Who were the Luddites?

Question

A friend of mine takes great pleasure in tarring me with the above epithet due to my feeble computer skills and my general reluctance to embrace technological advancements.

I vaguely remember my Grandmother telling about them but I can't remember if they were a political movement, disgruntled workers, or a biblical race.

Answer 1

Disgruntled workers who fought against progressive machinery that made them redundant and no longer needed

Answer 2

Who Were The Luddites

Answer 3

The Luddites were an organised group of workers in the textile industry, who destroyed the machinery that was taking their livelihoods. The movement began in 1811 in Nottinghamshire, and quickly spread to Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

The movement was believed to have been founded by Ned Ludd, but he was never identified, and may well be mythical. Some authorities claim his surname to be Ludlam.
The movement was dedicated to destroying machinery, not people

Lord Liverpool, the Prime Minister, instigated severe measures , culminating in a mass trial at York in 1813. This resulted in executions and transportations against the Luddites

Answer 4

In the early months of 1811 the first threatening letters from General Ned Ludd and the Army of Redressers, were sent to employers in Nottingham. Workers, upset by wage reductions and the use of unapprenticed workmen, began to break into factories at night to destroy the new machines that the employers were using. In a three-week period over two hundred stocking frames were destroyed. In March, 1811, several attacks were taking place every night and the Nottingham authorities had to enroll four hundred special constables to protect the factories. To help catch the culprits, the Prince Regent offered £50 to anyone "giving information on any person or persons wickedly breaking the frames".

My great great Grandfather was Derbishire Frame work Knitter, and in the days before trousers were invented, all the males wore stockins on thier legs, so it was a huge cottage industury. But when the first factories arrived, the cottage workers were put out of buisness.

Luddism gradually spread to Yorkshire, Lancashire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire. In Yorkshire, croppers, a small and highly skilled group of cloth finishers, turned their anger on the new shearing frame that they feared would put them out of work. In February and March, 1812, factories were attacked by Luddites in Huddersfield, Halifax, Wakefield and Leeds.

In February 1812 the government of Spencer Perceval proposed that machine-breaking should become a capital offence. Despite a passionate speech by Lord Byron in the House of Lords, Parliament passed the Frame Breaking Act that enabled people convicted of machine-breaking to be sentenced to death. As a further precaution, the government ordered 12,000 troops into the areas where the Luddites were active.

Answer 5

The Luddites were a social movement of English textile workers in the early 1800s who protested — often by destroying textile machines — against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt threatened their jobs. The movement, which began in 1811, was named after a mythical leader, Ned Ludd. For a short time the movement was so strong that it clashed in battles with the British Army. Measures taken by the government included a mass trial at York in 1813 that resulted in many death penalties and transportations (deportation to a penal colony).

The English historical movement has to be seen in its context of the harsh economic climate due to the Napoleonic Wars; but since then, the term Luddite has been used to describe anyone opposed to technological progress and technological change. For the modern movement of opposition to technology, see neo-luddism.

Their principal objection was to the introduction of new wide-framed looms that could be operated by cheap, relatively unskilled labour, resulting in the loss of jobs for many textile workers. Similar objections have risen throughout history whenever new technology is seen to threaten emplyment.

It is commonly used now to describe anyone who is deemed anti-technology

Answer 6

In the industrial revolution some people hated the steam engine so they wrecked them and destroyed steam engines. They were called the Luddites, they were named after Ned Ludd, even though Ned Ludd only destroyed a steam engine by accident while chasing a pickpocket.

Answer 7

As the Industrial Revolution began, weavers and other skilled artisans resisted the new “labor-saving” machines that were costing them jobs. They smashed machines and burned factories. Such rioters in England were culled Luddites after a mythical figure, Ned Ludd, who supposedly destroyed machines in the 1780’s.

Answer 8

If I remember right, it had to do with a textile mill that was upgrading to machines. The employees who were going to be put out of work destroyed them. The name Lud comes to mind, I think he was the owner of the mill, but he might have been their leader.

Answer 9

The Luddites were a social movement of English textile workers in the early 1800s who protested — often by destroying textile machines — against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt threatened their jobs. The movement, which began in 1811, was named after a mythical leader, Ned Ludd. For a short time the movement was so strong that it clashed in battles with the British Army. Measures taken by the government included a mass trial at York in 1813 that resulted in many death penalties and transportations (deportation to a penal colony).

The English historical movement has to be seen in its context of the harsh economic climate due to the Napoleonic Wars; but since then, the term Luddite has been used to describe anyone opposed to technological progress and technological change. For the modern movement of opposition to technology, see neo-luddism.

Their principal objection was to the introduction of new wide-framed looms that could be operated by cheap, relatively unskilled labour, resulting in the loss of jobs for many textile workers. Similar objections have risen throughout history, for example with the introduction of robots to assembly lines.

History
The original Luddites claimed to be led by one Ned Ludd (also known as "King Ludd", "General Ludd" or "Captain Ludd") who is believed to have destroyed two large stocking frames that produced inexpensive stockings undercutting those produced by skilled knitters, and whose signature appears on a "workers' manifesto" of the time. The character seems to be based on a local folk tale about someone whose motives were probably quite different (frustration, and not anti-technology zealotry).

The work by Binfield (see weblink below) is particularly useful in placing the Luddite movement in correct historical context — organised action by stockingers had occurred at various times since 1675, and the present action had to be seen in the context of the hardships suffered by the working class during the Napoleonic Wars.

The movement began in Nottingham in 1811 and spread rapidly throughout England in 1811 and 1812. Many wool and cotton mills were destroyed until the British government harshly suppressed them. The Luddites met at night on the moors surrounding the industrial towns, practising drilling and manoeuvres and often enjoyed local support. The main areas of the disturbances were Nottinghamshire in November 1811, followed by the West Riding of Yorkshire in early 1812 and Lancashire from March 1812. Battles between Luddites and the military occurred at Burtons' Mill in Middleton, and at Westhoughton Mill, both in Lancashire. It was rumoured at the time that agent provocateurs employed by the magistrates were involved in stirring up the attacks. Magistrates and food merchants were also objects of death threats and attacks by the anonymous King Ludd and his supporters. Some industrialists even had secret chambers constructed in their buildings, which may have been used as a hiding place.[1]

"Machine breaking" (industrial sabotage) was made a capital crime (Lord Byron, one of the few prominent defenders of the Luddites, famously spoke out against this legislation), and 17 men were executed after an 1813 trial in York. Many others were transported as prisoners to Australia. At one time, there were more British troops fighting the Luddites than Napoleon I on the Iberian Peninsula. Three Luddites ambushed a mill-owner in Crosland Moor, Huddersfield; the Luddites responsible were hanged in York, and shortly thereafter 'Luddism' waned.

However, the movement can also be seen as part of a rising tide of English working-class discontent in the early 19th century (see, for example, the Pentrich Rising of 1817, which was a general uprising, but led by an unemployed Nottingham stockinger, and probable ex-luddite, Jeremiah Brandreth).

In recent years, the terms Luddism and Luddite or Neo-Luddism and Neo-Luddite have become synonymous with anyone who opposes the advance of technology due to the cultural changes that are associated with it.

You could get more information from the link below...

Answer 10

Disgruntled workers who didn't like the newfangled machines coming in and taking away jobs