The Militia 4

LORD BYRON SCANDALIZES LORDS

Last 27th February, in The House of Lords (London), must examine a proposed law, alredy adopted by The House of Commons, which establishes the death penalty for breaking machines (luddites attacks), but a young poet, will be the only opponent.

 

This young man is Lord Byron and he is a great poet and writer. He was born 22th January 1788 (London). 

He had a strong advocate of social reform, he received particular praise as one of the few Parliamentary defenders of the Luddites: specifically, he was against a death penalty for Luddites.

                 
                  What was Byron's role in parliament?

As a member of the House of Lords, Byron attended 15 sessions, and spoke three times, always from a Whig position. In this speech, against a bill calling for the death penalty for frame-breakers, he is often ironic, but passionate in his defence of the protesting workers. 

      WHO ARE THE LUDDITIES?

Its origins date back to  the 19th century labor movement that railed against the economic fallout of the Industrial Revolution.

The original Luddites were British weavers and textile workers who object to the increased use of automated looms and knitting frames. Most were trained artisans who had spent years learning their craft, and they feared that unskilled machine operators were robbing them of their livelihood.

THE SPEECH

From 1811 the introduction of power-driven mechanical frames for the manufacture of stockings sparked off a series of protests around Nottingham, after groups of skilled labourers had lost work as a result of the new technology. Using the name ‘Luddites’, from an imaginary leader, Ned Ludd, they broke into workshops at night and smashed up the frames. The police and military were brought in to find and arrest Luddites, for the most part unsuccessfully, as shown here in Lord Byron's speech.