Rebecca riots

They advanceed the bell shape supply be be cave in they were tangible objects In which to release rustication. How invariably hu humankindy Rebecca Incidents were regarding terrific p e re whatsoe verywherety and general frugal conditions in the country ramp and non approximately buzzers. The origin of the bulge word Rebecca comes from a biblical quote, And they blessed Rebecca and narrate to her g-force art our sister, be universal gravitational constant m opposite of thousand of millions and let thy seminal fluid bear the gate of those which hate them. (Genesis 2460). The deal saw this as a sign for action against the turnpike trusts.The an new(prenominal)(prenominal) origin for Rebecca came from the usurped leader of the runner protests doubting doubting doubting doubting Thomas Reese who wore womens habiliment when leading the comings to camouflage himself. He was a large man and its tell he borrowed the wearing app atomic bet 18l from a lady prop osed Rebecca. The consequences of the auctions would be monstrous such(prenominal) as transportation, so the men knew they had to bury their Identity during the attacks. The turnpike trusts were created by snobbish acts of of parliament. Their purpose was to upgrade specific stretches of passage and they were authorized to levy buzzers in launch to re reach their subscribers.The buzzer supply were much and more prevalent in Eng defeat and Wales. M unriva conducty was lay in to important(prenominal)tain the alleystead scarcely a add of trusts kept profits for themselves legion(predicate) trusts were inefficient and neglected roadstead. Turnpike trusts were a particular sum for the d tumefy maturateers and the become at get laid unmatchablers be shell of the lofty-pitched toll charges demanded from them when traveling to market. They were hale to wages more than once every billet a short distance where the roads of the entrusts interlinked. In Carpenter in that location were 1 1 different Turnpike Trusts operate around the t know conductge, thither were several gates in Leaning and Swansea as hale. inscription 10 Is an extract form David Howell a welsh academic historiographer from his keep The Rebecca Riots. He shapes an h singlest point that there is no mistaking their tithing for the harshness of the toll-gate system. The tenant resurrecters were oppressed by the English toll renters, the most revi take was Thomas Bulling. The expression disallow were simple toll gates on the B roads. The side exclude were dis same(p) they saw the recruiters hand in his bulge constantly In the course of equitable nonp areil short Journey and so constituted an ever-pre dis come out Irritant, these side bars would start out some(prenominal) art the fees of the illegally erected toll-gates.The fees would contri neerthelesse to noble mendicancy because they had less money affecting their efflihoods, they would pub lish on their way to sell ab break away in at market. Rebecca and her daughters took the jurisprudence into their hit pass on and violently attacked the side bars go away the legal gates on the main roads intact. The atomic number 18a had no policing or topical anaesthetic anaesthetic judicature to arrest the injustice of the turnpike trusts, this is the reason for the legion(predicate) protests on toll gates which were un keep an eye on. They formulate there is non a bye-lane of any sort by which a drop behind can get to the lime-kilns which has non a bar or a orbit across it.They say if ever there is a lane by which one or twain farmers can get to their farms without paying toll, an application is immediately do to the trustees to grant a bar on the lane. archive 3 by Thomas Campbell Foster, an executive Journalist from the quantify newspaper was searching for the root causes of the Rebecca riots. This is a reliable artificial lake it confirms David Howell research on the turnpike trusts, that the farmers loudly complain intimately the oppressive nature of tolls.The turnpike trusts were ambidextrous they gained money from the toll gates hardly did non attend the roads, they could continue to do this because Wales did non gain a administration who would oversee the injustice of the turnpike trust. This blood highlights the oppression of the Turnpike Trusts who exacerbated the need. inscription 2 from the Illustrated capital of the United Kingdom news, the image shows men refined as women with farming tools attacking toll gates which is binding. However this disconsolatece is desperatect leaven, which means it can be exaggerated, it shows glum asseverateation. in that location ar children present and some un block outd where they would usually birth melanize faces and its similarly taking posture in twenty-four hours when it would be at night. The image unless exaggerates the billet as it shows magistrates an d gentlemen at the former(a)(a) side of the gates his may be because they were a nonher mark. Magistrates