where does the saying send you to coventry come from?

Question

when someone says i'll send you to coventry and they then egnor that person, how did that saying come about?

Answer 1

The saying came around in the 1700's alright, but this is a more accurate view of it. B'ham was always a bigger district and coventry was always a dump, so when anyone got into trouble with the law they were sent to work in the dump known as "coventry". It then ended up housing thousands or retards and this is the way it still is today

Answer 2

Send To Coventry

Answer 3

Sent To Coventry

Answer 4

As a ex Coventry kid I can tell you the real answer.
The story is that Cromwell sent a group of Royalist soldiers to be imprisoned in Coventry somewhere around 1648, Because it was a walled city, it also had a cathedral with a monastery and supported Parliament , during the English civil war. The locals, who were parliamentary supporters and or monks, shunned them and refused to consort with them. The monks had also their vow of silence that stopped them from talking. Its not clear if it really happened but what is known for sure is that during the civil war Coventry was a prison and had a large monk and nun population, even today the church owns 80% of the land that is within the boundaries of Coventry's old walls.

Answer 5

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RE:
where does the saying send you to coventry come from?
when someone says i'll send you to coventry and they then egnor that person, how did that saying come about?

Answer 6

The expression originated in the 1700's by a lady called Elizabeth Fry who was a school teacher in Birmingham. At that time both Birmingham and Coventry were great rival cities and she would tell the children in her classroom, if you don't be quiet, I'll send you to Coventry, meaning if you don't be quiet, we will and won't talk to you - thus the expression was found.

Answer 7

The origins of this phrase aren't known, although it is quite probable that events in Coventry in the English Civil War in the 1640s play a part. For those not familiar with the UK, Coventry is an industrial city (in the 17th century a small town) in Warwickshire, England. It is suggested, although we now use the phrase in an allusory sense, that it originated from people sent there in reality.

The story - and it is no more than that - is that Cromwell sent a group of Royalist soldiers to be imprisoned in Coventry, around 1648. The locals, who were parliamentary supporters, shunned them and refused to consort with them.

The first known citation of the allusory meaning is from Club book of the Tarporley Hunt, 1765:

"Mr. John Barry having sent the Fox Hounds to a different place to what was ordered was sent to Coventry, but return'd upon giving six bottles of Claret to the Hunt."

By 1811 the then understood meaning of the term was defined in the 'Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue', Author: Captain Grose et al:

To send one to Coventry; a punishment inflicted by officers of the army on such of their brethren as are testy, or have been guilty of improper behaviour, not worthy the cognizance of a court martial. The person sent to Coventry is considered as absent; no one must speak to or answer any question he asks, except relative to duty, under penalty of being also sent to the same place. On a proper submission, the penitent is recalled, and welcomed by the mess, as just returned from a journey to Coventry.

A well-known example of someone being sent to Coventry is Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), after his falling out with the Liddell family. Dodgson had developed a close relationship with the Liddell's daughter Alice. In 1863, when Alice was 11, something happened to cause the family to ostracize him. Whatever it was we can't now be sure as, although Dodgson recorded it in his diary at the time, it was later cut out by a Dodgson family member.

This phrase was common in industrial disputes in Britain in the mid-twentieth century. Anyone who was considered to be unsupportive of the workforce was in danger of finding that his/her workmates refused to acknowledge their existence. Co-incidentally this was centred on the highly unionised car industry and especially British Leyland, which was largely based in Coventry. That gave rise to people who had lived and worked in Coventry all their life being sent there by their workmates.

There's no substance in the suggestion sometimes put about that this relates to the disgrace of that well-known (if imaginary) Coventry resident - Peeping Tom

Answer 8

Royalists captured in Birmingham during the civil war in the UK were either hung or transported to Coventry. As this was a Parliamentary strong hold even if they escaped no body would help them and they would be isolated.

Dave B

Answer 9

A guy named Bob invented it in 1853

Answer 10

It's where they send the good people from Bedduth!