Teaching Resources
Trade Union History
Joseph Arch - Village Life in the 1830s and 1840s
Agricultural History
British Agricultural History Society
Mr William Cobbett, Captain Swing, and King William IV
by Roger Wells
'This article attributes a powerful role to political factors in the Captain Swing Revolt during the autumn of 1830. If that rising took place in a context generated by the prolonged post-war agricultural depression, the continental revolutions over the summer were well-known throughout Kent and Sussex not least owing to William Cobbett's journalism and his October south-eastern lecture tour'.
Tolpuddle Musical
'Tolpuddle Man' explores the martyr's story from the Captain Swing uprising to the triumphant return of the six men from Botany Bay and Van Diemen's Land to their eventual emigration to Canada.
The title song has been adopted by the folk and trade union movement as an anthem celebrating the courage and sacrifice of all those who fought for the rights and opportunities which we enjoy today.
This is a superb musical to support the History and English Curriculum which can be successfully adapted to engage KS2 / 3 / 4 pupils of all abilities.
Scripts/CDs from Graham Moore who is also available for performance and workshops.
Song Samples:
Judge's Sentence + Albion's Shore
Songs of the times
The Poor Labourers
Rigs of the Time
O, 'tis of an old butcher, I must bring him in.
He charge two shillings a pound, and thinks it no sin.
Slaps his thumb on the scale-weights and makes them go down
He swears it's good weight yet it wants half a pound.
Singing......
Honesty's all out of fashion
These are the rigs of the time, Time, my boys These are the rigs of the time
