Swing Riots - 1830

• Sussex
• Hampshire
• Wiltshire
• Berkshire
• References

Sussex

• Charles SHARPE - no direct connection - born in Warbleton in the late 1700s and was working as a gardener in Uckfield in 1851.
• Eliza PINNOCK (my great, great, great grandmother) - born in Chichester in 1816.
• Richard and Sarah HILLS - probably in Danehill, not far from Sheffield park and Cuckfield, in 1832. Richard worked as a labourer.
• Henry HILDER (my great great grandfather) - born in Wadhurst, in 1832. His father, John was a farmer.
• The WASHERs - lived in Chailey, near Barcombe. Mostly agricultural labourers.

Hampshire

Ancestors that came from parts of Hampshire affected by the Swing riots included the following.

• William WINDEBANK (my great, great, great grandfather) - lived in Bighton when the swing riots were happening (born about 1805).
• Charles BARTLEY (my great, great grandfather) - born in Southampton shortly after the riots (1831). His father, also Charles was a labourer.
• James SANDOM (great, great grandfather, his father was a labourer) and George ELWICK (great, great, great grandfather) - lived in Church Oakley, not far from affected areas, when the swing riots were happening
• Emma WINDEBANK - born in Old Alresford a generation later (1855).

Hobsbawm and Rudé (2001a) listed incidents in areas where ancestors lived including:

• 18 November; Overton; wages meetings, riots
• 19 November; Alresford; riots and destruction of threshing machines
• 19 November; Basingstoke; robbery
• 19 November; Overton; wages meetings, riots
• 21 November; Southampton; threatening letters
• 22 November; Bighton; riots
• 22 November; Basingstoke; riots
• 22 November; New Alresford; destruction of threshing machines
• 22 November; Wooton St. Lawrence; riots and robbery
• 23 November; Monk Sherbourne; riots and robbery
• 23 November; South Stoneham; riots, robbery and destruction of threshing machines
• 23/24 November; Southampton; arson.

Two of my ancestors came from parts of Wiltshire affected by the Swing riots.

• Richard SIMMONDS (great, great, great grandfather) - born in Swindon in 1811. In 1861 census, a labourer in Ealing.
• Mary Ann PLANK - born in Easton or Malborough in the early 1840s.

Hobsbawm and Rudé (2001a) listed incidents in areas where ancestors lived including:

• 17-22 November; Marlborough district;arson
• 23 November; Easton; robbery and destruction of threshing machines

Hobsbawm and Rudé (2001b, p124) explain:

On the 23rd [of November], the riots reached their greatest intensity. Twenty-five Wiltshire towns and villages appear in the indictments; and disturbances spread north to the area outside Swindon; to further villages along the Hampshire border; and, above all, they now penetrated more deeply into the interior of the county around Marlborough and Salisbury.

Berkshire

Two of my ancestors came from parts of Berkshire affected by the Swing riots.

• Mary Ann PRITCHARD (great, great grandmother) - born in Reading (1849).
• Sarah J TAGG - born in Hungerford a generation later (1866).

Jill Chambers' (2000) article 'Berkshire machine breakers - Captain Swing and the 1830 riots' describes the riots in Berkshire, in November:

• 15th - Thatchem labourers gathered and asked, peacefully, for an increase in wages.
• 17th - labourers from Bradfield, Bucklebury and Stanford Dingley started destroying machinery.
• 20th - Speen, near Newbury, peacefully gathered and, after discussions, got a pay rise.
• 20th/21st - Machines destroyed at Waltham St. Lawrence and Binfield
• 21st - Yattendon - labourers held a wages meeting, moved on to Aldworth, Streatley, Basildon
• 22nd - Hungerford labourers gathered and started destroying machinery on the 22nd of November. Together with the Kintbury men there were about 500 people.
• 23rd - Rioting in Kintury, West Woodhay, Enborne, Welford, Boxford, West Shefford and Hampstead Marshall
• 28th - Trials - more serious crimes tried at Reading, others at Abingdon.
• February 1831 - Some of the men were transported to New South Wales on the 'Eleanor' including:
  • George ARLETT
  • James SIMMONDS
  • William SIMMONDS

Note - although ARLETT and SIMMONDS both appear in my family tree, there is no reason to suppose that they are connected to the Berkshire men transported in 1831:

• Richard SIMMONDS (great, great, great grandfather) - born in Swindon, Wiltshire about 1811. 1861 census shows that he was a labourer in Ealing.
• Ann ARLETT (great, great, great grandmother) - born in Hampshire, about 1801.

Hobsbawm and Rudé (2001a) listed incidents in areas where ancestors lived including:

• 22 November; Hungerford; riots, destruction of threshing machines and non-agricultural machinery
• 22 November; Hungerford; robbery and destruction of threshing machines
• 14 December; near Reading; arson.

References

Chambers, J. (2000) 'Berkshire machine breakers - Captain Swing and the 1830 riots', Berkshire Family Historian, March 2000, Berkshire Family History Society available online at http://www.berksfhs.org.uk/journal/Mar2000/Mar2000BerkshireMachineBreakers.htm [accessed 5 March 2004]

Hobsbawm, E. and Rudé, G. (2001a) 'Appendix 3 - Table of Incidents' in Captain Swing, Phoenix Press, London.

Hobsbawm, E. and Rudé, G. (2001b) 'In Hampshire and the West Country' in Captain Swing, Phoenix Press, London.