Luddites.

A slight twist on today’s mono Monday theme as not all inventions were welcome.

This stainless steel statue of a cropper and his daughter was erected in Sparrow Park, Liversedge in 2012, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Luddite attack on Cartwright’s Mill.

Two men were shot, and died a short while later. The uprising failed, and many arrests were made. 17 men were then hanged for their part in the uprising.

The croppers used enormous hand-held shears to trim the nap from cloth, but a machine could do the work of four men.
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find out exactly who invented the machine.

The statue, the worlds only memorial to the Luddites, was funded by Spen Valley Civic Society.
“ We wanted to show that Luddites weren’t just guerilla terrorists - most were men with families to support. Losing your job meant no food in those days.”

Charlotte Bronte wrote about this in her book
Shirley.

Many thanks to Laurie54 for hosting Mono Monday this month.

If you are interested to see where this statue you can find it on the map.