The Battle Against the Luddites : Unrest in the Industrial Revolution During the Napoleonic Wars.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dawson, Paul L.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History.

Social aspects.

Working class.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Havertown : Pen & Sword Books Limited, 2023.

Summary:

As the columns of French infantry marched up the slopes of the Mont St Jean at Waterloo, the British heavy cavalry, the Royal Scots Greys to the fore, crashed into the packed ranks of the enemy. This was not the first time the Greys had drawn their swords during the Napoleonic Wars - but it was their first against Napoleon's troops. Three years earlier they had attacked workers in Halifax protesting at the introduction of machinery in the wool trade. Taking their name from Ned Ludd, who had smashed up knitting frames in Nottingham, the Luddites saw the emergence of mechanization as a threat to their livelihood, with machines replacing men. In response they took matters into their own hands by wrecking the new equipment. Industrial unrest had gathered pace throughout the 18th century and exploded in an unpresented wave of violence in 1799. Outbreaks of machine-breaking developed rapidly into strikes in a battle of capital against labor. A court battle ensued, culminating in new legislation in 1806 that backed the capitalists. This act, coupled with the impact of the Continental system introduced by Napoleon, which closed European and American ports to British merchants, heralded the largest economic depression of the era. Famine, pestilence and rising employment all fueled the fires of Luddism. Months of violence swept across the West Midlands, Lancashire and Yorkshire which saw one factory boss murdered; other factory owners began shooting protesting workers. The disturbances resulted in the mobilizing of thousands of regular soldiers - at one time there were as many British soldiers fighting the Luddites than there were fighting Napoleon on the Iberian Peninsula. As well as exploring these events, Paul L. Dawson also uncovers the origins of Luddism and their allies in the middle classes. The Napoleonic Wars marked the end of centuries old way of life in agriculture, textile production and the wider economy. The dramatic changes in Britain between 1790 and 1815 created a unique set of social grievances by those left behind by the unprecedented changes that were surging through the Britain which exploded into bitter fighting across large swathes of the country. With present day concerns over computerization replacing labor, this is a story that echoes down the centuries.

Contents:

Intro

Title

Copyright

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Opening Words

Chapter 1 The Eighteenth-Century Woollen Industry

Resistance to mechanisation

Chapter 2 Community and Tradition

Milnes, Heywood &amp

Co.

Change and decay

Community

Chapter 3 Enclosure

Jacobinism

Religion

Comment

Chapter 4 First Stirrings of Discontent

Chapter 5 Combination

Chapter 6 Luddites Arise

Every man out

Chapter 7 Political Agitation

Fighting trade unionism

Electioneering

Chapter 8 Economic Warfare

Peace petitions

Lancashire

Leeds

Chapter 9 Fermenting Revolution

Nottinghamshire outrages

Ludd and Yorkshire

Chapter 10 Yorkshire Machine Breaking

Chapter 11 Yorkshire Climax

Rawfolds Mill

Chapter 12 Cottonopolis

Orders in Council

Chapter 13 Food Riots

Chapter 14 The Revolutionaries

Enter Napoleon?

Chapter 15 The Revolution Begins

The death of Spencer Perceval

Chapter 16 Arming the Revolution

The Crown strikes back

Chapter 17 Arms Raids Continue

Chapter 18 Lady Ludd

Chapter 19 Death and Burial

Chapter 20 Conclusion

Notes

Sources and Bibliography

Plate Section.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781399052443

1399052446

9781399052429

139905242X

OCLC:

1399170836