1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm trace 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:19,600 Speaker 1: Ev Wilson and I'm Holly Fryne. Lately, I've been seeing 4 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 1: a lot of people, especially in discussions of AI, kind 5 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: of throwing around the word ludites in a way that 6 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: irritates me, and I know there's some irony there. We've 7 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:33,159 Speaker 1: talked a bunch of times on the show about how 8 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:37,480 Speaker 1: language evolves and rules are made up, but the word 9 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: ludite has come to sort of mean sort of a stubborn, 10 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:46,159 Speaker 1: backward person who's opposed to progress and technology. But what 11 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:50,239 Speaker 1: the ludite protests were really about was technical advances that 12 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: were threatening people's livelihoods and leading to the production of 13 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: lower quality goods. So if we're talking about somebody who's 14 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: objection to AI is badly written articles replacing the work 15 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:09,680 Speaker 1: of paid freelancers, ludites pretty appropriate for that. But people 16 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: have also used it to sort of imply that people 17 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 1: who have these concerns are against all technology, and that 18 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: bothers me. We've done an episode on the ludites that 19 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:21,760 Speaker 1: was all the way back in twenty thirteen. But as 20 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:23,959 Speaker 1: I was you know, mulling over this use of language. 21 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:28,959 Speaker 1: I kept thinking about workers smashing machines and this semi 22 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: mythical figure of ned lud who was part of the 23 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: Ludite uprisings, and how some of the men who were 24 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 1: breaking machines during this uprising did so in dresses and 25 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:45,760 Speaker 1: called themselves general luds wives. That brought me then to 26 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: the Rebecca Riots, which took place in Wales a couple 27 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 1: of decades after the Ludite uprising took place in England, 28 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:57,080 Speaker 1: and there are some parallels there. That includes the smashing stuff, 29 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: also the wearing of dresses, and beyond that, there's been 30 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: kind of a similar narrowing of how these two events 31 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 1: are remembered a lot of the time today, the one 32 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: sentence description of the Rebecca Riots would be something like 33 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: men in dresses smashed down the tollgates to protest against 34 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: the really egregious fees that they were having to pay 35 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: for using the roads. But those tolls and the tollgates, 36 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 1: that was really just one part of it. The Rebecca 37 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:31,920 Speaker 1: Riots took place in western and southwestern Wales from eighteen 38 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:36,639 Speaker 1: thirty nine to eighteen forty three, primarily in Pembrokeshire, Cardiganshire 39 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: and Carmarthenshire. The town of Comerthen in Carmarthenshire was at 40 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,640 Speaker 1: the time the fourth largest town in Wales, with a 41 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:47,359 Speaker 1: population of about ten thousand people. It was an important 42 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 1: market town and sort of an administrative and political center 43 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: within the area. Also, there are seemingly countless ways that 44 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:59,680 Speaker 1: different organizations and government bodies divide Wales into regions. Were 45 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: just talking about the general area to the southwest and west, 46 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:08,240 Speaker 1: not any specific regional definition. At the time, people outside 47 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: of Wales often imagined it as sort of an expanse 48 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:14,640 Speaker 1: of farmland where nothing much happened. And while farming was 49 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: a key part of the economy, Wales was also industrializing 50 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: really rapidly in the first decades of the nineteenth century. 51 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,440 Speaker 1: During the Rebecca Riots, most people in this part of 52 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 1: Wales were working in agriculture or in domestic service, but 53 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: about ten percent were employed at iron works. Some of 54 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: those iron works were newly built. The Welsh population was soaring, 55 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: with towns that were home to iron works and other 56 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: industries growing just a lot faster than ones that weren't, 57 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: and there were rural areas that were nearly depopulated as 58 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: people moved into these cities and towns to try to 59 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: find work, and the Rebecca Riots were not the first 60 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,480 Speaker 1: uprising to happen in Wales in the first decades of 61 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century. In addition to agriculture, two of Wales's 62 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: biggest industries were coal and iron and agricultural products. Coal 63 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 1: and iron were all in high demand during the Napoleonic 64 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: Wars and the War of eighteen twelve, although Britain was 65 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,839 Speaker 1: still variously at war. After these ended in eighteen fifteen, 66 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:20,039 Speaker 1: demand for a lot of these goods started to fall. 67 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: Combined with a more general economic depression, This meant that 68 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:28,599 Speaker 1: workers faced lost jobs and reduced wages. This came to 69 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,600 Speaker 1: a head in Mercer Tidville with an uprising in eighteen 70 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:36,480 Speaker 1: thirty one. Demonstrators protested against job cuts and wage cuts 71 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:39,280 Speaker 1: and as many as twenty four people were killed after 72 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:43,080 Speaker 1: soldiers were deployed to try to restore order. There was 73 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: also an armed uprising in Newport on the River Usk 74 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,039 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty nine. This one was connected to the 75 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:54,239 Speaker 1: Chartist movement. The Chartist movement was a working class movement 76 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 1: that was calling for a number of political reforms Those 77 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: included universal voting rights for men over the age of 78 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: twenty one, secret ballots, elimination of property requirements to become 79 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:10,479 Speaker 1: a member of Parliament, and payment for MPs so that 80 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: would make serving as an MP a lot more accessible 81 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:17,359 Speaker 1: to more people. More than twenty Chartists were killed in 82 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,599 Speaker 1: this uprising as well, and its leaders were convicted of 83 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,840 Speaker 1: high treason and hanged, drawn and quartered. So while there 84 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: were contemporary discussions of the Rebecca Riots that had a 85 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: tone that was almost like a riot in Wales really 86 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:34,480 Speaker 1: like Wales like, this was not really an isolated incident. 