14th November 1817: Lancelot Rolleston sends the indemnifying confessions of Nottinghamshire Luddites to the Home Office

My Lord

I have the honour of enclosing your Lordship four acknowledgements taken by me in comformity to the proclamation issued last summer; I have reason to believe many others would have come forward had they not been dissuaded by old Badder who went round for that purpose. Since I had the honour of seeing your Lordship, I have had frequent opportunities of ascertaining the effect produced by the proceedings of the last year, which I am fully convinced have not only destroyed the spirit of Luddism, but impressed the minds of that class of the [community] with a respect for the Justice, as well as a proper sense of the power of the [laws].

I know your Lordship to be well acquainted with the specious and designing characters of Ward, Henson &c &c but it is not to these men I allude, but their misguided instruments, who profess a just feeling of indignation against their seducers, & will not again I think be easily led to a recommission of similar crimes. My last plan for the apprehension of Christr. Blackburn is laid, but I have very faint hopes of success, but should I succeed, your Lordship shall immediately be informed.

I have [etc]
Lanct. Rolleston

Watnall
Nov. 14th. 1817

[Confessions follow]

County of Nottingham

I Jonathan Austin of Basford in the County of Nottingham do hereby acknowledge myself to have been a party at the breaking of the frames at Bramcote last summer

Jonathan
my X mark―
Austin

Acknowledged
Before me July 22nd 1817

Lanct. Rolleston one of his Majesty’s justices of the peace for the said County


County of Nottingham

I Joseph Mellors of Basford in the County of Nottingham do hereby acknowledge myself to have been actively concerned in the framebreaking at Carnel’s house at Bulwell & at the different houses at Lambley in Octr. last

his
Joseph x Mellors
mark

Acknowledged before me one of his Majesty’s justices of the peace for the said County

this 23rd of July 22nd 1817

Lanct. Rolleston 


I, John Lomas of the parish of Bulwell do hereby acknowledge myself to have been actively concerned in breaking frames at Lambley in Octr. last & also at Thos, Carnells at Bulwell last winter.

Acknowledged before me
one of his Majesty’s justices
of the Peace for the County
of Nottingham

John
his X mark
Lomas

Lanct. Rolleston


I, Nathan Diggle of Basford in the County of Nottingham do hereby acknowledge myself to have been actively concerned in breaking frames at Mullins & Wrights at Radford, at Carnell’s at Bulwell, at the different houses in Lambley, & at Bramley, at Bramcote, all in the last two years

Nathan Diggle

Acknowledged before me
One of his Majesty’s justices
Of the Peace for the County of
Notts. This 27th of Aug. 1817

Lanct. Rolleston

23rd October 1816: Henry Enfield tells the Home Office that a target of the Luddite attack at Lambley has fled to London

Nottingham October 23d, 1816.

Sir

I am extremely sorry that my misconstruing your letter the 16th Instant should have occasioned you the trouble of writing a second letter. Enclosed you will receive, for the Information of Lord Sidmouth, the particulars of the Attack at Lambley on the Frames of Rogers & Shaw—the only further Circumstance with which I am acquainted relative to this Outrage I can only communicate most confidentially—it is, that I know Mr Shaw is peculiarly obnoxious to the Workmen, from having generally reduced wages & used Language to them of the most unconciliatory kind—This is stated to be Confidentially by one of our Secret Committee—& I therefore feel justified in imparting it in my present Letter—Shaw is under apprehensions so strong, that he is [going] to London to-morrow for the purpose of personal security—

I shall, in future, take the liberty of making communication to Lord Sidmouth immediately upon the happening of these dreadful outrages, should they recur—In these Circumstance they are generally very similar

I have [etc]

H Enfield

[To] The Rt Honble J H Addington

18th October 1816: 'A.B.' writes to the Evening Mail with more information about Luddite Committees in Nottingham

Nottingham, October 14.

