A Convict Love Token
© Tony Smith 2018

Notes for A Convict Love Token

David Brown of West Sussex came across a coin etched by a convict ‘CG to SG’ in late 1830. He was able to trace a descendant of Charles Green because Warren Read had contributed research on his ancestor to the Hungerford Virtual Museum, In late 2017, Mr Brown came to Australia and presented the coin to Mr Read. It is now in the Camden Museum. The museum of Australia has a collection of similar coins – some 120 – which they call ‘leaden hearts’.

Charles, of Kintbury Berkshire, was in prison for his part in the rural protest movement known as the Swing Riots. Their leader’s nom-de-guerre was Captain Swing. These protestors, like the Luddites in urban areas, took direct action against the machines which threatened their way of life. They smashed threshing machines and burnt haystacks.

Charles etched the coin while awaiting... (Continues)

2018
Imperfecta naturaleza

2019
Emanciper-se

1820-30

Bill Price in The Fine Old Yorkshire Gentleman (1972)
Roy Harris in Champions of Folly (1972)
Louis and Sally Kitheir in Shining Morning (1975) and in Gallant Lads Are We: Songs of the British Industrial Revolution. (1980)
Ian Giles with Folly Bridge in Unabridged (1992)
Brian Peters in The Seeds of Time (1992)
Maddy Prior & the Girls (Rose Kemp and Abbie Lathe) in Bib & Tuck (2002)
Mawkin Causley in The Awkward Recruit (2009)
Bryony Griffith in Nightshade (2014)
Rachael McShane with The Cartographers in 2018

Croppers, although relatively few in numbers, played a central part in the activities of the machine-breaking Luddites in Yorkshire. Prior to the introduction of machinery to do the job they had been top-grade apprenticed craftsmen, trained to produce a smooth even nap on the woollen cloth after it had been woven. They cropped the woven cloth with heavy... (Continues)

2006
Bloody men