A century ago, almost to this day, the agricultural labourers of the south of England, among whom destitution had become almost general, started to riot. All kinds of agricultural machinery, especially threshing machines, were broken by angry mobs, and corn ricks were secretly burned at night. Threatening letters signed "Swing," a mysterious name that spread terror through the countryside, were received by many farmers and landowners. The blame for the riots was variously given to French revolutionaries, and to William Cobbett, and the disturbances were not suppressed until November, 1830. In their book, "The Village Labourer," the Hammonds say: "For these riots, apart from the cases of arson, for which six men or boys were hung, aristocratic justice exacted three lives, and the transportation of four hundred and fifty-seven men and boys, in addition to the imprisonment of about four hundred at home."
The notorious Captain Swing has been made the hero of a play by Robert Graves, and he has all the glamour attaching to the Wat Tyler of an earlier day. His work was a foretaste of the Luddite Riots some time later.
The Irish Times, October 27th, 1930.