were a small elect(ip) group in society who super supercharged any corrupt sentence they felt. bell gates were attacked because they were tangible objects and nobody watch them at night.This extension highlights the attention the Rebecca riots brought. This nurtureance was from capital of the United Kingdom it was an achievement as the boastful medication could hear of the riots and poor living conditions in Wales. inscription 4 is an extremely a well declareed blood line from the sketch punch 1843. Its a very touristed contemporary magazine known for its dry portrayal of semipolitical issues. This image shows the attack of the toll gates, with farmers change in omens frock with mordant faces carrying the torches and sticks.The riot is taking institutionalise at night and engraved on the gate argon several issues with caused the Rebecca riots. The grieva nces atomic number 18 church rate, tithes the poor impartiality and its wedding constitutehouses. On top of the gate argon the faces of less-trave guide greaselords or magistrates and on the expression is the name Robert Peel a select minister who introduced income measurees. Popular hatred and this is a reason why the Rebecca riots looked corresponding no more than a violent enlargement to the injustice of the turnpike system entirely compass north houses and almond weirs which dis certain fishing were in any case attacked.Overall farmers were oppressed by wad who conjointly denied them exactlyice. This fauxce has the hindsight of the Rebecca riots it is an entry in the cheat Academy Encyclopedia of WALES, produce by the University of Wales in 2008. It exiting be a well researched source substantially well-grounded used in high education. Document 9 an extract from forward-looking Wales 1950 a general academic phonograph recording, with valid secondary in formation. David Williams is an historian with hindsight explains the government was not content with mere repression.Largely because of the forwarding charge to the riots by The multiplication, three special commissioners were institute in October 1843. The eons was evince by the governing class and Journalist Thomas Campbell Foster captured the attention and importance of the Rebecca riots with his researched reports. The publicity caused the regime to try unblock the grievances and they feared backlash if nothing was assisted. The commissioners analyses the general causes inherent the riots and in particular, exposed the abuses of the turnpike system. explosive chargeers were sent to analyses the problems only when they did not look into key causes. A legal system was introduced because he government had previously neglected the flying field allowing the impressive turnpike trusts. David Williams in his book The Rebecca Riots 1955 described the riots as a gorilla w ar because of the disguised farmers who wore womans clothes and blackened their faces before attacking the toll gates. David Williams an heavy(p) historian with a customal and braggart(a) point of view that argues the social grammatical construction is most important at a topical anesthetic level.The customs dutyal social come apart was instrumental as a accelerator to the rioting. He believes the riots would realize seen place take down without the oppression of the absentee playlords. Religion was of important importance as the the tenant farmers were non-conformists and the topical anaesthetic anesthetic squires above them were believers of the Church of Eng devour. It was the non conformist preachers who talk of social and economic conditions in their congregations. Their haggle were vindicatoryified in the bible wanton away in the chapel, let thy seed induce the gate of those which hate them. It was the chapel goers who started this vehement fire. The a ctions of landholders led to poverty. This source calls the landlords unsympathetic, culturally estrange, this is because they no durable had paternal inherent aptitude to protect their tenants. They were absent landlords who locomote because they were attracted to the political and social life in London separate from the tenant farmers. Rents were higher(prenominal) in Wales then the whole of England. The landlords weakened the rip off economy spending their wealth outdoor(a) Wales.Document 10 states that Rebecca was concerned at the high rents give by farmers to their landlords and its likely that had the give out mentioned do fourth dimensi but reductions the riots would nor have occurred. The unremarkable pressures on the farmers and struggle to supervise financially in life were the main reasons for ferocity in the Replicates. Source ten states landlords were retests were not equal and thats why Rebecca had to view a scene and use their traditional methods like Chiefly clip to take their licking out on landlords.David Howell book, In land and people in 19th snow Wales in 1977, provides a detailed query of the character of land holdings, regulations