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Captain Swing was the name appended to some of the threatening letters during the rural English Swing Riots of 1830. These were popular protests by impoverished farm workers across the agricultural south of England, and they had a number of structural causes. The main targets for protesting crowds were farmers, whose threshing machines they destroyed or dismantled, and who they petitioned for a rise in wages. They also demanded contributions of food, money, beer (or all three) from their victims. Often they sought to enlist local parish officials and occasionally magistrates to raise levels of poor relief as well. Throughout England 600 rioters were imprisoned; 500 sentenced to transportation; and 19 executed. The Swing Riots were a widespread uprising by the rural workers of the arable south and east of England in 1830. ...
Captain Swing is a 1979 play by British playwright Peter Whelan. ...
The Swing Riots were a widespread uprising by the rural workers of the arable south and east of England in 1830. ...
Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is God Save the Queen. See also Proposed English National Anthems. ...
A wage is the amount of money paid for some specified quantity of labour. ...
The protests were notable for their discipline and the customary protocols favoured by the crowds, characteristics that which were very much part of the tradition of popular protest going back to the eighteenth century. The structural reasons for the Swing 'riots' (or risings) are relatively straightforward - un- and underemployment, low wages, low levels of relief and competition for winter employment from machinery. However the nature of the events of 1830 suggest that they may demand just as subtle an interpretation as the events of the previous century. In economics, the term underemployment has at least three different distinct meanings and applications. ...
For the majority of contemporaries, the riotous, but largely bloodless actions of the crowds presented less cause for alarm than the high incidence of incendiarism during the period of Swing (October to December 1830). Swing the rick burner was not only more destructive, but infinitely harder to apprehend than the rioters in this heightened atmosphere of tension and hostility. The relationship between Swing the rick burner and Swing the protester is difficult to assess - although there is little doubt that a relationship existed. Whatever the immediate motivations of the arsonists of 1830 and 1831, their actions undoubtedly gave added strength to the demands of the protesting crowds.
Just like the Luddites of 1812, the movement had an imaginary leader with a multiple-use name. His name was no doubt chosen, in a form of black humour, to echo the gallows which awaited rebels who got involved in his movement. The Luddites were a group of English workers in the early 1800s who protested – often by destroying machines – against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution that they felt threatened their jobs. ...
A multiple-use name is a name used by many different people. ...
Examples of threatening 'Swing' letters delivered anonymously in 1830
Sir, Your name is down amongst the Black hearts in the Black Book and this is to advise you and the like of you, who are Parson Justasses, to make your wills. Ye have been the Blackguard Enemies of the People on all occasions, Ye have not yet done as ye ought,.... Swing
Sir, This is to acquaint you that if your thrashing machines are not destroyed by you directly we shall commence our labours. Signed on behalf of the whole ... Swing
this is to inform you what you have to undergo Gentlemen if providing you Dont pull down your mashines and rise the poor mens wages the married men give tow and six pence a day a day the singel tow shillings or we will burn down your barns and you in them. this is the last notis from .... (illegible)
The eponym 'Captain Swing' has continued to resonate with protestors, radicals, and self-conscious "rebels" down to the present day. An early version of the New Wave rock group the "Cars" was called "Cap'n Swing." "Captain Swing" has been used as a band name by at least two radical folk groups, as an album name by singer/songwriter Michelle Shocked, and as a pseudonym by at least one eco-protestor. Folk group Norcsalordie sang the praises of the rioters in their song "The Machine Breaker". Nonetheless, the risings of 1830 - which were, in scale at least, undoubtedly the most important in rural England since the thirteenth century - are generally less well-known than their urban-industrial counterpart, the Luddite disturbances. Michelle Shocked (born Karen Michelle Johnston, 24 February 1962, in Dallas, Texas) is a U.S. singer-songwriter whose music and performances are influenced by her Texas roots, her political activism, and a self-assured style that her first major label producer likened to troubadours such as Joni Mitchell, Spider...
Norcsalordie are a folk music duo based in Leicester, UK. The duo consists of guitarist Martin Neal, from Sidcup, Kent (b. ...
In fiction
Captain Swing is a prominent character in the steampunk novel The Difference Engine by William Ford Gibson and Bruce Sterling. For the comic book, see Steampunk (comics). ...
The Difference Engine is an alternate history novel by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. ...
There are a number of people who have been (or are) named William Gibson. ...
Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his seminal work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which defined the cyberpunk genre. ...
A Captain Swing features in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Night Watch which features riots and risings. In this book, however, Captain Swing is a corrupt servant of the government. Captain Findthee Swing, of the Cable Street Particulars, a form of secret police, caused many of the riots on and around the Glorious 25th of May, by sending in his "particulars" to incite attacks against police and military in the city. Terence David John Pratchett OBE (born April 28, 1948, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England[1]) is an English fantasy author, best known for his Discworld series. ...
Night Watch or Nightwatch can refer to: Night Watch, a painting by Rembrandt Night Watch, a novel in Terry Pratchetts Discworld series Night Watch, a novel in Sergey Lukyanenkos Watch trilogy Night Watch, a fictional intelligence organization in the science fiction television series Babylon 5 Nightwatch, an album...
See also The Luddites were a social movement of English textile artisans in the early nineteenth century who protested — often by destroying textile machines — against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt threatened their livelihood. ...
References Eric John Earnest Hobsbawm CH (born June 8, 1917 in Alexandria, Egypt) is a British Marxist historian and author. ...
George Rudé (February 8, 1910–January 8, 1993) was a British Marxist historian, specializing in the French Revolution and history from below, especially the importance of crowds in history. ...
Michael Scott Matthews is a Major League Baseball pitcher who was born on October 24, 1973 in Woodbridge, Virginia. ...
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