Tolpuddle
During the summer we visited the village of Tolpuddle, famous for its iconic Martyers in the history of trade unionism in west Dorset and beyond. This year Topuddle Methodists celebrate the bicentenary of their orginal chapel which still stands today, with its cobbled floor.
- Following the Enclosures Acts the working and living conditions of agricultural labourers deteriorated, and wages in Dorset were only 9/- (45p) a week. In 1832, George Loveless, and others, tried to get the wages increased, but instead wages were progressively lowered to 6/- (30p).
- The men of Tolpuddle were desperate; alternative sources of work were few, especially in the winter months, and in October 1833 they formed a Friendly Society of Agricultural Workers.
- Although this was a perfectly legal “union”, members were obliged to swear a secret oath of allegiance and this proved to be their downfall. By using laws originally intended for use in the Navy, the local magistrates first posted a caution, and then, on 24th February 1834, the six leading men were arrested and marched to the gaol in Dorchester.
- The outcome of their trial at the Lent Assizes, was predictable, and all were sentenced to seven years transportation. Five were taken to New South Wales, while George Loveless, who had become ill, was later taken to Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania).
- Eventually, after much lobbying, pardons were obtained, but the six men were not immediately informed. However George Loveless saw an old paper carrying the news of the pardons, and he set about getting a passage home.
- George Loveless, his brother James, Thomas and John Standfield and James Brine, returned to England at various times during 1837, but James Hammett did not return until 1839.
In 1860’s the 1818 Methodist Chapel was replaqced by a new building and over the decades the old Chaple became derelict, until purchased in 2015 by the The Tolpuddle Old Chaple Trust to tell the story of the Maryters and Methodism in the village.
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| The Methodist Church today |
The whole sequence of events was only partly about money. The wealthy land owners and political leaders were afraid that the revolutionary spirit that had led to bloody change in France would spread to Britain. The result was a clamp down on anyone who seemed to be showing signs of dissent, or was questioning the status quo.
Early Union members, such as the Tolpuddle Six, were frequently subject to discrimination and violence. Non-conformist religious groups, such as the local Methodists, were also targeted because they were critical of the Church of England, and were concerned for the needs of the poorest members of society.
When a Methodist Society was first formed in Tolpuddle the members probably met in one of their homes, and in 1810 the house of Thomas Loveless (George and James’ father) was licensed as a “Dissenters’ meeting house”.
While it is not certain, it is thought that the Loveless family, and others in the village, first came to the new Non-Conformist church through the Wesleyan society in Wareham.
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In 1816 there was a great spiritual revival in Salisbury, and two young men went from the Wesleyan meeting in nearby Wareham. This gathering of enthusiasts and the curious featured large public meetings, lectures and more intimate study and the locals returned home with “their hearts glowing with sacred fire”. Around the same time the Methodist Church in Weymouth sent preachers to work as missioners in Puddletown and Milborne. In Tolpuddle, according to the historian Rev John Simon, that “success crowned the zeal of their endeavours”.
| Every July thousands of people come to Tolpuddle to mark the witness and sacrifice of the Martyrs. The TUC organises a festival in the grounds of the cottages and museum, and a commemorative rally through the village. Wreaths are laid on the grave of William Hammet, and the weekend concludes with the annual Martyrs Service in our Methodist Chapel. |
George Loveless
Self-educated and self-reliant, George Loveless was 37 when arrested. He married Elizabeth (Betsy) and by 1834 they had three children, all supported on a ploughman’s wage of nine shillings a week.
After George returned to England, the couple had two further children but Sina aged just four, died during the rough sailing to Canada and was buried at sea.
Loveless was a Methodist lay preacher. He was articulate and wrote eloquently about the Martyrs’ experiences in ‘The Victims of Whiggery’ and ‘The Church Shown Up’. Loveless and four of his fellow Martyrs emigrated to Canada, where he helped to build a Methodist Church at Siloam.
He died in 1874 at the age of 77.
James Brine
Born in 1813, James was arrested before his 21st birthday. Reputed to have a bright personality, he produced a dramatic account of his experiences as a Martyr.
In Australia he was robbed of all the bedding and clothes allocated by the authorities on his way to his assigned master. On his return to England he married Elizabeth Standfield, daughter of Thomas and sister of John, further strengthening the family bonds, at Greensted Church, Essex. They had 11 children, four born in England, the others in Canada. Brine lived to 90, dying in 1902.
James Hammett
Born at the end of 1811, he was an outsider: unlike the others, he never wrote about his experiences, had a criminal record and was not a Methodist. He alone returned toTolpuddle as a builder’s labourer. He was not at the fateful initiation, and may have accepted arrest on behalf of his brother, John, who was present. Hammett had been imprisoned in 1829 for allegedly stealing some pieces of iron.
In 1875 the Agricultural Workers Union presented James with an illuminated address and a fine engraved watch. He married three times and had seven children. Before his death in 1891 he moved into Dorchester Workhouse so as not to be a burden on his family. It is said that when he was buried in the Parish Church in Tolpuddle, orders were given that they should be no speeches over the grave. Talk of unions was still feared by those in power.
James Loveless
Five years younger than George, James was born in 1808. Married with two children, he too was a Methodist preacher.
A founder member of the Tolpuddle Union, he was singled out by Squire Frampton as a firebrand as early as 1830 during local riots in Piddletown. Of all the emigrants to Canada he alone did not buy land, opting instead to become sexton of the North Street Methodist Church in London Township, Ontario. He remained so until his death at 65 in February 1873.
John Standfield
John and his father Thomas along with George and James Loveless worked on the same farm in Tolpuddle. All the families were very close.
After their return from transportation in Australia, John moved with the others to Essex and then to Canada. There he became mayor of East London, where he kept a hotel, ran a shop and founded a choir.
Thomas Standfield
The oldest, Thomas Standfield was 44 in 1834 and married to the Loveless brothers’ sister, Dinniah. By February, 1834 they had five children (with one on the way) of whom John, a fellow Martyr, was the oldest. Thomas was also a Methodist and co-founder of the Tolpuddle Union. Many of their meetings were held in the upstairs room in his cottage.
On moving to Essex, Thomas and his son John went to Fenner’s farm, five miles from the Lovelesses, which had been leased for them by the London Dorchester Committee.They emigrated to Canada two years after the Lovelesses. He died aged 74 in February, 1864. Diana soon followed him. Their graves are next to George and Betsy Loveless in Siloam cemetery.
©- http://www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk/meet-martyrs
After the transportation of their husbands, the wives of the Tolpuddle men had to apply for parochial relief to Squire Frampton and the Justices who had organised their arrest and punishment. In refusing any assistance, Frampton considered that no person should be entitled if they could afford to join a union. “They meant us to suffer for the offences of our husbands” said the women in a letter to supporters. “Tolpuddle have for many years been noticed for tyranny and oppression and cruelty and now the union is broke up here.”
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