TOLPUDDLE MARTYRS
BRONZE PLAQUE
OLD COURT HOUSE, DORCHESTER
THIS bronze plaque was installed relatively recently in 1984 outside the Old Courthouse in Dorchester. It is worth flagging up just ahead of the Shire Hall opening up as the town's latest heritage centre.
It remembers the original trade unionists, the Tolpuddle Martyrs - James Loveless, James Brine, Thomas Standfield, John Standfield, George Loveless and James Hammett, who were tried at the court in 1834.
This group of men, 19th century Dorset agricultural labourers, were arrested for and convicted of swearing a secret oath as members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers.
The rules of the society show it was clearly structured as a friendly society and operated as a trade-specific benefit society. But at the time, friendly societies had strong elements of what are now considered to be the predominant role of trade unions. The Tolpuddle Martyrs were subsequently sentenced to transportation to Australia.
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