87 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: Although most historians don't describe the Rebecca Riots as part 88 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: of the Chartist movement. One of the issues involved with 89 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: the riots was representation within the government. Although the Great 90 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: Reform Act of eighteen thirty two had made changes to 91 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: the electoral system in England and Wales, only men could vote, 92 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: and those men had to own property or pay specific 93 00:05:56,200 --> 00:06:00,039 Speaker 1: taxes to be eligible. This meant that tenant farmers and 94 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: farm laborers, who made up most of the population in 95 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:07,280 Speaker 1: southern and western Wales, still could not vote. Compounding this 96 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:09,360 Speaker 1: was that most of the people who did meet those 97 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 1: requirements spoke English, while most of the farmers and farm 98 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: workers spoke Welsh. In some cases, these were essentially English 99 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: absentee landlords holding office to represent Wales, so people naturally 100 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: felt like they didn't have true representation in Parliament, and 101 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 1: the absentee landlords were also their own issue. Most of 102 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,560 Speaker 1: the people in this part of Wales were tenant farmers, 103 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: so they did not own the land that they lived 104 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: and worked on for centuries, though families had leased the 105 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:44,120 Speaker 1: same land for their entire lifetime, so they really had 106 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: some stability. They felt a sense of ownership over the 107 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: land that they were working and typically they were renting 108 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: from a landlord who lived locally. There were some social 109 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:58,480 Speaker 1: expectations that landlords do things like donate money to charitable 110 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: causes and the church, and to we have kind of 111 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: a paternalistic interest in their tenants well being. This is 112 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:08,880 Speaker 1: not at all to say that every single landowner was 113 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: generous or accommodating with their tenants, but there was an 114 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: overall perception that absentee landlords who did not live in 115 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,840 Speaker 1: the area only cared about whether or not their tenants 116 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 1: paid the rent, not whether their tenants were dueing. Okay, 117 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: in the decades before the Rebecca riots. A lot of 118 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:31,720 Speaker 1: landlords had also moved away from these lifetime leases. More 119 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: and more farmers are basically tenants at will, with leases 120 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:38,320 Speaker 1: as short as only a year, so not a lot 121 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: of stability the possibility of having to just move over 122 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:44,720 Speaker 1: and over and over again. In the eighteen thirties, it 123 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 1: was also just getting harder to pay rent. Most small 124 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: farmers were operating at a subsistence level, and poverty was widespread. 125 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: Common ground that had been used for grazing animals had 126 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:59,360 Speaker 1: largely been enclosed, making it harder for people to raise livestock. 127 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:02,480 Speaker 1: In a lot of places, the land was most suited 128 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:05,720 Speaker 1: for raising sheep, but that lack of access to grazing 129 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 1: land meant that people were trying to grow crops instead. 130 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,080 Speaker 1: Work was also harder to find, and a series of 131 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 1: poor harvests stretched from eighteen thirty nine to eighteen forty one. 132 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: Many tenants tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a reduction in the 133 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:25,119 Speaker 1: rent to make up for all of these problems. Bad 134 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 1: harvests also meant that people had less money to give 135 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 1: to the church, and giving to the church was something 136 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: they were required to do by law. People were expected 137 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:38,760 Speaker 1: to donate ten percent of their income to their local parish. 138 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: Before eighteen thirty six, this had been an kind payment, 139 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: so people donated part of their harvest or wool from 140 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:50,280 Speaker 1: their sheep, or something else they had grown or raised. 141 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 1: But the Tithe Act of eighteen thirty six instead made 142 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: this a cash payment, and the amount of the payment 143 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 1: was based on the price of various crops a ridged 144 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 1: out over the past seven years. So if the harvest 145 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:08,240 Speaker 1: was particularly bad one year, that did not immediately reduce 146 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: the amount of the tithe that people were required to pay, 147 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:15,720 Speaker 1: and since that one bad year was averaged together with 148 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 1: six other years, that might not actually reduce the tithe 149 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:22,199 Speaker 1: at all. To add to that, these payments were made 150 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:25,520 Speaker 1: to Anglican parishes, but most of the people living in Wales, 151 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:30,600 Speaker 1: especially working class people and farm laborers, were Nonconformists, so Methodists, 152 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:34,600 Speaker 1: Congregationalists or Baptists. They didn't attend the parish church, and 153 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 1: many didn't really want to be paying a tithe to 154 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:42,000 Speaker 1: the Anglican Church at all. So bad harvests, high rents, 155 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: cash tithe payments, all this other stuff. It meant that 156 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: a lot of people were really struggling. And then the 157 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: Poor Law of eighteen thirty four also made financial hardship 158 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:56,200 Speaker 1: a way more frightening prospect. Before the passage of this law, 159 00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: various relief projects were funded through taxes that were paid 160 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:02,720 Speaker 1: by the middle and upper classes, and they were mostly 161 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:07,400 Speaker 1: locally administered. But as the population of the UK had 162 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:11,959 Speaker 1: increased in the wake of industrialization and other economic changes 163 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: had led to an increase in poverty, it had become 164 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:19,000 Speaker 1: increasingly expensive to care for the poor. There was also 165 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:21,520 Speaker 1: a perception among a lot of the people who had 166 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: enough money to be paying these taxes that the poor 167 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:28,160 Speaker 1: people were just lazy and didn't want to work. So 168 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:30,960 Speaker 1: the Poor Law of eighteen thirty four was meant to 169 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:35,839 Speaker 1: ease the purported burden of poverty on communities. Parishes were 170 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:39,080 Speaker 1: grouped into poor Law unions, and each one was required 171 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:42,080 Speaker 1: to build a workhouse if they did not have one already. 