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Books and Download Publications / Machine Breakers' Riots and Trials
The books on this page all follow the same format, with a day by day account of the riots and trials in each county. It includes biographical details of all those tried for machine breaking and associated crimes.
Essex Machine Breakers
In Essex there were three main areas of disturbance. The first was centred in the north-west corner of the county, close to Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire, beginning on the 1st December 1830, and in the main taking the form of simple wages riots. The second centre of disturbance was the area around Colchester, in particular the costal strip between Ramsey and Clacton, and beginning wit...
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Gloucestershire Machine Breakers. Volume I: The Riots, Trials & Appendices
This volume is an account of the riots in Gloucestershire, in the form of a diary of events, from John Raymond Barker's unsuccessful attempts to persuade the principal inhabitants of Fairford to be sworn in as Special Constables, through the breaking of thrashing machines at Beverstone, Tetbury, Horseley, Fairford, Coln St Aldwyns, Eastleach Turville, Eastleach Martin, Quenington, Bibury, and Coln...
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Kent Machine Breakers
Volume I tells the story of the riots in Kent, from an arson attack on a farm in Orpington on the 1st June 1830, the breaking of the first threshing machine at Lower Hardres on the 28th August, through until the execution of Robert Dixon, for arson, on 22nd December 1831. This is followed by a detailed account of the trials, which resulted in the imprisonment of a number of men, and the transporta...
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Kent Machine Breakers - Volume I: The Riots & Trials
Volume I tells the story of the riots in Kent, from an arson attack on a farm in Orpington on the 1st June 1830, the breaking of the first threshing machine at Lower Hardres on the 28th August, through until the execution of Robert Dixon, for arson, on 22nd December 1831. This is followed by a detailed account of the trials, which resulted in the imprisonment of a number of men, and the transporta...
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Kent Machine Breakers Volume III: Source Documents
Transcripts of letters relating to the disturbances in Kent during 1830 and 1831, taken from HO40/27, HO52/8 & HO52/13 at The National Archives, together with transcripts of some of the Examinations & Depositions held at the centre for Kentish Studies relating to the Swing Riots....
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Wiltshire Machine Breakers Volume I: The Riots & Trials
This Volume tells the story of the riots in Wiltshire, from the first farm fire at Maddington on the 8th November 1830, through the troubled weeks of November when the unrest was at its height. Also given is a day by day account of the trials at Salisbury in January 1831 , when over 300 men and women appeared before the Special Commission. This is followed by brief details of the events of 1831 & ...
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Wiltshire Machine BreakersVolume II: The Rioters & Appendices
This volume gives information on all those people tried before the Special Commission of Assize, which opened at Salisbury in December 1830. Details include, the offence, sentence, any petition sent on the persons behalf, and in many cases family information, including baptism, marriage, death, brothers & sisters, & children. For those who were transported additional information includes, hulk rec...
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