| What
the Press said
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The
story
In 1833,
the men of Tolpuddle established a Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers,
“to preserve ourselves, our wives, and our children from utter degradation and
starvation”. Inspired by George
Loveless, a farm labourer and local Methodist preacher, the society grew rapidly
through the winter months, and a plan emerged that men would refuse to accept
new engagements in the Spring for less than ten shillings a week.
Fearful
of a repetition of the rural unrest which had spread across southern England in
1830, the authorities ordered the arrest of six of the men: James Brine, James
Hammett and four close relatives: George Loveless and his brother James,
George's brother-in-law Thomas Standfield and his son John. The
men were charged with administering illegal oaths (unions were not in
themselves unlawful) and brought to trial at Dorchester on 17th March
1834, where they were sentenced to seven years’ transportation. |
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With
their men taken from them, the families were desperate. Harriet Hammet was eight
months pregnant and Dinniah Standfield had lost her husband, son, and two
brothers. They were refused parish relief by the magistrate who initiated the
proceedings against the men, and evicted from their cottages.
Help was to come from the London Dorchester Committee, which raised funds
to support them. Transportation
was a fearful punishment. Conditions on the ships and in Australia itself were
appalling, and freed convicts still had no means of returning from the colony
after serving their sentences. |
"There
can never be final victory for freedom - all you ever win is the
opportunity to go on defending it."
TUC General Secretary Norman Willis in a programme note to the original production. |
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“That
our country may be preserved in peace and prosperity, the people increase in
knowledge and advance in happiness, and the nations of the earth look on each
other with friendship and affection is the sincere wish of, sir, yours
respectfully, George Loveless.” The Church Shown Up, 1838
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As
news of the Dorchester trial spread, meetings of protest were held, including a
massive trade union demonstration in London.
A major parliamentary debate took place, focusing on the severity of the
sentences and the questionable legality of the indictment.
The
Home Office tried to persuade the men to invite their wives and children to join
them in the colony, and to persuade the wives to accept the invitation, but
eventually, pressure to indict the King's brother for administering secret oaths
as Grand Master of the Orange Order forced
the King to grant a free pardon to the Tolpuddle men, almost exactly two years
after their trial. It
was to take another two years before the men were able to return. They were not
officially informed of their pardons, and the authorities were in no hurry to
arrange passages home. When
the men did return and were reunited with their families, celebrations were held
in London, and money was raised to lease two farms for them in Essex. Running
the farms was hard, but their prospects gradually improved.
John Standfield married a local girl, and James Brine married John’s
sister Elisabeth.
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George
became active in Chartism. As the
agitation increased, the meetings in the barn became the object of bitter
hostility from the local clergy and the landowning establishment. The
one exception was James Hammett, always the outsider. He returned to Tolpuddle and was to die in Dorchester
Workhouse. The
pact was well kept. In 1912, a delegation to Canada found that grandchildren of
the martyrs knew nothing of their grandparents' story. |
"These are they
which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and
made them white in the blood of the lamb."
Epitaph on the grave of George and Betsy Loveless, Siloam, London Ontario |
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