42 ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER. 



further trouble, had the women driven to Oxford in a brake 

 and the Amazons were safely incarcerated in Oxford Gaol 

 at an early hour in the morning. 



The sentence aroused the latent though often unexpressed 

 chivalry of the English labourer, and a subscription was imme- 

 diately raised amounting to So for the sixteen women, 

 which was presented to them on their release from gaol. 

 This was done in a magnificent manner. Two four-in-hands 

 were driven in style to meet the women as they came out 

 of Oxford Gaol, and they were taken right into Ascot, their 

 return being heralded by music. The presentation of 5 

 to each woman was made in front of the house of the ring- 

 leader of the prosecuting farmers. One of these women 

 is still living, and she was proud of the fact that she could 

 read and write whilst her husband never could. She states 

 that when she went to prison it was the first time she ever had 

 enough to eat in her life ! 



An Oxfordshire small holder who was then canvassing 

 for signatures to a petition to be sent to the House of Com- 

 mons for the Franchise, and who was an eye-witness of the 

 home-coming of these women, informs me that each of 

 them was presented with a silk dress in the Union colours. 

 He also states that one of the hotels in Chipping Norton 

 refused to stable the horses ! 



Petty acts of oppression were exercised by country 

 vicars ; such as that of turning two young women out of the 

 choir of a Buckingham church, because they spoke at a 

 labourers' meeting. * One old Suffolk woman was threatened 

 by the parson with the loss of her allotment if she allowed 

 her barn to be used for a meeting. 2 In Clopton, Suffolk, 

 the churchwarden gave notice that " the Society calling 

 itself the National Agricultural Union having ordered strikes 

 in a portion of the county of Suffolk, all members of the 

 same in this parish have notice to give up their allotments, 

 and will be struck off the list of parochial and bread 

 charities." 3 



When the farmers found it was not possible to obtain 



1 Labourers' Union Chronicle, July 19, 1873. 

 1 Ibid., July 5, 1873. * Ibid., August 2, 1873. 



