Who were the Tolpuddle Martyrs BBC Bitesize?
The Tolpuddle Martyrs were six agricultural labourers from the village of Tolpuddle in Dorset, England, who, in 1834, were convicted of swearing a secret oath as members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers.
What is the significance of the Tolpuddle Martyrs?
Tolpuddle Martyrs, six English farm labourers who were sentenced (March 1834) to seven years’ transportation to a penal colony in Australia for organizing trade-union activities in the Dorsetshire village of Tolpuddle.
What eventually happened to the Tolpuddle Martyrs?
Even so, after a two day trial, Judge Baron Williams found them guilty: “The safety of the country was at stake”, he said. They were sentenced to seven years in a penal colony in Australia, where they would have been sold on as slaves.
How many of the Tolpuddle Martyrs were executed?
19 executed
The uprising quickly spread across the south of England and through Dorset. 600 rioters were imprisoned, 500 sentenced to transportation and 19 executed.
In which English county is Tolpuddle?
Tolpuddle, Dorset Genealogy
| Tolpuddle, Dorset | |
|---|---|
| Hundred | Piddletown |
| County | Dorset, England Genealogy |
| Poor Law Union | Dorchester |
| Registration District | Dorchester |
Who were George and James Loveless?
Six of the Tolpuddle labourers were arrested: George and James Loveless, James Brine, James Hammett, Thomas Stansfield and his son John. It was George Loveless who had established the Friendly Society of Agricultural Workers in Tolpuddle.
What happened to the Tolpuddle Martyrs after their transportation?
Five Martyrs were shipped in appalling conditions to New South Wales, where they were assigned as convict labour to landowners. George Loveless, delayed by illness after the Trial, later went in chains to Tasmania. They did not return to England until three years after their infamous Trial.
Who betrayed the Tolpuddle Martyrs?
5. The Martyrs were betrayed by a fellow labourer. Landowner James Frampton had been busily gathering evidence against the Tolpuddle men.
In what year did the trial of the Tolpuddle Martyrs take place?
1834
Landowners and the government intended to suppress the growth of trade unions and to stifle outbreaks of dissent. The six Tolpuddle Martyrs were arrested on 24 February 1834 and charged with the ‘administration of unlawful oaths’. The Martyrs were tried at the Dorchester Assizes by Grand Jury in March 1834.
Where in Australia were the Tolpuddle Martyrs sent?
The Tolpuddle Martyrs were six men from the village of Tolpuddle in Dorset who were transported to Australia on the Surrey in 1834. They were sentenced for unlawfully administering oaths of loyalty to the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers they had established to fight the continuing reduction of their wages.
What did George Loveless do?
George Loveless, like his companions, became an active Chartist; he wrote The Victims of Whiggery (London, 1837), a remarkable account of the Dorchester labourers’ experiences and of the transportation system. He died on a farm at London, Ontario, on 6 March 1874.
How did the Tolpuddle Martyrs help to improve workers rights?
The case of the Tolpuddle Martyrs justified the right of working people to organise themselves into trade unions as an intrinsic part of a free and fair society. This sculpture features George Loveless, awaiting transportation in Dorchester prison.