19th Century Information

Tolpuddle Martyrs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The shelter erected as a memorial in 1934.

The Tolpuddle Martyrs were a group of 19th century Dorset agricultural labourers who were
arrested for and convicted of swearing a secret oath as members of the Friendly Society of
Agricultural Labourers. The rules of the society show it was clearly structured as afriendly
society and operated as a trade-specific benefit society. At the time, friendly societies had
strong elements of what are now considered to be the predominant role of trade unions. The
Tolpuddle Martyrs were subsequently sentenced to penal transportation to Australia.[1]

Historical events[edit]
Background[edit]
Before 1824/25 the Combination Acts had outlawed "combining" or organising to gain better
working conditions. In 1824/25 these Acts were repealed, so trade unions were no longer
illegal. In 1832, the year of a Reform Act which extended the vote in England but did not
grant universal suffrage, six men from Tolpuddle in Dorset founded the "Friendly Society of
Agricultural Labourers" to protest against the gradual lowering of agricultural wages in the
1830s caused by the surplus supply of labour in an era when mechanisation was beginning to
have an impact on agricultural working practices for the first time. This was a particular
problem in remote parts of southern England, such as Dorset, where farmers did not have to

compete with the higher wages paid to workers in London and in the northern towns
experiencing the Industrial Revolution.[citation needed]
These Tolpuddle labourers refused to work for less than 10 shillings a week, although by this
time wages had been reduced to seven shillings and were due to be further reduced to six. The
society, led by George Loveless, a Methodist local preacher, met in the house of Thomas
Standfield.[2]
Groups such as the Tolpuddle Martyrs would often use a skeleton painting as part of their
initiation process. The newest member would be blindfolded and made to swear a secret oath
of allegiance. The blindfold would then be removed and they would be presented with the
skeleton painting. This was to warn them of their own mortality but also to remind them of what
happens to those who break their promises. An example of this skeleton painting is currently
on display at the People's History Museum, Manchester.[3]

Prosecution and sentencing[edit]

In 1834 James Frampton, a local landowner and magistrate, wrote to the Home Secretary Lord
Melbourne to complain about the union. Melbourne recommended invoking theUnlawful Oaths
Act 1797, an obscure law promulgated in 1797 in response to the Spithead and Nore mutinies,
which prohibited the swearing of secret oaths. James Brine, James Hammett, George
Loveless, George's brother James Loveless, George's brother in-law Thomas Standfield, and
Thomas's son John Standfield were arrested and tried before Sir John Williams in R v
Lovelass and Others.[4] They were found guilty and transported to Australia.[5][6]
When sentenced to seven years' penal transportation, George Loveless wrote on a scrap of
paper lines from the union hymn The Gathering of the Unions:[7][8][9]
God is our guide! from field, from wave,
From plough, from anvil, and from loom;
We come, our country's rights to save,
And speak a tyrant faction's doom:
We raise the watch-word liberty;
We will, we will, we will be free!

Transportation, pardon, return[edit]

James Loveless, the two Standfields, Hammett and Brine sailed on the Surry to Sydney, where
they arrived on 17 August 1834. George Loveless was delayed due to illness and left later on
the William Metcalf to Van Diemen's Land, reaching Hobart on 4 September.[10]
In England they became popular heroes and 800,000 signatures were collected for their
release. Their supporters organised a political march, one of the first successful marches in the

UK, and all were pardoned, on condition of good conduct, in March 1836, with the support
of Lord John Russell, who had recently become Home Secretary.[11]
When the pardon reached George Loveless some delay was caused in his leaving due to no
word from his wife as to whether she was to join him in Van Diemans Land. On 23 December
1836 a letter was received to the effect that she was not coming and Loveless sailed from Van
Diemans Land on 30 January 1837, arrived in England on 13 June 1837. [12][13]
In New South Wales, there were delays in obtaining an early sailing due to tardiness in the
authorities confirming good conduct with the convicts' assignees and then getting them
released from their assignments. James Loveless, Thomas and John Stanfield, and James
Brine departed Sydney on the John Barry on 11 September 1837, reaching Plymouthon 17
March 1838, one of the departure points for convict transport ships. A plaque next to
the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth's historical Barbican area commemorates the arrival.
Although due to depart with the others, James Hammett was detained in Windsor, charged
with an assault, while the others left the colony. It was not until March 1839 that he sailed,
arriving in England in August 1839.[13][12][14]

Later life[edit]
The Lovelesses, Standfields and Brine first settled on farms near Chipping Ongar, Essex, then
moved to London, Ontario, where there is now a monument in their honour and an affordable
housing co-op/trade union complex named after them. George Loveless is buried in Siloam
Cemetery on Fanshawe Park Road East in London, Ontario. James Brine is buried in St.
Marys Cemetery, St. Marys, Ontario. He died in 1902, having lived in nearby Blanshard
Township since 1868. Hammett remained in Tolpuddle and died in the Dorchester workhouse
in 1891.[12]

Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum[edit]

The Tolpuddle Martyrs' Museum.

The Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum, located in Tolpuddle, Dorset, features displays and
interactive exhibits about the Martyrs and their impact on trade unionism. [15]

Cultural and historical significance[edit]

A monument was erected in their honour in Tolpuddle in 1934, and a sculpture of the martyrs,
made in 2001, stands in the village in front of the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum. [16]

Martyrs' Day commemoration in 2005

The Tolpuddle Martyrs festival is held annually in Tolpuddle, usually in the third week of July,
organised by the Trades Union Congress(TUC) featuring a parade of banners from many trade
unions, a memorial service, speeches and music. Recent festivals have featured speakers
such as Tony Benn and musicians such as Billy Bragg and local folk singers including Graham
Moore, as well as others from all around the world.[17]
The courtroom where the martyrs were tried, which has been little altered in 200 years, in
Dorchester's Shire Hall, is being preserved as part of a heritage scheme. [18]
The story of Tolpuddle has enriched the history of trade unionism, but the significance of the
Tolpuddle Martyrs continues to be debated since Sidney and Beatrice Webb wrote the History
of Trade Unionism (1894) and continues with such works as Dr Bob James's Craft Trade or
Mystery (2001).[19][20]
There are streets named in their honour in:

Islington, north London

Taunton, Somerset

Kirkdale, Liverpool

Richmond, Tasmania

In 1984, a mural was created in Edward Square, off Copenhagen Street, Islington, to
commemorate the gathering of people organised by the Central Committee of the Metropolitan
Trade Unions to demonstrate against the penal transportation of the Tolpuddle Martyrs to
Australia. The mural was painted by artist David Bangs.[21]

Comrades was a 1986 British historical drama film directed by Bill Douglas and starring an
ensemble cast including James Fox, Robert Stephens and Vanessa Redgrave. Through the
pictures of a travelling lanternist, it depicts the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. [22]

he People's Charter

Enlarge

Enlarge
This document, written in 1838 mainly by William Lovett of the London Working Mens Association,
stated the ideological basis of the Chartist movement. The People's Charter detailed the six key points
that the Chartists believed were necessary to reform the electoral system and thus alleviate the
suffering of the working classes these were:
Universal suffrage (the right to vote)
When the Charter was written in 1838, only 18 per cent of the adult-male population of Britain could
vote (before 1832 just 10 per cent could vote). The Charter proposed that the vote be extended to all
adult males over the age of 21, apart from those convicted of a felony or declared insane.
No property qualification
When this document was written, potential members of Parliament needed to own property of a
particular value. This prevented the vast majority of the population from standing for election. By
removing the requirement of a property qualification, candidates for elections would no longer have to
be selected from the upper classes.
Annual parliaments
A government could retain power as long as there was a majority of support. This made it very
difficult to replace of a bad or unpopular government.
Equal representation

The 1832 Reform Act had abolished the worst excesses of 'pocket boroughs'. A pocket borough was a
parliamentary constituency owned by a single patron who controlled voting rights and could nominate
the two members who were to represent the borough in Parliament. In some of these constituencies
as few as six people could elect two members of Parliament. There were still great differences
between constituencies, particularly in the industrial north where there were relatively few MPs
compared to rural areas.
The Chartists proposed the division of the United Kingdom into 300 electoral districts, each containing
an equal number of inhabitants, with no more than one representative from each district to sit in
Parliament.
Payment of members
MPs were not paid for the job they did. As the vast majority of people required income from their jobs
to be able to live, this meant that only people with considerable personal wealth could afford to
become MPs. The Charter proposed that MPs were paid an annual salary of 500.
Vote by secret ballot
Voting at the time was done in public using a 'show of hands' at the 'hustings' (a temporary, public
platform from which candidates for parliament were nominated). Landlords or employers could
therefore see how their tenants or employees were voting and could intimidate them and influence
their decisions. Voting was not made secret until 1871.
The Charter was launched in Glasgow in May 1838, at a meeting attended by an estimated 150,000
people. Presented as a popular-style Magna Carta, it rapidly gained support across the country and its
supporters became known as the Chartists. A petition, populated at Chartist meetings across Britain,
was brought to London in May 1839, for Thomas Attwood to present to Parliament. It boasted
1,280,958 signatures, yet Parliament voted not to consider it. However, the Chartists continued to
campaign for the six points of the Charter for many years to come, and produced two more petitions
to Parliament.

