Tolpuddle Martyrs

The Tolpuddle Martyrs were six agricultural labourers from the village of Tolpuddle in Dorset, England, who were arrested and tried in 1834 for swearing a secret oath as members of a friendly society. Led by George Loveless, the group had formed the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers during a labour dispute over wage cuts that reduced their income to near-starvation levels. Such unions were technically legal, but the British government, wary of organised labour, invoked an obscure 1797 law against "unlawful oaths" to bring charges. In R v Loveless and Others the men were convicted and sentenced to penal transportation in Australia. They were pardoned in 1836 after mass protests by sympathisers and support from Lord John Russell, and returned to England between 1837 and 1839. Most of the men later emigrated to Canada. The Tolpuddle Martyrs became a popular cause for the early union and workers' rights movements. Annual events in Tolpuddle honour their legacy.