustained public outrage influenced the Home Secretary Lord John Russell, the future Prime Minister, to persuade King William IV to issue full pardons. The martyrs were finally free men, able to return to England but the news took months to reach Australia so their torment continued.

George Loveless was the first to arrive in England on 13th June 1837, a week before King William IV's death. Crowds of people were at the dock to see his homecoming. He hadn't seen his wife and children since the 24th February 1834.

The Standfields', Brine and James Loveless docked at Plymouth on 17th March 1838. They were gifted new suits and were taken to London for a celebratory dinner attended by 2,000 guests. James Hammett returned home on 25th August 1839.

George Loveless wrote about his experiences in "The Victims of Wiggery." Each copy cost 4 pence and the money went to the six men and their families. After their attempts to settle into new lives in Essex, England failed, five of the men and their families emigrated to Ontario, Canada to start afresh as farmers.

James Hammett stayed in Tolpuddle. He became a builder's labourer in Dorset and he was honoured by union leaders in 1875. He died in a workhouse in 1891; he didn't want to be a burden to his family, He was buried in Tolpuddle.

The annual Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival and Rally, organised by the Trades Union Congress celebrates their story. There are six memorial cottages, built in 1934, and a museum with a gift shop in the village.

The Tolpuddle Martyrs contribution to improving workers rights won't be forgotten.

Sources:

• Tolpuddle Martyrs | Agricultural Laborers, Trade Unionism & Protest | Britannica

• The Tolpuddle Martyrs | Historic UK

• The Story | Tolpuddle Martyrs