172 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: Conditions in the workhouses were intentionally harsh and cruel to 173 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: discourage people from using them and to punish people for 174 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 1: their poverty. While people were housed, fed and clothed in 175 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:59,319 Speaker 1: the workhouse, the housing was overcrowded, uncomfortable, and often filthy 176 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 1: and infested with vermin. Food was meager and uniforms were 177 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:09,080 Speaker 1: uncomfortable and threadbare. Families were broken up and housed separately, 178 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:12,720 Speaker 1: and while children were theoretically educated in the workhouse, they 179 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: could also be hired out as workers in minds and 180 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:19,360 Speaker 1: on farms. There were still some other forms of relief 181 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:23,840 Speaker 1: besides the workhouse, but needing help carried the risk of 182 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:28,120 Speaker 1: winding up in one. The workhouses were also funded through 183 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 1: a local tax known as the poor rate, and pretty 184 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:33,840 Speaker 1: much everyone who had enough money to not be in 185 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:37,439 Speaker 1: the workhouse had to pay this tax, even if they 186 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 1: didn't really have a lot of money to spare. The 187 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 1: tollgates get the most attention in discussions of the Rebecca Riots, 188 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:47,840 Speaker 1: and sometimes it sounds like they were the whole focus. 189 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:50,840 Speaker 1: But really, in the face of all this, the tolls 190 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: were more like the last straw, and we're going to 191 00:11:53,320 --> 00:12:05,080 Speaker 1: talk more about that after we pause for a sponsor break. 192 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 1: The roads in Wales in the start of the nineteenth 193 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:12,680 Speaker 1: century weren't really great. A network of roads, footpaths and 194 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:16,720 Speaker 1: cart paths connected farms to small towns and market villages, 195 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 1: and then eventually to cities. Scottish engineer John McAdam had 196 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 1: developed the road surfacing known as McAdam around eighteen twenty, 197 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:28,000 Speaker 1: and it was a lot more durable and efficient to 198 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:31,000 Speaker 1: lay down than other earlier road surfaces had been. But 199 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 1: there was not a national agency that was responsible for building, 200 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 1: maintaining or improving the roads. This was a lot like 201 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:42,720 Speaker 1: what we talked about happening in the US in our 202 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,200 Speaker 1: episode on Kitty Knox and the bike Boom from this 203 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:49,360 Speaker 1: past January. For a long time, road maintenance fell mostly 204 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:52,440 Speaker 1: to local landowners and the results could be all over 205 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:56,080 Speaker 1: the place. Landowners in the UK were allowed to set 206 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:59,040 Speaker 1: up toll houses if the tolls that they collected were 207 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:01,960 Speaker 1: used to pay for repair and improvements to the roads. 208 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:05,520 Speaker 1: These toll houses were typically built so that the keeper 209 00:13:05,559 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 1: had a good view of the road and anyone who 210 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:11,199 Speaker 1: might be approaching on it, because even before the Rebecca 211 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:14,560 Speaker 1: Riots the tolls were not popular and attacks on toll 212 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:18,959 Speaker 1: houses and their keepers were an ongoing issue. Usually there 213 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: was a gate across the road to force people on 214 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,200 Speaker 1: horseback or with some kind of horse and cart to stop, 215 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:27,199 Speaker 1: but if you were on foot or pushing a hand cart, 216 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:30,320 Speaker 1: you might be able to go around by a smaller path. 217 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 1: An assortment of laws also empowered the creation of turnpike trusts. 218 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: These were trusts that were established by businesses or groups 219 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:43,960 Speaker 1: of landowners to manage the tolls and the road maintenance 220 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:46,880 Speaker 1: they were meant to pay for and when we say assortment. 221 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,320 Speaker 1: By eighteen thirty six there were nine hundred and forty 222 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 1: two acts for new turnpike trusts in England and Wales. 223 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:58,160 Speaker 1: In some cases, the trust that built the toll gate 224 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,440 Speaker 1: didn't actually manage it, but they instead least that out 225 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:05,400 Speaker 1: to somebody else. There is some suggestion that on the whole, 226 00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:09,520 Speaker 1: the creation of turnpikes and turnpike trusts did improve the 227 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 1: quality of the roads, but this was also a situation 228 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:14,800 Speaker 1: that could lead to a lot of mismanagement and abuse. 229 00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:18,040 Speaker 1: At the same time, some of the trusts were not 230 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:22,040 Speaker 1: breaking even. It was really expensive to build and maintain 231 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:26,320 Speaker 1: these roads, and the cost of doing so just outstripped 232 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:28,720 Speaker 1: the money collected from the tolls a lot of the time, 233 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:31,960 Speaker 1: So whether they were trying to make more money or 234 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 1: just break even, turnpike trusts raised the price of tolls 235 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:39,000 Speaker 1: and also built more toll gates so that people had 236 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:42,760 Speaker 1: to pay the tolls more often, and eventually toll collectors 237 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:46,520 Speaker 1: also started adding sidebars on smaller roads and paths that 238 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 1: kept people on foot from being able to go around 239 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:52,000 Speaker 1: the gate on the main road, collecting tolls on foot 240 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: traffic as well. So this might have been less of 241 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 1: an issue if people only had to pay a toll 242 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:01,880 Speaker 1: one time time to get to where they were going, 243 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:05,520 Speaker 1: but the turnpike trusts and the toll gates that they 244 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: were putting up just proliferated. At the peak of the 245 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:12,880 Speaker 1: Rebecca Riots, there were at least twenty different trusts operating 246 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 1: in southwestern Wales, and there was a gate or a 247 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:19,920 Speaker 1: bar about every four miles. Camarthen, where a lot of 248 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 1: people took their goods to market, was basically surrounded by 249 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 1: twelve gates that were controlled by five different road trusts. 