SWING REVISITED: THE SWING PROJECT

Abstract

The Captain Swing riots were the most serious protest by agricultural labouring communities of the I9th century. Historiographically, the work of Hobsbawm and Rudé (I969) has remained the outstanding account of these riots. So much so that, since their groundbreaking study, relatively little work has been done on these events at an aggregate scale. However, local research has implied that the unrest was greater than even Hobsbawm and Rudé reported. This article reviews the findings of a project on the Swing disturbances in England, Scotland and Wales in the period I830 to I832. Our intention was to address the extent of ‘Swing’ and to revisit the frequency and type of distribution of the unrest. Our findings suggest that it was indeed more widespread than hitherto believed. Boundaries between Swing and non-Swing are also shown to be porous although many of the conclusions of Hobsbawm and Rudé were found to stand the test of time.