Luddite Protests in Yorkshire, 1812-13
Dissident Workers, Riots and Suppression
These days the term ‘Luddite’ is understood to describe those with an irrational fear of technology, but the original Luddites were far from irrational. They were skilled workers with a genuine grievance against the arrival of machinery that threatened to condemn them to poverty and starvation. From 1812-13 much of the West Riding was the scene of riots, murder and pitched battles as bands of armed Luddites went on the rampage.
From Croppers to Luddites
The term ‘Luddite’ was invented in 1812 by dissident workers in the Midlands, but the disturbances quickly spread to neighbouring counties. In Yorkshire the majority of Luddites were croppers, tough and highly skilled men who earned good wages cropping and finishing wool using gigantic hand-held shears. In a time of economic depression and food shortages, the livelihoods of the croppers were threatened by the invention of new shearing machines that made their once-prized skills obsolete.
In February 1812 unemployed croppers began to hold secret meetings and form societies to plan attacks on the hated frames. The meetings were held at the St Crispin Inn, Halifax with the connivance of the landlord John Baines, who hoped to turn the local discontent into a revolution that would topple the monarchy. New recruits were obliged to swear an oath of secrecy known as ‘twisting in’, and throughout February, March and April Luddite disturbances became increasingly frequent. Mills and workshops all over the West Riding were attacked, and the hapless owners had to stand aside as their new frames were destroyed by gangs of men armed with sledgehammers and crowbars.
Attack on Rawfold's Mill and emergence of George Mellors
The most significant raid was upon Rawfold’s Mill in the Spen Valley, which was owned by a man named Cartwright. Like many owners Cartwright had responded to the Luddite threat by turning his premises into a small fortress, garrisoning it with local militia and yeomanry. In April a horde of Luddites led by a cropper named George Mellor descended upon Rawfold’s, but were driven off by musket fire. Several Luddites were wounded, two later dying from their injuries, and the defeat brought about a change in Luddite strategy. Up until now they had confined themselves to attacking the frames and leaving the owners unmolested, but the hard-nosed Mellor gave his followers new orders: ‘Leave the machines but shoot the masters’
Murder of William Horsfell
Mellor’s next act was to murder a mill owner named William Horsfall, who had unwisely denounced the Luddites as cowards and sworn that he would ride up to his breeches in their blood. On the afternoon of 12th April Mellor and his cronies William Thorpe, Thomas Smith and Benjamin Walker lay in wait for their man in some woodland on Crosland Moor. When Horsfall rode by on his way home from Huddersfield market the gang burst out of cover and shot him dead.
The murder of Horsfall changed the character of the Luddite disturbances, and from then on they became increasingly violent. Following the assassination of the Prime Minister, Spencer Percival, at Westminster in May a new government was formed that took a merciless attitude towards civil disorder. Troops were poured into West Yorkshire and by the summer of 1812 over a thousand red-coated soldiers were stationed in the area.
Testimony of Benjamin Walker
George Mellor and his gang were soon captured and subjected to a show trial at York. Though there was little doubt that Mellor was guilty, his case became notorious for the corrupt methods used against him. The prosecution intimidated witnesses and offered huge bribes for evidence against the accused, while Mellor and his counsel were badly treated. The judge was clearly prejudiced and the conviction of Mellor and his accomplices was never in doubt. The end came when one of the gang, Benjamin Walker, turned king’s evidence and supplied damning evidence against the rest of the gang. Thirty-six hours after conviction (which meant no time for an appeal) he, Thorpe and Smith were executed before a silent crowd.
Transportation and Execution
Sixty-three other Luddites were tried before the same Commission and another fourteen executed. Others including the republican John Baines were sentenced to be transported to the colonies, and there were only seven acquittals. The merciless sentences demonstrated that the Luddites were considered to be more than mere criminals, and that the government was determined to crush the threat they posed to the established order. They succeeded for the Luddite cause soon died away in Yorkshire. Within a few years the cropping frames were replaced by more sophisticated technology, and by 1820 cropping as a trade had largely disappeared. It can fairly be said that the cause espoused by George Mellors and many of his associates died with them.
Sources:
British Working Class Movements: Select Documents, 1789-1875 (Chapter V, "The Luddites")
by G. D. H. Cole, A. W. Filson.
Bailey, Brian J., The Luddite Rebellion (1998), New York : New York University Press
Sale, Kirkpatrick, Rebels Against the Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution, (1996)
Luddite protesters smashing machinery
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