Kirk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Kirk (disambiguation).

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article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and
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Ten Commandments panel from a Scottish kirk (1706)

Kirk is a Scottish word meaning a church, or more specifically, the Church of Scotland. Many
place names and personal names are derived from it.

Contents
[hide]

1Basic meaning and etymology

2Church of Scotland

3Free Kirk

4High Kirk

5Kirk Session

6Kirking ceremonies

7Place names

8Personal names

9References

Basic meaning and etymology[edit]

As a common noun, kirk (meaning 'church') is found in Scots, Scottish English and
some English dialects,[1] attested as a noun from the 14th century onwards, but as an element
in placenames much earlier. Both words, kirk and church, derive from the Koine
Greek () (kyriakon (dma)) meaning Lord's (house), which was borrowed into
theGermanic languages in late antiquity, possibly in the course of the Gothic missions. (Only a
connection with the idiosyncrasies of Gothic explains how a Greek neuter noun became a
Germanic feminine.) Whereas church displays Old English palatalisation, kirk is
a loanword from Old Norse and thus has the original mainland Germanic consonants.
Compare cognates: Icelandic & Faroese kirkja; Swedish kyrka; Norwegian (Nynorsk) kyrkje; N
orwegian (Bokml) & Danish kirke; German Kirche (reflecting palatalization before unstressed
front vowel); Dutch kerk; West Frisian tsjerke; and borrowed into non-Germanic
languages: Estonian kirik and Finnish kirkko.

Church of Scotland[edit]
As a proper noun, The Kirk is an informal name for the Church of Scotland, the country's
national church. The Kirk of Scotland was in official use as the name of the Church of Scotland
until the 17th century, and still today the term is frequently used in the press and everyday
speech, though seldom in the Church's own literature. However, Kirk Sessionis still the
standard term in church law for the court of elders in the local congregation, both in the Church
of Scotland and in any of the other Scottish Presbyterian denominations.

evangelist

/ vndlst, vndlst / noun [ countable ]

1 someone who travels to different places and tries to persuade

people to become Christians

2 Evangelist one of the four writers of the books in the Bible called
the Gospels
evangelism noun [ uncountable ]
evangelistic / vndlstk, vndlstk / adjective :
his evangelistic work
Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 8th edition

evan gel ist

BrE / vndlst /
NAmE / vndlst /
noun
WORD ORIGIN
1 a person who tries to persuade people to become Christians, especially by
travelling around the country holding religious meetings or speaking on radio or
television
see also televangelist
2 Evangelist one of the four writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) of the books
called the Gospels in the Bible
evan gel ism / BrE ; NAmE / noun [ uncountable ]
evan gel ist ic / BrE vndlstk ; NAmE vndlstk / adjective
an evangelistic meeting
evangelistic zeal

Evangelicalism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with evangelism.

"Evangelical" redirects here. For other uses, see Evangelical (disambiguation).
"Evangelicals" redirects here. For the indie rock band, see Evangelicals (band).
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American pastor Johannes Maas preaching inAndhra Pradesh, India in 1974. Spreading the revivalis an
essential part of work done by evangelical missionaries.

Evangelicalism, Evangelical Christianity, or Evangelical Protestantism[a] is a worldwide,

transdenominational movement withinProtestant Christianity maintaining that the essence
of the gospel consists in the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus
Christ's atonement.[1][2] Evangelicals believe in the centrality of the conversion or "born again"
experience in receiving salvation, in the authority of the Bible as God's revelation to humanity,
and spreading the Christian message.
The movement gained great momentum in the 18th and 19th centuries with the Great
Awakenings in the United Kingdom and North America. The origins of Evangelicalism are
usually traced back to English Methodism, the Moravian Church (in particular the theology of
its bishop Nicolaus Zinzendorf), and German Lutheran Pietism. Today, Evangelicals may be
found in many of the Protestant branches, as well as in Protestant denominations not
subsumed to a specific branch.[3] Among leaders and major figures of the Evangelical
Protestant movement were John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Billy
Graham, Harold John Ockenga, John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
There are an estimated 285 million Evangelicals, comprising 13.1% of the total Christian
population and 4.1% of the total world population.[4] The Americas, Africa and Asia are home to
the majority of Evangelicals. The United States has the largest concentration of Evangelicals.

Evangelicalism, a major part of popular Protestantism,[b] is among the most dynamic religious
movements in the contemporary world, alongside resurgent Islam.[6] While on the rise globally,
the developing world is particularly influenced by its spread.
[5]