Swing Riots

Question 1

1. When did the Swing Riots begin and end?

Answer 1

1830-1832

Question 2

2. What machine did the Swing rioters object to and why?

Answer 2

The threshing machine because it replaced their manual, winter labour with a machine that could 10 men’s work

Question 3

3. In what geographical areas did the Swing Riots occur?

Answer 3

The south and south-east of England

Question 4

4. What criminal tactics did the Swing rioters have? Give 2 for 2 marks

Answer 4

Rick burning, destruction of threshing machines, cattle maiming, threatening letters

Question 5

5. What peaceful tactics did Swing rioters have? Give 2 for 2 marks

Answer 5

Petitions to Parliament, letters, posters, meetings

Question 6

6. How many Swing rioters were hung?

Answer 6

9 men

Question 7

7. How many Swing rioters were transported?

Answer 7

505 men

Question 8

8. Give 2 reasons (other than machinery) for the Swing Riots. 2 marks

Answer 8

Agricultural revolution, enclosure, decline of traditional rural society, hiring on a casual basis, paid by the day or results not the week, decline of pay, surplus of labour

Question 9

9. Name 3 counties where Swing Riots happened. 3 for 3 marks

Answer 9

Sussex, Hampshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Devon, Dorset, Huntingdonshire, Gloucestershire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Kent

Question 10

10. What was the average wage for agricultural labourers in the Swing counties in the 1830s?

Answer 10

8/4d per week

Question 11

11. Why were East Anglian counties more ‘explosive’ than others?

Answer 11

Because this area had pioneered the ‘new’ methods e.g. enclosures of the Agricultural Revolution.

Question 12

12. Why were the Swing Rioters angered by the implementation of poor relief?

Answer 12

Because the relief in the form of money and food given to the agricultural poor had steadily declined over a 10-15 year period

Question 13

13. Who was Captain Swing?

Answer 13

The nominal or mythical leader of the rioters

Question 14

14. Which early ‘journalist’ commented on the decline in the living standards of the agricultural poor in the 1820s?

Answer 14

William Cobbett

Question 15

15. If an agricultural labourer was hired for less than a year, what could he NOT claim if unemployed?

Answer 15

Poor relief

Question 16

16. In what years were there poor harvests?

Answer 16

1828, 1829, 1830

Question 17

17. By how much did rural crime rates increase between 1824 and 1830 and give one reason why this happened? 2 marks

Answer 17

30%
Access to poor relief, unemployment, mechanisation, etc.

Question 18

18. What wage rates did the Swing rioters demand in winter and in summer? 2 marks

Answer 18

2/3d per day in winter (13/6d weekly)
2/6d per day in summer (15/- weekly)