250 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:33,359 Speaker 1: Different trusts also set up gates on the same turnpikes, 251 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:35,920 Speaker 1: and then all of them would all charge their tolls 252 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:39,000 Speaker 1: to the people who tried to pass. As the Rebecca 253 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:43,440 Speaker 1: Riots were going on, One newspaper reporter took a fifteen 254 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 1: mile trip from Camarthen to Pontardalas and encountered eleven different 255 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 1: gates on the way. This affected farmers and farm laborers tremendously. 256 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 1: They often had to pass through multiple gates to get 257 00:15:57,400 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 1: two and from their fields and two and from market. 258 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:04,320 Speaker 1: Farmers in this part of Wales also used lime extensively 259 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 1: to try to improve their soil, usually transporting it in carts. Initially, 260 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,000 Speaker 1: some trusts had exempted lime carts from the tolls, but 261 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,040 Speaker 1: when that stopped, farmers found that they were paying almost 262 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:18,480 Speaker 1: as much in tolls as they were for the lime 263 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:22,240 Speaker 1: they were carrying, and there was really no other option. 264 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: Farmers and laborers had to use the roads to do 265 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 1: their work. A farmer deciding to just not treat the 266 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 1: soil with lime anymore because the tolls made it too 267 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:35,320 Speaker 1: expensive might wind up with a bad harvest as a result, 268 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 1: and that would have its own financial consequences. So the tolls, 269 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:42,040 Speaker 1: combined with the high rents and the poor laws and 270 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 1: the tithes and the poor rates and everything that we 271 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 1: talked about before the break, eventually working people just felt 272 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:51,280 Speaker 1: like they were drowning. In May of eighteen thirty nine, 273 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:53,640 Speaker 1: a new toll gate was built in a vile wind 274 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: on the border between Commercentshire and Pembrokeshire, on a road 275 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,360 Speaker 1: that a lot of people used to cart their lime 276 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:02,280 Speaker 1: back to their arms from the coast. It was built 277 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 1: on the order of the Whitland Turnpike Trust, which had 278 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:09,399 Speaker 1: contracted Thomas Bullen as toll collector. Bullen was involved in 279 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:11,560 Speaker 1: a lot of the gates that were put up during 280 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:15,760 Speaker 1: this period. On May thirteenth, a large group of locals 281 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:18,760 Speaker 1: attacked and destroyed the new gate and set the toll 282 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:23,080 Speaker 1: house on fire. The next day, handbills were posted around 283 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: the area calling for a meeting to discuss quote the 284 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:31,240 Speaker 1: propriety of its tollgate. The Whitland Turnpike Trust rebuilt the 285 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:34,119 Speaker 1: gate and in June the demonstrators destroyed it again in 286 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:38,560 Speaker 1: broad daylight. At this point there were not professional police 287 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:42,520 Speaker 1: forces in Western Wales, and special constables had been brought 288 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:45,480 Speaker 1: in to try to guard the gate after that first incident, 289 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:48,960 Speaker 1: but when they saw the demonstrators coming, they all fled. 290 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,879 Speaker 1: This toll gate was once again rebuilt and members of 291 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:55,800 Speaker 1: the Castlemartin Yeomanry and soldiers from the town of Brecken 292 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:58,760 Speaker 1: were called in to help try to protect it, but 293 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:01,800 Speaker 1: on July seventeenth of eighteen thirty nine, the gate was 294 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:06,120 Speaker 1: once again attacked and demolished. Although other attacks had been 295 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:09,080 Speaker 1: carried out by men in dresses, accounts of This one 296 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 1: included the first written reference to the Daughters of Rebecca 297 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:15,640 Speaker 1: or myrrhead Rebecca, which would become one of the most 298 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 1: memorable parts of the uprising. The men wore dresses, sometimes 299 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:23,280 Speaker 1: combining them with false beards and horsehair wigs. In the 300 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 1: words of a nineteen ten book on the riots by 301 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:29,160 Speaker 1: Henry Tobot Evans quote, it was decided at a vilewind 302 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,240 Speaker 1: and Whitland that the rioters should be clothed in women's dresses, 303 00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:36,400 Speaker 1: with blackened faces and fern in their white caps. Their 304 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:41,360 Speaker 1: arms were to consist of sticks, pikes, spades, hatchets, old swords, guns, 305 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:44,840 Speaker 1: in fact, any weapon they could get hold of. The 306 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:48,400 Speaker 1: leader to be called Rebecca was invariably to be mounted 307 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:52,119 Speaker 1: and accompanied by a bodyguard. All their doings were to 308 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: be conducted under the superintendence of Mother Rebecca, and all 309 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,240 Speaker 1: arrangements and commands were to be made and given by her. 310 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:03,040 Speaker 1: There are two different stories about where the name Rebecca 311 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 1: came from. One is that a man called Toomcarnabooth or 312 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:10,879 Speaker 1: Thomas Reeves had a hard time finding a dress that 313 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:13,720 Speaker 1: would fit him. This was a real person. He was 314 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,639 Speaker 1: definitely involved in the Rebecca riots and he was a 315 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:19,919 Speaker 1: large man who was locally well known as a pugilist. 316 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:23,840 Speaker 1: In this version, he finally did find a dress that 317 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 1: belonged to a quote, tall and stout old maid, and 318 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:31,840 Speaker 1: that person was named Rebecca. Some historians find this to 319 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:35,320 Speaker 1: be the less likely of the two origin stories, in 320 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:38,880 Speaker 1: part because Toomcarnabooth was known to be active in these 321 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: protests in eighteen forty two, not so much in eighteen 322 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:46,520 Speaker 1: thirty nine, when this name was first used. The other 323 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,960 Speaker 1: possible origin is from the Book of Genesis, chapter twenty four, 324 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:53,240 Speaker 1: verse sixty. Rebecca was the wife of Isaac and the 325 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 1: mother of Jacob and Esau, and this verse comes from 326 00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:59,119 Speaker 1: the account of how she was chosen to be Isaac's wife. 327 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,920 Speaker 1: Isaac's father, Abraham, had sent a servant to the place 328 