Catalogue Number
NMLH.2005.48
Object Name
Print
Title
Men Of Tolpuddle 8/50 ( 8th of 50 printed) Brooks '51
Place
Tolpuddle, Dorset, England, UK, Australia
People
James Brine, James Hammett, George Loveless, James Loveless, Thomas Standfield, John Standfield, Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers, Ern Brooks
Events
Transportation of the Tolpuddler Martyrs, 1834
Date
1951
Creator(s)Brooks, Ern
Description
Six men - the Tolpuddle Martyrs - are on a boat, standing and in chains. There is a soldier with them on the boat, and another in the foreground of the image with hs back to the viewer. There is a large ship in the background.
This was a commemorative woodcut by Ern Brooks, a well known artist, created in 1951. The Tolpuddle Martyrs - James Brine, James Hammett, George Loveless, James Loveless, Thomas Standfield and John Standfield - were six agricultural labourers who were arrested in 1834 for swearing a secret oath to become members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. Unionisation to demand better work conditions had been illegal in England until 1825, and was severely policed at the time the men were arrested. They were convicted under the Unlawful Oaths Act, after participating in a labour dispute over cut wages. The Martyrs were convicted and sentenced to transportation to Australia.
In England eight hundred thousand signitures were collected and the first known political march was conducted to pressure the government to pardon them. This was successful, and the men were pardoned in 1836, returning to England between 1837-1839. They became icons to the labour and trade union movements and are still celebrated by left wing artists today.
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