Anyone know what "firing a stack" would have been in the early 1800s as found a distant cousing to a friend who was transported to Australia for this (got 10 yrs) Chris SOUTHERN LIFE(UK) http://Southernlife.org.uk History of the Hampshire, Dorset and IOW Villages,Towns and Churches

hay stack? Althea ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris & Caroline" <crhayles@btinternet.com> To: "HAMPSHIRE-LIFE" <HAMPSHIRE-LIFE-L@rootsweb.com>; "ENG-HAMPSHIRE" <ENG-HAMPSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 12:31 AM Subject: [HAMPSHIRE-LIFE] strange crime > Anyone know what "firing a stack" would have been in the early 1800s as > found a distant cousing to a friend who was transported to Australia for > this (got 10 yrs) > Chris > SOUTHERN LIFE(UK) > http://Southernlife.org.uk > History of the Hampshire, Dorset and IOW > Villages,Towns and Churches > > *************************************** > > When replying to this message, please spare a thought for your fellow list > members, and anyone searching the archives in the future. SNIP everything > which is not essential for comprehension or continuity (including the > footers which will be put back anyway!) > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > HAMPSHIRE-LIFE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.467 / Virus Database: 269.10.10/908 - Release Date: > 19/07/2007 18:10 > >

Hi Chris Firing a stack could refer to the firing of the hayricks during the great Agricultural riots of south and east of England. I have a great grandfather who was involved convicted and deported to Port Jackson Australia in 1830's, The details of his crime are listed below:- (We hope you bear with us as the information below is lengthy but only part of the total so if your friend wants I can give them the whole Kit & Caboodle including copies of photos of etchings of an early 'Winchester Jail' and hayrick burnings etc). Our Thomas Neale was transported to Australia for his involvement in the Agricultural swing Riots of England in the 1830's. BACKGROUND TO THE SWING RIOTS The great agricultural uprising of 1830-31; this episode touched thirty counties in the south and east of England & has been called the last peasants revolt A look into the 1830 riots as a whole, gives a good insight into what life would have resembled for a labourer such as Thomas Neale in a small farming village in England during the early 1800's. The 1830's saw a three tiered pyramid permanently in place within the social and economic life of a typical village of the southern English counties. At the top sat the land owners who directly and indirectly shaped the way of life for those beneath them. Second was the tenant farmers, on the bottom rung came the labourers. The tenant farmers had their rents pegged at an annual amount rather than a percentage of the harvest profits. A good harvest resulted in the land owner raising the tenant's tithe the following annum as a consequence of the Church imposed Tithe, but neglecting to compensate on subsequent poor harvests. The tenant farmers made ends meet by reducing costs of labour either by cutting pay rates or introducing labour saving devices such as threshing machines or chaff cutters, the labourers such as Thomas Neale and others being the ultimate losers in the hierarchy. The Church Tithes So by 1830 it had become common practice for the Church to collect tithes in money, at an agreed exchange rate equivalent to the value of the produce that would otherwise be due, or for them to sell the rights to 'farm the tithes' to the highest bidder. But this sum tended to become fixed over a period of time, and did not reflect the natural fluctuations of good and lean years. Thus after two poor harvests in 1829 and 1830, farmers found they still had to hand over the same amount of money to the tithe-holder as in a good year, even though they had less produce to sell in order to pay for it. Labourers rarely had steady employment, relying on ploughing and crop gathering seasons, being paid on a daily or weekly basis by the farmers. In between the seasons they were left to fend for themselves, many forced to rely on Parish Relief during the long periods of unemployment. Crop prices had been steadily falling in the years up to 1830 thus putting enormous pressure on the farmers and more so, the labourers. Many farmers turned to agricultural machinery to cut operating costs. Three bad harvests in a row by 1830 and the winter of 1830 being abnormally severe heightened the labourers' anger and frustration. Doomed to poverty, starvation being imminent for many labourers and their families, it is accepted that this triggered the 1830's riots. The protest occurred over many southern counties and widely varied in the course of action