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 1: of his birth to find a wife for Isaac. The 329 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,639 Speaker 1: servant prayed to God for a sign directing him to 330 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 1: the right woman, basically saying, quote, when I ask a 331 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:14,440 Speaker 1: woman at this fountain for water, let the one who 332 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:17,720 Speaker 1: offers me and my camel's water be the woman God 333 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:21,760 Speaker 1: has chosen to marry Isaac. Rebecca comes to the fountain, 334 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:24,720 Speaker 1: the servant asks for water, and she offers it to 335 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 1: him and his camels. Skipping ahead a little bit, they 336 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,320 Speaker 1: go to the home of Rebecca's father, where the servant 337 00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:34,240 Speaker 1: tells him that he's a servant of Abraham, who God 338 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:37,320 Speaker 1: has blessed with wealth, and that he's come to find 339 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:41,639 Speaker 1: Abraham's son Isaac a wife. She and her family agree 340 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:44,240 Speaker 1: to the marriage, and then later, when she is leaving, 341 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:48,679 Speaker 1: her family blesses her and says, quote, thou art our sister, 342 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,600 Speaker 1: be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let 343 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:56,840 Speaker 1: thy seed possess the gait of those which hate them. 344 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:01,359 Speaker 1: Regardless of origin story play, the role of Rebecca was 345 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:04,600 Speaker 1: a mark of honor. There was also an almost theatrical 346 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:09,040 Speaker 1: element to these demonstrations, with mother Rebecca portrayed as elderly 347 00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:12,160 Speaker 1: and blind, riding a white horse and finding her way 348 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:15,919 Speaker 1: blocked by a gate. The assembled men in dresses the 349 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:19,280 Speaker 1: daughters of Rebecca would answer that nothing should block an 350 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:22,080 Speaker 1: old woman's way, and then they would tear the gate down. 351 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: So a note on the blackening of the faces. None 352 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,880 Speaker 1: of the sources I found really gave a specific explanation 353 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:35,119 Speaker 1: for the demonstrators rationale and doing this. Blackened faces were 354 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 1: also part of a sort of mock trial and public 355 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:42,480 Speaker 1: humiliation in Wales called the cafil Prenne or the wooden Horse, 356 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:45,480 Speaker 1: in which a mob of men wearing dresses with their 357 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:49,400 Speaker 1: faces blackened would tie somebody who had committed some kind 358 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:51,920 Speaker 1: of an offense to a wooden frame and then parade 359 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:55,040 Speaker 1: that person around the town. So this might have just 360 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:57,720 Speaker 1: been something that people were used to doing in this 361 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:02,280 Speaker 1: kind of public protest already. There's some speculation that in 362 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:04,520 Speaker 1: the case of the Rebecca Riots, this was to make 363 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:08,040 Speaker 1: the Rebeccaites harder to see at night, but since they 364 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,160 Speaker 1: were also described as wearing white dresses, that doesn't totally 365 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:14,480 Speaker 1: add up. It may have been more about disguising the 366 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:19,879 Speaker 1: demonstrator's identities. Various illustrated newspaper reports from the time don't 367 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:22,600 Speaker 1: portray the rioters in what we might think of as 368 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 1: blackface or in any way that resembles the minstrel performers 369 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:29,320 Speaker 1: that were becoming popular in the US around this same time, 370 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,320 Speaker 1: but there have been more recent reenactments of the riots 371 00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:37,800 Speaker 1: in which participants do look like they're in blackface. Around 372 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 1: the same time as the gate in Ivalwin was being 373 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:44,919 Speaker 1: repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, another new gate was attacked and 374 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:49,320 Speaker 1: destroyed at Flamboidy in Camarthen Sure. In that case the 375 00:22:49,359 --> 00:22:52,720 Speaker 1: gate was not rebuilt, and after the third time the 376 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,440 Speaker 1: gate was destroyed at Ivowwan it was not rebuilt either. 377 00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:00,440 Speaker 1: For a while, no more toll gates were attacked by 378 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:04,040 Speaker 1: large groups of men in dresses being led by Mother Rebecca. 379 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:09,359 Speaker 1: There were, however, ongoing theft's attempts to evade the toll 380 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 1: and assaults on tollkeepers and the gates on a much 381 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:17,400 Speaker 1: smaller scale. Large scale riots returned in November of eighteen 382 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:20,240 Speaker 1: forty two, and we'll get to that after another quick 383 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:32,879 Speaker 1: sponsor break. As we said before the break. After the 384 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,480 Speaker 1: toll gates had been destroyed at Ivowin and Flamboidi in 385 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:39,119 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty nine, they were not rebuilt. There was this 386 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:44,480 Speaker 1: sort of pause in Rebeccaite demonstrations in Wales, although general 387 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:49,760 Speaker 1: unrest was still ongoing. Then in eighteen forty two, agriculture 388 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:53,600 Speaker 1: prices declined sharply, and that October a new gate called 389 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,160 Speaker 1: the Mermaid was built on the Lime Road in Saint 390 00:23:56,200 --> 00:24:00,679 Speaker 1: Clear's and Carmarthenshire. On November eighteenth, Rebecca It attacked it 391 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,800 Speaker 1: and tore it down. Not long after, Rebecca Heites tore 392 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: down the gates at Pooshtrap near Saint Clear's and at 393 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:12,919 Speaker 1: Trevaugh near Carmarthen. Demonstrations continued after that, and by December 394 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,880 Speaker 1: twelfth all the gates in Saint Clear's had been destroyed. 