BattlefieldsCaptain Swing threshing machine breaking Kent 1830
modern

Captain Swing threshing machine breaking Kent 1830

1830
Kent, England
Era
modern
Battle Type
Pitched Battle
Location
Kent, England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Forces
Not recorded in historical accounts
Forces
farm machinery and their owners.
VS
Victor
Not recorded in historical accounts
Forces
Kent agricultural labourers conducting organised machine-breaking raids
Outcome
Machines destroyed across east Kent. Magistrates and yeomanry deployed. Mass trials at the Kent Winter Assizes resulted in transportation and imprisonment. The Swing Riots were the last major rural rising in English history.
The Battle

History & Significance

The Captain Swing Riots began in east Kent in the summer of 1830 with agricultural labourers destroying threshing machines that displaced winter work. The movement spread across southern England as labourers demanded higher wages and an end to machinery. Fires and riots accompanied machine-breaking across Kent through the autumn.

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