SWING RIOTS.

£450 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Life and History of Swing, the Kent Rick-burner. First edition of this pamphlet published in support of the 1830 Swing Riots, in which agricultural labourers destroyed threshing machines and workhouses across southern England and East Anglia. The pamphlet purports to be the autobiography of Captain Swing, like General Ludd a fictitious figurehead of the movement, whose name was appended to many threatening letters in the riots.The publisher, Richard Carlile, issued numerous publications in favour of the riots, including in his journal The Prompter. In January 1831 he appeared at the Old Bailey on charges of seditious libel which resulted in a sentence of two years' imprisonment and a large fine, which he refused to pay, thereby extending his sentence by a further six months.

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