395 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,960 Speaker 1: There were local leaders of this movement in various towns 396 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:25,000 Speaker 1: and nighttime meetings to organize and rally support, but there 397 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:28,120 Speaker 1: was no one Rebecca who was the key to all 398 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,840 Speaker 1: this across all of Wales. In addition to planning out 399 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:35,320 Speaker 1: which tollgates to attack next, these meetings looked at other 400 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:40,119 Speaker 1: issues farmers and workers were facing. Rebeccaites encouraged one another 401 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,320 Speaker 1: to withhold their rent or to pay only the amount 402 00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:48,400 Speaker 1: they thought was reasonable. This eventually became contentious, with Rebecca 403 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:52,520 Speaker 1: Heites attacking landlords whose behavior they thought was predatory, but 404 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:56,439 Speaker 1: also sometimes attacking other farmers who refused to participate in 405 00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:59,920 Speaker 1: these rent protests or signed leases that the Rebecca Eight 406 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: thought were unfair. As attacks on the gates escalated in 407 00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:08,720 Speaker 1: late eighteen forty two, magistrates called for help. Royal marines 408 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:11,679 Speaker 1: were deployed from Pembroke Dock and police were called in 409 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:16,160 Speaker 1: from London, but they really couldn't stop these demonstrations. By 410 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:19,679 Speaker 1: March of eighteen forty three, every gate being managed by 411 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:23,239 Speaker 1: the Whitland Road Trust had been torn down, and in 412 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:26,440 Speaker 1: one town an armed mob had forced a toll collector 413 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,960 Speaker 1: and his wife out into the street naked and then 414 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:33,560 Speaker 1: tore down part of their house. The gates around Carmarthen 415 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:38,520 Speaker 1: were destroyed in May. Then on June nineteenth, demonstrators tried 416 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:42,240 Speaker 1: to destroy Camarthen's Workhouse, releasing the people being housed there, 417 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:45,960 Speaker 1: throwing beds and bedding out the windows and demolishing what 418 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:50,160 Speaker 1: they could. It's not clear how many people were involved 419 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:53,440 Speaker 1: in the attack on the workhouse. Estimates range from hundreds 420 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:55,679 Speaker 1: to two thousand, and it seems to have been a 421 00:25:55,720 --> 00:26:00,520 Speaker 1: somewhat spontaneous assault. Unlike most of the Rebecca tests, the 422 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:03,840 Speaker 1: crowd included women and children, and aside from one man 423 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,840 Speaker 1: dressed as Rebecca, people were wearing their regular clothes. They 424 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:10,639 Speaker 1: were planning to march to Gildall Square to take their 425 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:13,960 Speaker 1: grievances to the magistrates, but along the way part of 426 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:17,720 Speaker 1: the crowd split off to attack the workhouse. In response 427 00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:20,760 Speaker 1: to the workhouse attack, the light dragoons were deployed under 428 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:24,760 Speaker 1: the command of Colonel James Frederick Love, and authorities read 429 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:28,040 Speaker 1: the Riot Act. That's the text that was read alowed 430 00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:31,879 Speaker 1: to demonstrators, ordering them to disperse their face criminal charges. 431 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:37,200 Speaker 1: Sixty people were arrested and eleven were convicted. After this, 432 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:39,920 Speaker 1: this was really when the Rebecca Riots started to get 433 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:44,199 Speaker 1: attention outside of this region of Wales. Eventually, the riots 434 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,120 Speaker 1: were well known enough that the imagery associated with them 435 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,800 Speaker 1: was being used to connect to other issues. The satirical 436 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:54,680 Speaker 1: magazine Punch carried an illustration in eighteen forty three that 437 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:59,480 Speaker 1: blended Irish nationalism with the riots, depicting Daniel O'Connell and 438 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:04,800 Speaker 1: the Repeat Association as Rebecca Rioters. The Repeal Association was 439 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:07,320 Speaker 1: advocating for the repeal of the Acts of Union of 440 00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:10,960 Speaker 1: eighteen hundred, which had dissolved the Irish Parliament and created 441 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:14,920 Speaker 1: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In this cartoon, 442 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,480 Speaker 1: Prime Minister Robert Peel is a toll collector and men 443 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:21,159 Speaker 1: in dresses are attacking a gate with slats that are 444 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:26,480 Speaker 1: labeled Church rate, Union tides and poor laws. Sometimes this 445 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:30,119 Speaker 1: is reprinted with the caption cutoff as a straightforward illustration 446 00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:33,280 Speaker 1: just of the Rebecca riots, but the caption makes the 447 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:37,720 Speaker 1: connections to Peel O'Connell and the Repeal Association completely clear. 448 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:41,359 Speaker 1: The Time sent reporter Thomas Campbell Foster to Wales and 449 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:45,159 Speaker 1: he reported on the disturbances for about six months. Most 450 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:48,919 Speaker 1: of the local newspapers in Wales were really critical of 451 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,160 Speaker 1: the rioters, although some of them did also print letters 452 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:56,200 Speaker 1: that had been written by Rebecca Itites. Overall, though, Foster's 453 00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:59,440 Speaker 1: reports were more sympathetic to all the social and economic 454 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,359 Speaker 1: issues that were at the heart of the riots, although 455 00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:05,960 Speaker 1: without condoning the rioter's actions. I also want to know 456 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:09,000 Speaker 1: that I haven't read through Foster's reporting. I'm kind of 457 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,840 Speaker 1: relying on sources that have described it as more sympathetic, 458 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:16,840 Speaker 1: at least relatively speaking. But not long after this, Foster 459 00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:20,160 Speaker 1: also went to Ireland to report on the Great Famine, 460 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:23,120 Speaker 1: which started in eighteen forty five, And while there were 461 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:27,399 Speaker 1: aspects of that reporting that were sort of similarly sympathetic 462 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,000 Speaker 1: to the hardships that Irish people were facing, it could 463 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:32,959 Speaker 1: also be really disparaging and reflect a lot of anti 464 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:37,480 Speaker 1: Irish bias. So while I read a lot of sort 465 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,920 Speaker 1: of summaries that described this reporting as like more sympathetic. 466 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:42,840 Speaker 1: It would not be surprising to me at all if 467 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:46,360 Speaker 1: some of those same threads were present in his reporting 468 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:50,280 Speaker 1: on Wales. He was an English reporter, presenting himself as 469 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:53,160 Speaker 1: an impartial outside observer in both cases, but he was 470 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: still definitely coming at it from an English perspective, and 471 00:28:56,240 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: English society saw itself as superior to both Ireland and Ways, 472 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:02,920 Speaker 1: as well as a long list of other countries. So 473 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:06,960 Speaker 1: many authorities also started taking stronger actions to try to 474 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:11,320 Speaker 1: stop the protests after the Carmarthen riots, but initially military 475 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:13,240 Speaker 1: units that were sent to the area to try to 476 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:17,680 Speaker 1: keep order weren't very effective at doing so. Basically, marching 477 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:21,200 Speaker 1: soldiers were loud and visible, so rebecca Itites were easily 478 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 1: able to avoid them, and a common pastime among locals 479 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:28,720 Speaker 1: was feeding the soldier's false information about which gates were 480 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 1: likely to be attacked next. They definitely come across as 481 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:36,880 Speaker 