Rebecca Riots
Rebecca Riots is the name of a series of riots that took place in South West Wales between 1839 and 1844 .
causes
Caused by social change during the Industrial Revolution , large parts of the rural population of South West Wales lived in great poverty by the late 1830s. The economic situation of the rural population was further aggravated by several bad harvests between 1837 and 1841. In return, the farmers were faced with further burdens such as higher rents and taxes. Due to the increased transport traffic, the already poorly developed roads in the region were more stressed. Since the impoverished municipalities responsible for maintenance could not raise the funds for road maintenance, a law passed in 1835 allowed the establishment of privately operated toll stations , whose operators were then responsible for the maintenance of the roads. The toll operators, some of whom belonged to the local gentry , were primarily concerned with the highest possible profit and did not always keep up with the maintenance of the roads, so that there was anger among the population about abusive and excessive tolls. Further protests were directed against the tithing that small farmers had to pay to the Anglican Church , even if they belonged to a free church , and against the new Poor Law of 1834, which provided for the establishment of poor houses instead of the direct support of impoverished families .
Most of the rebels were smallholders in economic distress who received support from workers from the coal mines and metalworks in South Wales. Compared to the Chartist movement at the same time , which also had many followers in the industrialized regions of South Wales, the Rebecca Riots had no real political demands, but their goals were mainly limited to the elimination of immediate economic problems. Spatially, the unrest was limited almost without exception to the rural, poorly industrialized counties of Carmarthenshire , Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire .
Beginning of the revolt
On May 13, 1839, the first attack by the Daughters of Rebecca occurred in Pembrokeshire when a group of men disguised as women destroyed the toll gate and the adjoining building of Efail Wen near Narberth . After the toll booth was rebuilt, there was a public discussion about its necessity. The owner of the toll booth, Thomas Bullin , then dismantled the toll gate . There has also been an attack on the Narberth poorhouse.
The revolt broke out again
As the economic crisis intensified further, riots broke out again three years later. In November 1842, another toll gate at St Clear's was destroyed. This was the beginning of a series of raids that peaked in the summer of 1843. By the end of 1843, over 250 toll gates had been destroyed in West Wales. At the beginning of the uprising, the toll gates, a visible symbol of economic oppression, were the target of the attacks. Later, further attacks were directed against landowners who collected high rents and against unpopular administrators and officials. Workhouses were also the target of the attacks. The attacks usually took place at night by masked men in women's clothing. The name of the movement refers to the biblical Rebekah , who had been predicted that her descendants would take possession of the gate of their enemies ( Gen. 24.60 EU ). The leader of a rebel force was called Rebecca, while his supporters were called his daughters.
End of the revolt
Authorities, particularly George Rice-Trevor , Vice Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire, called for the riot to be suppressed by force. To put down the unrest in the summer of 1843, the authorities raised a force of almost 2,000 men, consisting of regular troops, the militia and a branch of the London Metropolitan Police . The troops stayed in Wales for almost a year, but the regular troops and police were powerless against the rioters' guerrilla tactics and were unable to capture a single rioter in the act. A royal proclamation was therefore issued on October 2, 1843, promising high rewards for clues that led to the apprehension of rebels. The rewards, combined with an amnesty for informers, led to numerous clues that led to numerous arrests and, towards the end of 1843, the collapse of the revolt.
Because of the great popularity of the captured rioters among the rural population, many of the trials took place in Cardiff , not in local courts . Many rioters received low sentences, but a total of thirteen rioters, including five of the leaders, were deported to Australia and never returned to Wales.
consequences
Army Colonel James Frederick Love , a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars who had been used to quell several uprisings in Great Britain, discovered during his assignments in Wales that many of the toll gates were in fact being abused and recommended a close investigation by the authorities. The Home Secretary then sent two investigators to Wales, whose report, together with the sympathetic reporting in the Times in 1844, resulted in a new, improved toll law.
The Rebecca Riots and the Chartist uprisings led to the creation of a separate police force for Carmarthenshire, which was no longer used against the Rebecca Riots.
The name Rebecca is still a synonym for a just rebellion in South Wales and was still used towards the end of the 20th century for peasant protests in Central Wales.
Web links
- BBC Wales History: The Rebecca Riots
- Llandeilo through the Ages. Policing Rebecca - The 4th Lord and the Rebecca Riots
Individual evidence
- ↑ BBC Wales History: Rebecca Riots. Retrieved February 17, 2015 .
- ^ Wales Online: Welsh History Month: The tollgate. Retrieved February 17, 2015 .