In my last I pointed out to you the existence of a committee, whose orders were promptly and regularly executed. I will now give you an instance with what decision the mandates of this committee are performed. On Saturday last night last, it ordered 100 men to enter the village of Lambley, about 6 miles this place, and destroy 36 frames belonging to two men in partnership, for having made use of expressions which this committee deemed improper. These men took military possession of the village, and in the course of a very short time completed the destruction they were sent on. Yet nothing is done to bring these daring rascals to justice. Placards are up in this town, inviting the inhabitants to prepare fire-arms, as they will shortly be called upon "to fight the tyrants who now oppress them."

A.B.

14th October 1816: A Hosier writes to the Home Office about the Luddite attack at Lambley

Nottingham Oct 14th: 1816

My Lord

It is with extreme [concern] I then take the liberty of addressing you, an humble individual, as I am, but when it is really essential you should be informed of the Diabolical proceedings of a set of dangerous fellows, who regularly sit and order a party who are immediately under their direction to go and formally demand money from the lower Classes of mechanics who cannot refuse them through fear, and at other times dispatch a Party in the adjoining villages to destroy machinery belonging to those manufacturers who may be offensive to them—I hope you will excuse me

This was actually the case last Saturday Evening when about 100 of these desperados entered different Houses of the peaceable Inhabitants of Lambley a small Village 6 miles North East of us, where they destroyed 30 Looms, and also committed many acts of theft, they at one House regaled themselves with Bread, Butter Cheese & Ale as much as they stood in need off, the remainder they wantonly destroyed

Two Looms which they destroyed belonged to myself and cost £72:0:0 & were then nearly worth the same money they first Cost—I have applied to The Revd Dr Wyld an active magistrate, who has given me a written Document to bring the whole of my property out of the County into the Town which will be done Tomorrow—

It is absolutely necessary something should be done and that immediately for our Security or inevitable ruin must be the consequence—

as a remedy nothing but sending us down a Police magistrate who knows no fear & some attendants to act both for Town & County or putting us under Martial Law or suspending the Habeas Corpus Act

Another evil I complain of is the 73 foot Regiment quartered in this Town being too much connected with the Inhabitants and ought to be removed should any general rise take place which we really apprehend they have not hesitate to say the Soldiers are nearly to a man on their side—

It is clearly ascertained & the House is well known where this Committee are sitting & that their only means of subsisting is by their sending Delegates to collect money publickly from House to House in both Town & County—

If it is in your power to do anything further at present I hope you will furnish the County with a few Regiments of Soldiers, as I am quietly confident the peaceable disposed Inhabitants must quit their dwellings unless a remedy is found—

With regard to the Character of the different People who had their Houses forcibly entered on Saturday I have known two principle sufferers for 20 years they have been uniformly steady & uniformly industrious so much so they have works accumulated considerable property—

hoping you will receive this communication as it is intended by one who revered the Constitution under which he lives, and any information at a future day I can render the state will be cheerfully done by

My Lord
Yr Lordships
most obed Serv
Robert Gill

13th October 1816: Luddites destroy at least 30 Frames at Lambley, Nottinghamshire

At around midnight on Sunday 13th October, a large body of Luddites raided a number of houses in the Nottinghamshire village of Lambley.

The Leicester Chronicle of 19th October 1816 carried a brief article about the raid:

FRAME BREAKING.

On Saturday last, about twelve o'clock, a party of men, computed at one hundred, or more, disguised and armed, appeared in Lambley, a village about seven miles from Nottingham, and destroyed no less than thirty frames. The first house they attacked was Joseph Lovatt’s, which they broke into, and destroyed his frames: while a part of them were engaging in this business, another part, called Thos. Needham out of his bed, and threatened his life he did not obey the call (the men frequently fired pistols in the streets, so that nearly the whole village was in a state of consternation and alarm). Under the influence of fear, he came down and opened the door, and as he was going up stairs again, they fired at him, exclaiming — "damn you, you remember Clumber-street." Fortunately the firing was without effect, and they set a guard over him, while they broke seven frames which were his shop. They also broke the frames which were in the houses of Arthur Kirk, and Joseph Godber, but we have not heard the number broken in each house. What renders this an unparalleled outrage is, that not content with breaking the frames, these depredators proceeded to rifle the houses, and actually took away a large quantity of property, shirts, stockings, and other articles. Various parts of the frames were also taken away. A very active constable was sent over to the place, but no clue has yet been found for the detection of the perpetrators of this outrage and robbery.