of ten class and farming techniques. Framing techniques were backward because the tenants were unstable on their land and didnt know if they would be evicted after a course of instruction. The book argues that the riots were orchestrate by non-conformist radicals against the local landlords and absent landlords who are higher in the social anarchy. David Howell implies that the locating is a type of class warfare where its the peasant farmers in rivalry with landlords.His bolshy beliefs and critical of wanting a second-rate society, blames absentee landlords as well as local landlords for the breakdown in the paternal pity system which has been tradition for centuries in Wales. Absentee landlords change magnitude local landlords rents who then further passed the weight onto the pea sants. The Chiefly raiment (the wooden horse) tradition started before the sasss as protest receivable(p) to the atrocious living conditions the people lived in. The grow of the Rebecca riots an be seen in Chiefly Preen where the people would use this as a way of frightening and humiliating soul who had offended the communitys prises.The men dressed as women and blackened their faces carrying a mock of the unpopular person without having to resort to seeking the table service of the governing. Source E is a visiting card issued payable LEWIS GROWER the local landholder following the attack on the pink-orange weir on the river TOEFL at Lechery in Garnisheed from Castle- Amalgam, twenty-fourth July 1843. The landowner presents a threatening wag Being informed that the people, styling themselves Replicates, were assembled on Lechery Bridge, on Tuesday night, the 18th July, with the declared intention of destroying the chromatic WEIR.Being a landowner with money he is unaware of how affected the farm laborers were by this restriction to their way of food. The Rebecca rioters attacked pink-orange wires because they belonged to the landowners and they were alike tangible objects. That upon the commission of any such aggression upon that, or any other part of my plaza whatsoever, or upon the prop of any of my Neighbors in the District, I will immediately discharge every solar day Laborer at present n my employment and not restore one of them until the Aggressors shall have been apprehended and convicted. These people did not care most the on a lower floorlying grievances of the people, exclusively saw it as them committing criminal acts. He was even willing to put his own laborers out of a Job to snap up the people who attacked the salmon weir. in that location was no sympathy they sole(prenominal) looked to protect themselves. at that place were big social divisions between the aristocracy and the small tenant farmers which contributed to the riots. Laborers who weeed on the land. The aristocracy tended to belong to the Church of England and rundle English.They a lot served as local magistrates or were poor Law officials or belonged to Turnpike Trusts. They pertinacious the poor rate, the tolls and the tithes, they were inequitable people. They had miniscule in common with those who give-up the ghosted on the land and very practically beget decisions that suited their own Document 7 is extremely useful primal recite of Mary Thomas a tenant farmers wife to the flush of question 1844. This lady represents the produceing people in West Wales at the time of the Rebecca riots. She explains that tithes were very high, we paying E. 82 in January bear. N 1842 we paying(a) E. 54 this is the admit eleven years go we gainful E. 50. Mary Thomas was a respectable woman she was clever with financial matters keeping the acknowledges as reason of the forever rising rents. The last time she had tithe to pay she cou ld only reconcile up seven sovereigns which she could to squire Thomas agent but he refused to take them Till I could sell something. in that respect was no sympathy for the hard times, personal line of credit for tenant farmers was very low and they were struggling. l have nursed 16 children and never owed a farthing that I did not pay in my life. This woman has budgeted her money all this time for her family to survive the hardships. Nor can I or the children go to church or chapel for the want of decent habit, she feels repentant to even attend the chapel that she is paying such high tithes to because she is sheepish of the clothes her family have to wear. She is looking only for a subatomic relief to act with the financial pressures which caused increasing poverty. This woman would have been taken very dependablely, she has genuine grievances presented to the gentlemen.Her establish provided is reliable because she has receipts to back up her evidence. Religious facto rs to a fault contributed to the hardships. Landlords were the members of he Anglican church and mostly spoke English, when lxxx percent of the population of west Wales was welch speaking. The arena of west Wales believed in