1: pretty bumbling at this point in the story. In the 482 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:40,959 Speaker 1: summer of eighteen forty three, there were overall fewer attacks 483 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,880 Speaker 1: on the toll gates, but the attacks themselves tended to 484 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:47,160 Speaker 1: be a lot stronger and more violent, and then beyond 485 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:50,600 Speaker 1: just the Gates. Rebecca Itites also sent threatening letters to 486 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:54,200 Speaker 1: landlords and debt collectors, and they committed other acts of 487 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: arson and vandalism. This included burning crops and haystacks and 488 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:03,520 Speaker 1: outbuildings as well was damaging trees. By August of that year, 489 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:07,040 Speaker 1: rebecca It's were also holding mass meetings to discuss and 490 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:10,680 Speaker 1: push for political changes. Sometimes there were thousands of people 491 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,320 Speaker 1: in attendance. Also, there are a lot of accounts of 492 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:18,080 Speaker 1: men dressed as Rebecca doing things like forcing men to 493 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:20,520 Speaker 1: marry the mothers of their children who had been born 494 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:23,720 Speaker 1: out of wedlock, or if that was not possible, forcing 495 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 1: those men to support those children, or punishing men who 496 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:31,840 Speaker 1: had abused or abandoned their families. So in addition to 497 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:34,720 Speaker 1: sort of fighting back against all of these social and 498 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:38,360 Speaker 1: economic issues in Wales, kind of maintaining a social order 499 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:44,280 Speaker 1: within the Welsh laboring and farming classes. The riot's only 500 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:47,320 Speaker 1: known death took place in September of eighteen forty three. 501 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:51,680 Speaker 1: That was when Sarah Williams, tollkeeper in Hindi Gate near Swansea, 502 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:56,400 Speaker 1: was shot. Some modern descriptions of Williams's death say she 503 00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:00,280 Speaker 1: was young, but newspaper reporting from the time just scribe 504 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:04,280 Speaker 1: her as seventy five. An inquest was convened and a 505 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:08,000 Speaker 1: jury ruled that her cause of death was unknown, despite 506 00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:10,840 Speaker 1: a surgeon testifying about evidence that she had been shot 507 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:14,920 Speaker 1: in the chest. Authorities offered a reward of five hundred 508 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 1: pounds for information on who had killed her, but a 509 00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:22,160 Speaker 1: culprit was never identified. She was very obviously shot, and 510 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:24,880 Speaker 1: I've seen some analysis of this that has like concluded 511 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:28,760 Speaker 1: that it was a case of jury nullification, somebody, you know, 512 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:32,880 Speaker 1: trying to protect the actual culprit, something like that. Eventually, 513 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:37,560 Speaker 1: the UK government deployed eighteen hundred soldiers and two cannons 514 00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: to Wales and sent more police officers from London. Colonel 515 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:45,000 Speaker 1: Love's attempts to keep order clearly had not been effective, 516 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:48,840 Speaker 1: so Major General George Brown was also dispatched to start 517 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:53,360 Speaker 1: overseeing the effort. Love had mostly responded to riots and 518 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: demonstrations after they were already happening, but Brown started trying 519 00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:00,440 Speaker 1: to station police and soldiers all around the world region 520 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:04,960 Speaker 1: and to just be more proactive. Arrests really increased over 521 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,040 Speaker 1: the autumn, and the number of incidents at the tollgates 522 00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:12,680 Speaker 1: dropped sharply. However, since a lot of the tollgates had 523 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:16,520 Speaker 1: been destroyed and then either replaced with chains or not rebuilt. 524 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:20,280 Speaker 1: A lot of people were just passing by the tollgates 525 00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:24,560 Speaker 1: without stopping to pay anything. A Royal Commission was convened 526 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:28,040 Speaker 1: to investigate the toll roads in October of eighteen forty three, 527 00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:33,400 Speaker 1: with MP Thomas Franklin Lewis presiding. This commission issued its 528 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,920 Speaker 1: report in eighteen forty four and didn't find that there 529 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:41,000 Speaker 1: was widespread or systemic mismanagement of the toll system or 530 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:45,320 Speaker 1: wrongdoing by the toll trusts. But the commission did find 531 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:48,920 Speaker 1: some issues like multiple trusts all putting their own toll 532 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:53,040 Speaker 1: houses along the same road, and trusts building toll gates 533 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 1: and then expecting the local community to repair and maintain them. 534 00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:00,840 Speaker 1: In response to this, Parliament passed Lord Cauday Act, or 535 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:04,520 Speaker 1: the Turnpike South Wales Act in eighteen forty four, which 536 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:08,160 Speaker 1: simplified the toll system, reduced the number of toll houses, 537 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:13,880 Speaker 1: and regulated the turnpike trusts. The large Rebeccaite demonstrations had 538 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:16,600 Speaker 1: really ended by the time this law was passed, and 539 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,400 Speaker 1: trials of people who were arrested in connection to them ended. 540 00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:25,360 Speaker 1: In early eighteen forty four. Although rioting was punishable by hanging, 541 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:29,440 Speaker 1: mostly Rebeccaites were convicted of lesser charges. Some of them 542 00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:33,080 Speaker 1: were transported to Australia. In the decades that followed the 543 00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:35,800 Speaker 1: Rebecca Riots, some of the issues that had led to 544 00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:40,040 Speaker 1: the unrest improved, at least to some extent. The development 545 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:42,680 Speaker 1: of railways in Wales made it easier for people to 546 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:46,600 Speaker 1: travel and to transport their goods. Gradually, the toll gates 547 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:49,400 Speaker 1: were removed, with the last toll gate of this era 548 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:53,320 Speaker 1: ceasing operation in eighteen ninety five, although a number of 549 00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:56,320 Speaker 1: toll roads and toll bridges have come and gone since then. 550 00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:00,040 Speaker 1: There were also changes to the poor laws, and the 551 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:03,680 Speaker 1: corn Laws were repealed in eighteen forty six. We didn't 552 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:06,040 Speaker 1: talk about the corn Laws at all in this episode, 553 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:09,000 Speaker 1: but these were tariffs that were generally seen as favoring 554 00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:13,040 Speaker 1: rich landowners over working people, and in times of scarcity 555 00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:17,200 Speaker 1: they could make food prohibitively expensive for poor people to buy. 556 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,360 Speaker 1: They were repealed in part because of the effects of 557 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:23,880 Speaker 1: the Great Famine in Ireland. The riots also became the 558 00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:27,840 Speaker 1: subject of fiction and theater, starting even before they ended. 