Swing Rioters to Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania)

What has been called the greatest wave of protest machine breaking in English history occurred in southeast England in the winter of 1830/31. The (mythical) leader of the Swing rioters was Captain Swing who supposedly took his name from the ‘swing’ (moving part) of the flail used to thrash the grain from harvested cereal crops. The 1830s breakers, rioters and arsonists (properly collectively referred to as Swing rioters) were farm labourers and rural artisans. Most were ploughmen traditionally employed as thrashers during the winter months but that winter work was now increasingly being done by horse or steam-powered thrashing machines. A number of factors, including a succession of poor harvests followed by severe winters, were responsible for the rural depression of the 1830s but mechanisation was blamed. Following a series of arson incidents machine breaking began in Kent in late August 1830, spread to East Sussex and then rapidly to a score or so of south-east England Counties. The machinery destroyed included chaff cutters, draining ploughs and other implements for the abridgement of agricultural labour as well as thrashing machines. In Buckinghamshire and Norfolk papermaking machines were also broken. King William IV had little sympathy for the Swing movement and was alarmed by the revolutionary movements on the European Continent and the agitation in England so supported Tory opposition to the Parliamentary Reform Act (the ‘Reform Bill’ of 1831-32). A series of trials by Special Commission added to the Swing rioters tried in County Assizes and about 475 men and one woman were transported to New South Wales or Van Diemen’s Land convicted of acts of arson, machine breaking, rioting and receiving money during the riots. The ‘Reform Bill’ finally became law in June 1832 and, although it gave nothing but hope in the way of electoral reform to the agricultural labourers, it did precede an attitude that paved the way for eventual free pardons for the Swing rioters. In early February 1835, six months after declaration in England, 220 of the VDL 7-year sentence men received free pardons. Further free or conditional pardons in respect of 14-year men and lifers followed in May 1837. About 10% of the pardoned or sentence expired machine breakers, most of whom had wives and families, returned to England but a greater number stayed in Australia. Some had family members sent from England and a few who went home shortly re-embarked for Australia bringing family with them. An estimated 15 to 20% of the total transported Swing rioters became cofounders of present-day Australian families.