FoSSL Talk: Captain Swing - The Labourer's Last Revolt

The next in our series of talks via zoom for the Friends of Stony Stratford Library.

I am delighted to let you know that  at 7pm on Tuesday July 20th, Rob Gifford will be talking to us about ‘Captain Swing - The Labourers’ Last Revolt’.

Our speaker: Rob Gifford is co-curator of StonyWords and chair of the Stony Stratford Theatre Society. In 2019, he put together a documentary about Peterloo to mark the 200th anniversary of the events in Manchester in August 1819, which was performed in StonyWords 2020. He describes himself as a "cultural activist" who has lived in Stony Stratford since 1996. He was a member of the Town Council from 2001 to 2021 and has been helping with the project to refurbish 5-7 Church Street.

This is how Rob describes the talk:

“In late 1830, throughout southern England there was a series of incidents often attributed to the mysterious “Captain Swing”. These involved rick burning, threatening letters, mass meetings and demonstrations demanding higher wages. Buckinghamshire was not exempt from its share of disturbance.

In this talk, I will look at the background to the events, at what happened in Buckinghamshire and at the various explanations as to how Swing spread from Kent to Wiltshire. I will also look at how those who took part were treated by the judicial system and what happened to them afterwards.

Join me for an insight into one of the lesser known aspects of working-class rural protest.”

As usual, please email me on fosslmk@gmail.com to register your interest in this talk. I will send you a link to the zoom meeting on the weekend before the talk.

Best wishes. I look forward to seeing you on 20th July.
Kathy Luff
FOSSL Secretary