Tolpuddle Martyrs

Visited the dental hygienist this afternoon in Dorchester, something I hate worse than the actual dentist, but all was well.

It had stopped raining but the light was very poor as I walked down High East Street where the Shire Hall is situated which houses the old Georgian court room where the Tolpuddle Martys were tried in 1834.  Jo Draper writes in her book "Dorchester Past":

"The Tolpuddle Martyrs were known at the time as Dorchester Unionists, or by their supporters as the Dorchester Labourers.  They were arrested in 1834 not for forming a union (that was legal), but for administering an illegal oath, although this was just a legal fiction for attacking Trades Unions.  The Tolpuddle men were not even trying to get their meagre wages raised; they were trying to prevent them being lowered again."


They were all charged and transported to Australia with George Loveless their leader being sent to Tasmania. In 1836 they were all given a full pardon and returned with several of them migrating to Canada.

A timely visit to Dorchester and a glimpse of the statue of Thomas Hardy, it was his birthday today born 2nd June 1840!