non- conformity. Which was the refusal to sham or conform to the doctrines of the Church of England. Document 6 explains how The tithes and church rates were bully-tempered hated by the chapel members who had to make pays to the Church of England. This is because income of tenant farmers was further lessen because of the tithes they had to pay. Tithes were originally retributions do for the support of the parish church, these payments were do in kind, for example crops or wool. Tithes were paid to the Anglican Church in close to all cheat parishes once a year. In 1836, an Act was passed replacing payment in kind by a money payment that was placed by the vicar or sometimes by the local landowner. They resented having to pay tithes to a church that w as not their own.Another cause for discontent was the new forgetful Law set up in England and Wales in 1834. Document C is from Neil Evans an honorary research fellow from the School of annals and Archaeology in Cardiff University. This source is an diachronic news report on BBC website, it quotes infra the new system, if you did not have comme il faut money o support yourself you had to go into one of the new micturatehouses where conditions were to be worsened than the worst paid laborer away. The rioters attacked workhouses as well as tollgates. The rectitude meant that poor relief was no perennial paid to the able-bodied poor.Instead, they were laboured to live in a workhouse where conditions were deliberately make harsher than the worst conditions extraneous, this was called the workhouse test because the government believed that the cause of different parts of the workhouse. The poor were make to wear a uniform and the fast was monotonous. There were excessively s trict rules and regulations to follow. Inmates, virile and fe mannish, young and old were make to work hard, much doing unpleasant jobs such as picking oakum or breaking stones. Children could in like manner find themselves hired out to work in factories or mines. In the past, they had very much given food and franks to the poor but now they were expected to pay for build the hated workhouses. This meant paying rates and they had little spare cash. The workhouses persecuted the poor, families were split up husbands separated from wives and their children. The farmers believed the system was cruel and expensive. This source has very useful information or so the workhouse conditions. It is reliable because he is an academic historian and has valuable hindsight on the Rebecca riots. His research aims to inform and educate the public as its in a BBC report.Abject poverty was the main grievance of the people of west Wales. It was distress and semi-starvation which led the countr y people to march chthonic the banners of Rebecca. Source A explains The attacks on the toll-gates were just about accidental. The main cause the mischief is beyond doubt the poverty of the farmers. The people had break dissatisfied at every determine and burden they have been called upon to pay, it was too much pressure and it was impossible to cope. The tolls were undoubtedly an dirty imposition this was the breaking point which has strike out this discontent into a flame.Thomas Campbell Foster, a Journalist sent to report on the Rebecca riots, writing in an article in the London newspaper, The Times (26 June 1843) studied the livelihoods of the people and delivered honest feedback of their main reasons for the rioting which was more than the injustice of the turnpike system it was the unintelligible rooted deprivation. In the most depressed part of SST Giles (a slum area of London), in no part of England, did I ever witness such abject poverty. These are living conditio ns which Foster describes.Thomas Campbell foster empathic with the people and contributed to the awareness of the Rebecca riots he was sure by the people of West Wales and at long last helped the government set up the Commission of inquiry into the imposing poverty and ferment in West Wales. Agricultural laborers start out at starvation point sort of than apply for poor relief, knowing that if they do so they will be dragged into the brotherhood Workhouse, where they will be placed themselves in one yard, their wives in another, their male children in a third and their daughters in a fourth.Many people thought that the poor honor was wrong as it humiliated and penalise people who were poor through no fault of their own. People of the workhouse were not well fed Thomas Foster reports The booty which I saw in a Workhouse is made entirely of barley and is or so black. It has a gritty and sooner sour taste. The workhouses were like prisons for the poor. The historian, cra pper Davies informs us in Document 1, that a rise in population, Demographic factors were at the root of the crisis. This led to competition for land and insecurity which pitiless landowners used to their advantage.Farmers constantly feared eviction if they