Why did the Luddites protest?

• Tasks
• Background
• Teachers' notes
• External links
• Connections to curriculum

The machine-breaking disturbances that rocked the wool and cotton industries were known as the ‘Luddite riots’. The Luddites were named after ‘General Ned Ludd’ or ‘King Ludd’, a mythical figure who lived in Sherwood Forest and supposedly led the movement.

They began in Nottinghamshire in 1811 and quickly spread throughout the country, especially to the West Riding of Yorkshire and Lancashire in 1812, and also to Leicestershire and Derbyshire. In Yorkshire, they wanted to get rid of the new machinery that was causing unemployment among workers. Hand loom weavers did not want the introduction of power looms. In Nottinghamshire, they protested against wage reductions.

Workers sent threatening letters to employers and broke into factories to destroy the new machines, such as the new wide weaving frames. They also attacked employers, magistrates and food merchants. There were fights between Luddites and government soldiers.

Using the original documents in this lesson, find out how the Luddites protested against changes affecting their working conditions. How did the government respond?

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Tasks

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Background

To catch the machine-breakers, men were engaged to guard the factories and rewards were offered for information. The government sent thousands of troops to the areas where there had been trouble. In 1812, machine-breaking became a crime punishable by death and 17 men were executed the following year. The Luddites were very effective, and some of their biggest actions involved as many as 100 men, but there were relatively few arrests and executions. This may be because they were protected by their local communities.

The disturbances continued for another five years. The crisis was made worse by food shortages as the price of wheat increased, and by the collapse of hosiery and knitwear prices in 1815 and 1816. Various attempts were made to find a compromise, but problems remained until the middle of the nineteenth century, by which time the woollen industry had moved away from hand-production.

The Luddites were not the first group of workers to face problems at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Some of the country’s economic difficulties were put down to the Napoleonic War (1802-1812), which disrupted trade between countries.

The Luddites have been described as people violently opposed to technological change and the riots put down to the introduction of new machinery in the wool industry.

Luddites were protesting against changes they thought would make their lives much worse, changes that were part of a new market system. Before this time, craftspeople would do their work for a set price, the usual price. They did not want this new system that involved working out how much work they did, how much materials cost, and how much profit there would be for the factory owner.

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Teachers' notes

Students use sources from The National Archives to explore how the Luddites protested against changes in their working conditions. Before starting the lesson define the following terms: Luddite; domestic system; factory system; knitting frame and power loom.

Starter Activity

Teachers could use the illustration of Ned Ludd as starter document to introduce the lesson.

• What is this source?
• Who is Ned Ludd?
• Why do you think he was dressed in this way?
• Why was this cartoon created in 1812?
• Why is this source part of a collection of satirical political prints?

The first source in this lesson examines an account of machine-breaking at Linthwaite, Yorkshire in March 1812. Students explore what happened and can consider the nature of the domestic system and the impact of new machinery such as power looms on skilled weavers. The ‘the mark of John Sykes’ suggests that the witness could not write and sign his own name. Students can discuss what other sources might provide evidence to explain the actions of those who broke machinery according to this account.

The second source is a printed ‘reward’ poster for the arrest and conviction of men who destroyed three knitting machines in January 1812. The document infers how employers and local authorities viewed and responded to the attacks on machinery. It also gives us information about wages paid to weavers. Teachers can discuss the meaning of the catalogue code ‘HO’, meaning Home Office. The document is a Home Office record. These records often concern threats to law and order, which explains why this poster exists in the collection.

Students then look at a letter sent to the Home Office from a magistrate describing the situation in Nottingham in February 1812. They consider how manufacturers tried to prevent the attacks on machinery. With this document, students acquire more of the economic context to Luddism and the impact of new machinery- ‘wider frames’ in lowering wages and de-skilling the workforce.

The fourth source is a handbill entitled ‘Fellow Weavers’, printed in March 1812 in Manchester, a main centre for the cotton industry. The poster offers a justification for the factory system for manufacture for cotton in particular as it creates cheaper mass produced cotton. It means, according to the source, that ‘children can earn their own livelihood’. However, it unwittingly infers the resulting lower wages and the exploitation of younger unskilled workers and children.

The final source is a handbill issued by the weavers and townspeople of Royton in May 1808, after Parliament rejected a bill to guarantee the weavers a minimum wage. It is important to place this in the context of the Napoleonic Wars. The wars had disrupted trade and meant lower wages or unemployment for many workers including handloom weavers and knitters.

By way of conclusion, ask the students, which document in this collection is the most useful for understanding the Luddite protest? How did the government respond? What are the limitations of looking at this evidence to evaluate any understanding of the Luddite protests?

You may want to split the lesson for students working individually or use the document sources in paired/group work. All sources are transcribed and difficult language defined in square brackets.

Please note that content in this lesson has been redeveloped from content in our Power Politics & Protest focussed topic website, which has been archived as the interactive parts no longer work.

Sources

Illustration image:  Hand-coloured etching entitled: ‘The leader of the Luddites: Drawn from the life by an Officer, published May, 1812 by Messrs Walker & Knight, Sweetings Alley, Royal Exchange’. Image shows an agitator wearing a woman’s bonnet and dress gesturing in front of a burning building with a crowd waving knives and guns. British Museum © Number 1109.86. (Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum). View full image.

Source 1. An account of machine-breaking at Linthwaite, Yorkshire, March 1812
(Catalogue ref: HO 40/1/1, part 2, f.6)

Source 2. Reward’ poster for the arrest and conviction of men who destroyed three knitting machines in January 1812, Catalogue ref: HO 42/119 f.135

Source 3. A letter by a magistrate describing the situation in Nottingham in February 1812, Catalogue ref: HO 42/120 f.3-4

Source 4. A handbill entitled ‘Fellow Weavers’, printed in March 1812 in Manchester, one of the main centres for the cotton industry, Catalogue ref: HO 40/1/1, f.108

Source 5. Handbill issued by the weavers and townspeople of Royton, near Manchester, Lancashire in May 1808, after Parliament rejected a bill to guarantee the weavers a minimum wage, Catalogue ref: HO 42/95 f.375

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External links

• Video from Royal Holloway, University of London, filmed at The National Archives, which looks at Luddism and the attack on Rawfolds Mill in 1812.
• Take a look at more original sources on Luddism from the University of Nottingham.
• More background on the history of the Luddites from the Victorian Web.
• Find out about the impact of the Napoleonic Wars on Britain from the British Library.

Connections to curriculum

Key stage 4

AQA GCSE History: Britain: Power and the people: c1170 to the present day.

Edexcel GCSE History: Crime and punishment in eighteenth- and nineteenth century Britain.

OCR GCSE History: Crime and punishment, c.1250 to present: Economic and social change impact on crime, including growth and new crimes

Key stage 5

Edexcel GCE History: Industrialisation and social change in Britain, 1759–1928: forging a new society.

AQA GCE History: The impact of industrialisation: Britain, c1783–1832: Government and a changing society, 1812–1832: Pressures for change: Luddism and radical agitation.

Edexcel GCE History: Protest, agitation and parliamentary reform in Britain, c1780 1928.

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