The Luddites
The Luddites played a significant role to influence the reforms during the Industrial Revolution by showing the negative impacts of an Industrialised society.
The Luddites were a group of early 19th Century English workmen who opposed to newly developed labour saving machinery from 1811 to 1817. The Luddites originated in Nottingham in 1811 and spread to other areas throughout the country in 1812. They usually operated at night in West Riding of Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire and even Lancashire, destroying machineries that were replacing them.
The Luddites’ purpose was to save their livelihoods by destroying developed industrial machines, and attacked simply because they did not wish to lose their jobs. These new machines threatened to replace the less skilled, low wage labourers, leaving them unemployed.
They burned factories and smashed stocking frames, cropping frames, spinning frames and power looms which were introduced during the Industrial Revolution. Some of their biggest actions involved more than a hundred men. The workers also sent threatening letters to their employers, and broke into factories to destroy the new machines. They also attacked people like; employers, magistrates and food merchants. These often caused fights between the Luddites and government soldiers.
Between March 1811 and February 1812 they smashed about a thousand machines which worth between £6,000 and £10,000, and in April 1812, the Luddites burned the West Houghton mill in Lancashire.
The government sent thousands of troops to the areas with a lot of trouble. Men were arranged to guard factories and people with information were rewarded. In 1812, machine-breaking became a crime that could be punished by death. 40 Luddites were killed, 24 were executed, 34 were transported to Australia and 24 were imprisoned. The Luddites destroyed thousands of machineries until the government was able to control them in 1817.
Even though, the Luddites were unsuccessful in maintaining their group and were eventually defeated by the government, they influenced the reform by changing the views of many people in society, and also by showing the rights of the
workers during the Industrial Revolution.
Websites used for 'Luddites'
http://www.luddites200.org.uk/theLuddites.html
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/riots/luddites.html
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/luddites-they-raged-against-machine-and-lost
http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/Baker_00/baker_1800_soc/baker_br_rb_p4/luddites.htm
The Luddites were a group of early 19th Century English workmen who opposed to newly developed labour saving machinery from 1811 to 1817. The Luddites originated in Nottingham in 1811 and spread to other areas throughout the country in 1812. They usually operated at night in West Riding of Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire and even Lancashire, destroying machineries that were replacing them.
The Luddites’ purpose was to save their livelihoods by destroying developed industrial machines, and attacked simply because they did not wish to lose their jobs. These new machines threatened to replace the less skilled, low wage labourers, leaving them unemployed.
They burned factories and smashed stocking frames, cropping frames, spinning frames and power looms which were introduced during the Industrial Revolution. Some of their biggest actions involved more than a hundred men. The workers also sent threatening letters to their employers, and broke into factories to destroy the new machines. They also attacked people like; employers, magistrates and food merchants. These often caused fights between the Luddites and government soldiers.
Between March 1811 and February 1812 they smashed about a thousand machines which worth between £6,000 and £10,000, and in April 1812, the Luddites burned the West Houghton mill in Lancashire.
The government sent thousands of troops to the areas with a lot of trouble. Men were arranged to guard factories and people with information were rewarded. In 1812, machine-breaking became a crime that could be punished by death. 40 Luddites were killed, 24 were executed, 34 were transported to Australia and 24 were imprisoned. The Luddites destroyed thousands of machineries until the government was able to control them in 1817.
Even though, the Luddites were unsuccessful in maintaining their group and were eventually defeated by the government, they influenced the reform by changing the views of many people in society, and also by showing the rights of the
workers during the Industrial Revolution.
Websites used for 'Luddites'
http://www.luddites200.org.uk/theLuddites.html
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/riots/luddites.html
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/luddites-they-raged-against-machine-and-lost
http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/Baker_00/baker_1800_soc/baker_br_rb_p4/luddites.htm