The Nottingham Review of 18th October also carried a brief article, with some interesting information about the supposed grievances which had meant certain Hosiers were targeted in particular:

Frame breaking.—Extract of a letter from Nottingham, dated Oct. 16, 1816.—“I am sorry to inform you, that during the night of Saturday last, the village of Lumley, about six miles from this place, was visited by a large number of persons, armed and disguised, under the command of the invincible General Ludd, who addressed his forces in a short speech, on the nature of the service they were then employed upon, and then dividing them into small parties, ordered them to their respective posts.—They immediately commenced the work of demolishing a number of lace and two needle frames, in different parts of the village, belonging to various hosiers in this place. In some of the houses, they broke and destroyed every article of furniture, taking away with them knives and forks, and provisions of every description.—These nightly depredators went to the house of a person named Needham, who was the prosecutor of Simpson, executed for highway robbery, last Lent Assizes, and they told him “they came to punish him for swearing against Simpson!” The number of frames broken is not exactly ascertained, but certainly they amount to more than thirty; and the reason assigned for this outrage is, that the lace frames were making what is called in the trade, two coats hole; a lace of the worst quality; alike injurious to the workmen, the honest manufacturer, and the public. This disgraceful article has brought the lace of this place into disrepute, and it is that which is generally sold by Hawkers. The two-needle frames are stated to have been making hose of 56 gauge for sixpence a pair, which ought to be 2s. 2d. which is now actually paid by some of the first hosiers in this place.

Finally, the legal deposition of one of the targets of the raid, Thomas Needham, is also interesting:

Thomas Needham of Lambley Fwk, who works to Messrs Rogers and Shaw, states that between 12 and 1, in the night of Saturday the 12th Instant he was awakened by a noise in the Village and a short time after he looked out at the Chamber Window and saw (being moonlight) a number of men disguised Some with Smock Frocks on—some had their Coats turned and one whom they called Ned Ludd, had, apparently a Straw Bonnet tied under the Chin and a petticoat on—they then went to the house of Lovet which is opposite to Needham’s and ordered him "to open the door or death"—he not opening the door they broke it open and destroyed the Frames in the house about 10 or 11 in number—Whilst the Ludds were doing this, Needham called up and armed each of his Apprentices (5 or 6) with a Pitchfork, being determined to defend the Frames in his house, but he then looking through the different Windows in his house and perceiving that every Window was guarded by a Ludd with Fire arms he thought it would be impossible to stand against them and in a short time after they came to his door and demanded "entrance or death"—he then went down Stairs and opened the house door, and as he was returning up Stairs, one of them fired at him but as neither Ball or Shot could be found it is supposed only to have been with Blank Cartridge—they then proceeded into the Workshop on the Ground Floor in which were 9 frames, 7 of which they broke, 5 belonging to Rogers and Shaw, one to Mr. Leaver and one to Rogers—The Ludds did not go up Stairs—after having broken the Frames they proceeded into the House place—and destroyed a quantity of Tea, Sugar &c—Spilt 2 or 3 Panchions full of milk and destroyed the Panchions—Eat a Pot of preserved Black Currants, and stole several articles of wearing Apparel—plated tea Spoons and Sugar Nippers—and on going away they called out "damn you remember Clumber Street" which Needham supposed alluded to his having prosecuted Jas Simpson alias Dann &c who went up Clumber Street to be hanged—The Ludds might be in Lambley about 2 hours.—

Of course, the press would have been unaware - and possibly Needham too - but the authorities knew that Simpson/Dann was a Luddite.

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.