Luddites

The Luddites were groups of workers who were opposed to the machinery and the technological innovations of the Industrial Revolution and who feared the impact of mechanisation on their livelihood.

They were involved in machine-wrecking riots which began in Nottinghamshire and spread to other parts of northern England in the period 1811-20.

The Luddites did not smash machines which processed worsted cloth.

Relevant entries include

• Victims of the Luddites
  • Thomas Atkinson
  • William Cartwright
  • George Haigh
  • William Horsfall
  • Thomas Thornhill
  • Francis Vickerman

• People involved in prosecution of the Luddites
  • John Gosling
  • Constable James Knight
  • John McDonald
  • Sir Joseph Radcliffe
  • Rev Hammond Roberson
  • Michael Stocks

• Some members of the Luddites

  John Baines John Baines William Blakeborough Joseph Crowther George Duckworth John Eadon Joseph Firth Mr Gaynor William Hall William Hanson William Hartley Zachariah Helliwell James Hey Job Hey John Hill Nathan Hoyle George Mellor Charles Milnes John Ogden Jesse Ratcliffe Joshua Schofield Joseph Shaw Thomas Smith William Thorpe Benjamin Walker

• Other people
  • Rev Patrick Brontë
  • Rev Jabez Bunting
  • Rev Thomas Shillitoe

• Associated sites
  • Rawfolds Mill
  • Bradley Mill, Colne Bridge
  • Three Nuns, Mirfield
  • St Peter's Church, Hartshead

• Associated topics
  • Chartism
  • Plug Riots
  • Cropping

See The Risings of the Luddites

Page Ref: QQ_94

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