559 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:31,040 Speaker 1: As examples, there was a play called Rebecca and Her 560 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:34,760 Speaker 1: Daughters that was staged at Royal Amphitheater, Liverpool. In eighteen 561 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:39,840 Speaker 1: forty three, Elizabeth Amy Dillon published a novel called The 562 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:42,799 Speaker 1: Rebecca Rioter, a Story of a Kila life in two 563 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:47,839 Speaker 1: volumes at eighteen eighty. Dylan Thomas wrote a screenplay called 564 00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:51,520 Speaker 1: Rebecca's Daughters in nineteen forty eight that eventually became a 565 00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:55,600 Speaker 1: film much later in nineteen ninety two. There are also 566 00:34:55,680 --> 00:34:58,360 Speaker 1: a couple of different bands that have named themselves the 567 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:01,840 Speaker 1: Rebecca Riots, including an acoustic folk trio out of Berkeley, 568 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:05,360 Speaker 1: California in the late nineteen nineties and early two thousands. 569 00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:09,080 Speaker 1: There's a wooden sculpture commemorating the Rebecca Riots in Saint 570 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:12,080 Speaker 1: Clair's which was commissioned by the Saint Clair's Council and 571 00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:15,520 Speaker 1: unveiled in March of two thousand and eight. It depicts 572 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:19,080 Speaker 1: three men in dresses, one on horseback, breaking down a fence. 573 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:22,600 Speaker 1: The men and horses are carved from cedar and the 574 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:25,560 Speaker 1: fence is ash. Some of the toll gates from this 575 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:28,680 Speaker 1: era are also still standing and in some cases are 576 00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:31,480 Speaker 1: being lived in as homes. Yeah, there are a couple 577 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:35,520 Speaker 1: others that are more like museums community spaces. We will 578 00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:38,200 Speaker 1: wrap it up with a quote from the introduction of 579 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:41,360 Speaker 1: that nineteen ten book we've referenced a couple of times. 580 00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:47,600 Speaker 1: This introduction was written by Gladys Tobat Evans. Quote. Rebeccaism 581 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:51,080 Speaker 1: was the spirit of revolt which filled the whole nature 582 00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:54,719 Speaker 1: of the peasant against the tyranny of the government, the 583 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:57,960 Speaker 1: oppression of the masses by the classes, the fostering of 584 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,840 Speaker 1: the individual rights at the expense of they at large. 585 00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:04,720 Speaker 1: Rebeccaism was the embodiment of the peasants anger and righteous 586 00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:08,400 Speaker 1: indignation at the trampling underfoot of his rights and his feelings. 587 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:12,760 Speaker 1: Rebeccaism was the spirit of a nation asserting itself against 588 00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:17,200 Speaker 1: the wrongdoings and evil actions of the few, that is, 589 00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:19,880 Speaker 1: the Rebecca Riots. Do you have a bit of listener mail? 590 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,840 Speaker 1: I do. This is from Sarah, and Sarah wrote, Holly 591 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,799 Speaker 1: and Tracy. I just listened to your recent episodes on 592 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:31,040 Speaker 1: mourning Dove. I found it incredibly informative, thought provoking, and 593 00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:35,080 Speaker 1: it was actually relatable to the goings on in our library. 594 00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:40,280 Speaker 1: Recently we had Emma Noise or author of Baby Speaks Salish, 595 00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:43,360 Speaker 1: give a talk about her experiences as a member of 596 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:47,120 Speaker 1: the Synix Band of the Confederated Tribes of the Callville Reservation. 597 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:50,920 Speaker 1: She spoke about coyote stories, the importance of listening, and 598 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:54,520 Speaker 1: her discussion about her language was more than interesting. I've 599 00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:56,640 Speaker 1: been listening to your podcast for years now, and every 600 00:36:56,680 --> 00:37:00,280 Speaker 1: episode as a learning opportunity. Thanks for all the hard 601 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:03,000 Speaker 1: work and for the thoughtfulness that goes into episodes such 602 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:07,200 Speaker 1: as this. A brief description of the book, quote Baby 603 00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:10,000 Speaker 1: Speaks Salish as a one of a kind manual created 604 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:13,480 Speaker 1: by a mother seeking to share more call the Okanagan 605 00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:17,200 Speaker 1: Salish language with her daughter than she herself was exposed 606 00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:20,160 Speaker 1: to as a young girl. Created for caregivers and the 607 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:23,719 Speaker 1: language curious, this book provides simple examples for how to 608 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:28,400 Speaker 1: integrate more Salish words into adult and child interactions. This 609 00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:32,480 Speaker 1: book can be purchased in some local bookstores in Spokane, Washington. 610 00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:37,920 Speaker 1: It's also online at from here Spokane dot com. Thanks Sarah, 611 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:41,680 Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Sarah. I had not heard about this book, 612 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:44,400 Speaker 1: but I love this idea and it also gives me 613 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:50,720 Speaker 1: a moment to say. Our colleague Whune Lance Twitchell, who 614 00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:55,840 Speaker 1: is host of the podcast The Tongue Unbroken, which is 615 00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:57,560 Speaker 1: coming back for a new season in the beginning of 616 00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:00,960 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. Has also written a book which is 617 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:06,640 Speaker 1: called Kuhanti. And this book was written in conjunction with 618 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:11,520 Speaker 1: ling It language speakers and is written only in the 619 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:15,840 Speaker 1: indigenous language without translations. So it's like a book written 620 00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:19,680 Speaker 1: in that language for kids, which is an idea I love. 621 00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:22,600 Speaker 1: And I was so happy when I learned that Hune 622 00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:26,360 Speaker 1: had gotten it published. So thank you Sarah for this 623 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:29,600 Speaker 1: email for giving me a chance to name drop that 624 00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:32,920 Speaker 1: if you would like to send us a note about 625 00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:36,319 Speaker 1: this or any other podcast or history podcasts at iHeartRadio 626 00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:39,360 Speaker 1: dot com and we're all over social media at mist 627 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:42,719 Speaker 1: in History, and you can subscribe to our show on 628 00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,359 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app or anywhere else you'd like to get 629 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:52,920 Speaker 1: your podcasts. Stuff you missed in History Class is a 630 00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:57,360 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 631 00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:00,719 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever or you listening to 632 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:01,600 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.