taken. The most common form of protest of outrage a large number, sometimes hundreds, of labourers would gather together in a village and head off to a pre-targeted farm. Usually an appointed spokesman for the group would demand some amount of monetary compensation. Refusal to pay led to threats of violence and invariably the money was paid. If the farm possessed a threshing machine, chaff cutter, or other labour saving device, it was unduly destroyed. The least common, but best known, form of outrage was the "Swing Letter" a message threatening severe violence unless money was paid or wages were raised or machines dismantled. The letters were signed "Captain Swing" (an analogy derived from the Irish protests led by Captain Rock), hence the name the "Swing Rioters". Captain Swing was a mythical figure and it is said that the name also related to the 'swing' (a moving part) of the flail used to thresh harvested grain. In general the riots were non-violent though clearly threatening, however low level violence did occur when the farmers or their men tried to prevent machinery or property from being destroyed. THE TRIAL VENUE; - WINCHESTER 18/12/1830. THE OFFENCE Thomas Neale, George Carter, George Hopgood and Robert Cook were charged with having, on 21st of November 1830, at the Parish if Vernhams Dean riotously assembled together with other persons to the number of about seventy. Feloniously made an assault on Mary Sergeant, and put her in bodily fear, they stole from her two sovereigns being the current coin of the realm, her property. Reports of the Trial proceedings show that the riot did get a little out of hand with many threats of violence being flung around along with rocks and other missiles. Special constables had also arrived at the scene resulting in many physical altercations as they tried to make arrests. THE SENTENCE The prisoners pleaded 'not guilty', The Jury returned a verdict of 'Guilty against the four prisoners. Sentencing after the guilty findings of some 70 swing rioters was enacted on Tuesday 30/12/1830. Mr. Baron Vaughn who concluded his summary by condemning 3 men (Ring Leaders) to death, saying, I have now only to pass upon all three of you the dreadful sentence of the law. I hope you will earnestly repent your sins - that you will make a full confession of your transgressions, and do all what you can to procure reconciliation from the above. He then passed the death sentence in the usual form. The remaining prisoners who had been capitally convicted were placed in the dock, in-groups of 20 some had a death sentence recorded against them. But it is understood that this will be commuted to varying degrees of punishment depending on the circumstances of each case. The other prisoners including Thomas Neale were told that their lives would be spared but they would not be allowed to remain in England. Thomas Neale was convicted and sentenced to death, later commuted to 14 years transportation to Australia for his involvement in the so-called 'Swing Riots' in southern England in the early 1830's Warrant dated 30/11/1830 Hulk Details; - Thomas Neale received 1/1/1831 on board the prison hulk 'York' at Portsmouth, from Winchester Goal, Age 20 years; - On 9/2/1831 he was put aboard Eleanor for transportation to NSW. the "Eleanor". Departed Portsmouth, England 19/2/1831 Arrived in Port Jackson 26/6/1831. The Convicts of the Eleanor were all from the counties of Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire MORE BACKGROUND The first of the rioters arrested received lenient sentences. Some were released due to the ordinary evidence posed against them, many received one to two months imprisonment or a very young offender may have received just a warning, but as the riots escalated the British Authorities took a harsher stance. >From November 1830 to early January 1831 some 2000 rioters were arrested. In December and the following January punishments handed down had changed dramatically, to that of transportation for life, fourteen or seven years, or the ultimate penalty, the death sentence. Appalling as it may seem, one theory posed by historians is the Government may have seen it as an opportunity to get skilled persons over to the newly established colony, Australia, as their emigration incentive schemes were failing. By late January 1831 the riots had subsided and so did the deliberations handed down to the accused. Most of the rioters sentenced to death, upon petitioning by their families and village folk, had their sentence reprieved to transportation. It was evident that the Machine Breakers were devastated by the severe penalties they received. It was relatively a non-violent form of protest and they may have anticipated only a token punishment for their involvement. Consideration