146 ENGLISH RURAL LIFE 



of trade unions throughout the towns, Hampshire 

 men, following the example of their fellow-workers in 

 the cities, formed a Labourers' Society and secured 

 an advance in wages. Later, in 1834, some Dorset 

 men of the village of Tolpuddle, where wages were 

 75. a week, formed what they called a Friendly Society 

 of Agricultural Labourers. The leaders were promptly 

 clapped into prison and transported to Botany Bay, on 

 the plea that they had administered unlawful oaths. 

 As a protest against this action, a national agitation on 

 a large scale, fostered and aided by the famous social 

 reformer Robert Owen, was carried on for two years ; 

 the men were then pardoned and, ultimately, brought 

 back to England. The very agitation and the publi- 

 cation of the facts showed to the governing class that 

 arbitrary action would be from that time onward 

 subject to national criticism, and this, perhaps, served 

 as a wholesome check. On the other hand, this same 

 agitation must have showed to the labouring population 

 of rural England how powerless they were ; it is not, 

 therefore, surprising to find that the trade union move- 

 ment obtained no hold on the villages for a period of 

 about forty years. 



At the beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria, 

 conditions for farmers were improving. Rents had by 

 then fallen considerably from the higher 

 figures of the early years of the century, 

 Victorian anc j so farmers definitely benefited by the 

 prices that then prevailed. In 1836 the 

 Tithe Commutation Act 1 had removed a farmers' 

 grievance, and replaced the collections of the tenth on 

 all ' growing and moving ' things by a cash payment. 

 * See Appendix, p. 176. 



