Hello all. I was forwarded this by Greg Lovelace, and it concerns our own Tolpuddle Martyrs. I will never look at the day after St Patricks Day the same way anymore. Donna > >Subject: March 18, 1834 > > > >1834 Tolpuddle Martyrs banished to Australia > >In England, six English agricultural laborers are sentenced to seven years of > > banishment to Australia's New South Wales penal colony for their trade > > union > > activities. > >In 1833, after several years of reductions in their agricultural wages, a > >group of workers in Tolpuddle, a small village east of Dorchester, England, > >formed the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. Led by George > >Loveless, a > >farm laborer, the union rapidly grew in the area, and it was agreed that the > >men would not accept work for less than 10 shillings a week. With the urging > >of the British government, which feared a repetition of the rural unrest of > >1830, local authorities arrested Loveless and five others on charges of > >taking > >an unlawful oath, citing an outdated law that had been passed in the late > >18th century to deal with naval mutiny. In March 1834, these six men, > >including > >one who had never taken the oath, were sentenced to seven years imprisonment > >at an Australian penal colony. > >Public reaction throughout the country made the six into popular heroes, and > >in 1836, after continual agitation, the sentence against the so-called > >"Tolpuddle Martyrs" was finally remitted. Only one of the six returned to > >Tolpuddle; the rest emigrated to Canada, where one Tolpuddle Martyr--John > >Standfield--became mayor of his district. The popular movement surrounding > >the Tolpuddle > >controversy is generally regarded as the beginning of trade unionism in > >Great Britain. > > > --- > [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus] > >