to us to see whether we could distinguish between your cases and that of the others; at the same time, it was most dreadful to contemplate such an effusion of human blood and sacrifice of life taking place. We therefore determined to recommend you to His Majesty's royal consideration and mercy. [King William IV]. The sentence of death will be recorded against you, instead of being formerly passed, the meaning of which is, that your lives will certainly be spared, but on what terms, it is for His Majesty to determine, and not for us; yet, undoubtedly, severe punishments will be carried into execution against several of you. Public Justice would not be satisfied without that being done, and the peace of the country and the protection of the property of peaceable individuals require it. I therefore hope and trust that you will be grateful for your lives being spared, and that in whatever situation you may hereafter be placed, whether part of the whole of your lives shall be spent in another country, you will conduct yourselves as honest industrious persons, and endeavour to secure your own peace of mind and the mercy of God, which will render you worthy of his acceptance whenever it may please him to call you from this world". Minor participants in the riot received sentences from 18 months imprisonment to transportation of 7 years depending on the evidence against them and their character references. Three main offenders in the riot received the death sentence with no reprieve. Fortunately for Thomas (and his descendants!) the final punishment handed down to him was transportation to Australia for 14 Years. Most of the Swing prisoners' sentenced to transportation; their first port of call was one of the Prison Hulks on permanent moorings at the port of departure. Here they were held for days to months awaiting allocation to a ship. Thomas was received from Winchester Goal aboard the Hulk "York" at the port of Portsmouth on the 9th February1831. THE VOYAGE The Swing Rioters or Machine Breakers came out to Australia aboard three vessels: 136 rioters on the "Eleanor" to New South Wales, 224 on the "Eliza" and 98 aboard the "Proteus". Both to Van Diemen's land (VDL - Old name for Tasmania by Able TASMAN after Anthony Van DIEMEN 1593 - 1645 Governor of Java). A total of more than 480 people were sent to Australia, the largest single group in the history of transportation. The men of the "Eleanor" made up 30% of the "Swing Transportees". INFORMATION OF INTEREST The Machine Breakers were viewed differently from that of common criminals, in that the authorities and the public thought they were generally decent men, They were "Men of Honest Principle", skilled and hard working, whose crime was to try to get better working conditions. During the voyage they were not required to wear the normal convict garb, and were not under lock and key at all times, being given free access of the ship frequently. Ominously, however, the "Eleanor's" list of stores unloaded included sets of leg irons, which were recorded as having been used during the voyage. ARRIVAL IN NSW By 1831 the Assignment System for handling the arrival of convicts was in place. This system involved the convicts, upon their arrival, being assigned to land owners, farmers and businessmen, who undertook to clothe and feed their assignee to a regulated standard. It was felt that under this system the convicts could immediately start making a contribution to the essentially rural colony. The Government's Public Works Department always took first pick of any new convicts; the remainder was then allocated to the public. The Machine Breakers were highly sought after due to their agricultural skills and experience, as compared to the common unskilled convict from the city slums. They were so good a catch in fact, that it is documented the farming community had already earmarked which Machine Breakers they required before they had even arrived in Port Jackson. The Machine Breakers were not your average convicts they were protestors, not criminals and were less likely to re-offend. Skilled and experience convicts would offer a far greater contribution to society than the common criminal, and were therefore more likely to do well in the future. Cheers Brian Hobbs -----Original Message----- From: hampshire-life-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:hampshire-life-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Chris & Caroline Sent: Thursday, 26 July 2007 9:32 AM To: HAMPSHIRE-LIFE; ENG-HAMPSHIRE Subject: [HAMPSHIRE-LIFE] strange crime Anyone know what "firing a stack" would have been in the early 1800s as found a distant cousing to a friend who was transported to Australia for this (got 10 yrs) Chris ***************************************