Tolpuddle Martyrs and the Right to Organise Flashcards

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Who were the Tolpuddle Martyrs?

They were six farm workers from the village of Tolpuddle in Dorset who were punished for starting a workers’ organisation.

They were arrested in 1834 in the village of Tolpuddle in Dorset.

They formed it to protect their wages and working conditions after their pay was cut.

The men swore a secret oath, and the government feared that organised workers and secret groups could lead to rebellion.

They were convicted under the Unlawful Oaths Act of 1797, which banned secret oaths.

They were sentenced to seven years’ transportation to Australia.

There were mass meetings, a march in London of around 100,000 people, and petitions with about 200,000 signatures calling for their release.

They were pardoned in 1836 and returned to Britain over the next few years, although some later chose to settle in Canada.

It shows that, although unions were legal, the government could still use other laws to attack workers who tried to organise.

They became symbols of the struggle for the right to organise, helping later campaigns to win safer and more accepted trade unions.