22nd March 1813: Two men sentenced to transportation at Derby Lent Assizes for riot at a Corn Mill

On Monday 22nd March 1813, two men - Benjamin Beardsley & George Cope - were sentenced by Sir Vicary Gibbs to 7 years transportation after being convicted of taking part in a riot at a Corn Mill at Ilkeston 5 months previously.

8th October 1812: Mass attack on Corn Mill at Ilkeston, Derbyshire

In the evening of Tuesday 8th October 1812, people 'to the number of one hundred and upwards' assembled and broke into a Corn Mill belonging to Thomas Potter & John Padley at Ilkeston, in Derbyshire. They proceeded to take away several bags of wheat.

Two men - Benjamin Beardsley & George Cope - were later arrested and committed to the County Gaol charged with riotous assembly.

11th December 1811: More frame-breaking in Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire

On the evening of Wednesday the 11th December, 'several' frames were broken at Ripley in Derbyshire and 1 at Burton Joyce in Nottinghamshire.

The Derby Mercury of 12th December reported that many frames had been broken during the week at Ilkeston (30 frames), Makeney, Heage, Holbrook, Crich, Swanwick & Riddings.

5th December 1811: Frame-breaking at Ilkeston - anatomy of a Luddite attack

In the early hours of Friday the 6th December, Derbyshire Luddites again attacked frames at Ilkeston. Amongst their targets that night were the workshops of Thomas and Christopher Harrison.

At 1 a.m., 30 to 40 Luddites, their faces disguised with cloth masks or handkerchiefs, broke into the workshop of Thomas Harrison. One of the Luddites stood guard outside armed with a musket with a bayonet attached. The frames were broken in the shop itself, with Thomas Harrison staying in his bedroom during the attack. Five frames from his shop were destroyed before the Luddites left and moved on into the village. The group returned after 15 minutes, with one of them ordering a halt near Harrison's house. They then formed into ranks and marched off in a military fashion.

Elsewhere in Ilkeston, Christopher Harrison could not sleep. Following the attacks in Ilkeston on the 1st December, he was afraid his stocking frames would be next, and had already removed several in case of attack. At about 2 a.m. he was peering through a window in his house when his fears were realised - he saw 30 men gathered outside his house, with raised voices they threatened to kill anyone who opposed them. This was enough for Christopher - he opened another window and jumped down, making his way to a vantage point where he could watch what took place in safety. The Luddites had posted guards outside the house, and then began to smash the two remaining stocking frames that were there. But the Luddites seemed to know he had taken some of his frames away, and they threatened a girl present in his house with violence unless she revealed where the frames had been taken. In the end, the threats were empty, and they left without hurting anyone.

1st December 1811: Mass framebreaking in Derbyshire

On the Sunday evening, Luddites launched concerted raids in Derbyshire. 50 frames were destroyed in Ilkeston and Heanor. According to the Derby Mercury of 12th December, Derbyshire Luddites seemed less fussy than their Nottinghamshire counterparts:

"Frames of all descriptions have been destroyed without discrimination."

The Nottingham Review of the 6th December also reported that 1 frame had been broken at Wessington & 1 at South Wingfield.

23rd November 1811: Frame-breaking comes to Derbyshire & Luddites win concessions

Conant & Baker reported¹ that on Saturday 23rd Novmber, "one Frame was broken at Ilkeston in Derbyshire but further mischief was prevented by coercive and conciliatory measures being resorted to", but are entirely vague about what either of these measures were. Darvall² quotes a passage from Felkin³ as evidence that concessions were being offered to Luddites at this early stage:

It was in this last week of November, 1811, that the writer of these lines, then a youth of scarcely seventeen, was required by his masters to get into the saddle and make a long round, to convey the information that if their frames, of which they employed about 3000, were spared from the destruction with which they were threatened, one shilling per dozen advance would be paid the following Saturday, and be continued whether others paid it or not. It was a dreary afternoon with heavy rain and winter sleet. He rode hard, and at Basford, Bulwell, Eastwood, Heanor, Ilkiston, Smalley, Sawiey, Kegworth, Gotham and Ruddington, delivered to their head frame-work-knitters the joyful news of the offered advance. The wintry storm, though uncomfortable enough to the messenger, tended greatly to the success of his message. It prevented for that night the marauding parties employing themselves; these frames had been undoubtedly doomed, for an example, as belonging to one of the most influential houses in the trade. The promise made was faithfully performed; not one of their frames was injured, and no further fears were excited as to the safety of their property.

16th - 23rd March 1811: 'outrages in the villages' - 100 frames broken

Sources of information about exactly what happened following the Arnold attack on 11th March are somewhat thin on the ground. Several authors allude to the fact that the disturbances carried on for two weeks, before being checked by the events of the 26th March (a post will follow on that date), and the information is drawn from local newspapers, as well as a report by two Bow Street magistrates, Nathaniel Conant and Robert Baker written almost 12 months later.¹

In his timeline², Thomis report that frames were broken in this period at Sutton-in-Ashfield, Kirkby, Woodborough, Lambley, and Bulwell in Nottinghamshire and also at Ilkeston in Derbyshire. Citing Conant & Baker, Darvall tells us that:

"Night after night in the surrounding villages mobs collected and entered various workshops in order to break the frames of unpopular hosiers. All over the north-western part of Nottinghamshire, in the various hosiery villages, often in several different places on the same night, and sometimes even by day, cases of framebreaking were reported."³

In Nottingham, the local magistrates ordered regular patrols by "six regular and six special constables", these being augmented by small parties of the military in some of the villages. Meanwhile, the Derby Mercury of 28th March 1811 has reports of large troop movements, with three whole divisions moving into Nottinghamshire:

"The 2d division of the first Royal Lancashire Militia, on its rout from Worcester to Hull on arriving here this morning, received a counter order to proceed to Nottingham, where the 3d division will follow it, to assist the civil power in preserving the tranquility of the town and neighbourhood. The 1st division which arrived here yesterday, was ordered to proceed to Mansfield, & halt there till further orders."

In a report on the 23rd March (below), the Nottingham Journal expresses alarm at the continuing disturbances, and notes that 100 frames have been broken⁴ in the past 14 days:

It is with great concern we hear, that the mischievous proceedings which took place at Arnold last week, have been extended to most of the manufacturing villages in the north western parts of this county, where upwards of one hundred stocking frames, the property of individuals have been destroyed. These outrages are the more to be deprecated, since they will be attended with less evil to the proprietor, than the unfortunate workman, who must for a length of time be thrown  entirely out of employment. The persons engaged in these depredations, proceed in small companies, disguised so that their persons may not be known; in some instances, however, their designs have been frustrated by the determined resistance of those who were in employ. We hope, shortly to be able to announce a happy adjustment of existing differences between the workmen and their employers.