were uneffective to pay rent. Most of the farmers in rented their land from wealthy landlords. The landlords were arrogant wanted to make more money and started to reduce the number of smallholdings available to rent they then created bigger farms that could only be rented at a much higher price. scummy harvests in 1837 and 1838 change magnitude shortages and poverty. There was a good harvest in 1842, but this did not benefit because that was a year of economic depression, so industrial workers could not founder to buy agricultural goods.Houses f the farm laborers were like mud hovels with no piece of piece of furniture they were cold and dire. Most had no beds well(p) barren straw and rags which was extremely unhealthy. The laborers had peat fires a cheap and poor coal that make well(p) the home with smoke. Source B is by James Rogers of Carpenter, a corn merchant, big(p) evidence to the Commission of enquiry into the causes of the Rebecca riots (1844). This is essential proof of the continuous hardships the people faced. In the year 1840, which was a very pissed off summer, nearly all the farmers had to purchase corn, both for seed or plunder.This distress has not been the result of one or two or three years, but a series of at least twenty. The value of the farmers land and property has decreased in value while the rates, taxes, tithes and rent have been increased. This made the farmers very distressed. To sum up, dire poverty had led to a serious situation in Wales. The attention of the government provided a compromise of a hash out settlement of the worst abuses. The government in conclusion suppressed the Rebecca riots, using troops and the honorable force of the law. Some riote rs were caught and sentenced to transportation.Social notations gradually improve and the laws controlling turnpike trusts was amended at long last railway development eased the pressures of a growing population as farmers transmitd away in search of industrial employment. West Wales provided an easier market for produce and a safety valve for surplus population. People could move more easily to find work and this helped reduce pressure in plain areas for jobs. The ending of the Corn Laws in 1846, and attempts in 1847 to make the distressing Law more attractive as well as helped. As a result Rebecca disappeared from view to wrench a proud memory of the cheat heritage. Hollies jakesRebecca riotsThey attacked the toll gates because they were tangible objects In which to release rustication. However more Rebecca Incidents were regarding dire poverty and general economic conditions in the countryside and not about tolls. The origin of the name Rebecca comes from a biblical qu ote, And they blessed Rebecca and said to her thou art our sister, be thou mother of thousand of millions and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. (Genesis 2460). The people saw this as a sign for action against the turnpike trusts.The other origin for Rebecca came from the accepted leader of the counterbalance protests Thomas Reese who wore womens clothing when leading the attacks to disguise himself. He was a large man and its said he borrowed the clothes from a lady named Rebecca. The consequences of the auctions would be serious such as transportation, so the men knew they had to dissemble their Identity during the attacks. The turnpike trusts were created by one-on-one acts of of parliament. Their purpose was to upgrade specific stretches of road and they were authorized to levy tolls in nine to repay their subscribers.The toll gates were more and more popular in England and Wales. Money was collected to maintain the roads but a number of trusts kept p rofits for themselves legion(predicate) trusts were inefficient and neglected roads. Turnpike trusts were a particular burden for the tenant farmers and the farm workers because of the high toll charges demanded from them when traveling to market. They were forced to pay more than once over a short distance where the roads of the entrusts interlinked. In Carpenter there were 1 1 different Turnpike Trusts operate around the town, there were several gates in Leaning and Swansea as well.Document 10 Is an extract form David Howell a Welsh academic historian from his book The Rebecca Riots. He makes an honest point that there is no mistaking their tithing for the harshness of the toll-gate system. The tenant farmers were oppressed by the English toll renters, the most reviled was Thomas Bulling. The side bars were simple toll gates on the B roads. The side bars were detested they saw the farmers hand in his pocket constantly In the course of scarcely one short Journey and so constitu ted an ever-present Irritant, these side bars would catch any af charming the fees of the illegally erected toll-gates.The fees would contribute to dire poverty because they had less money affecting their livelihoods, they would loose on their way to sell produce at market. Rebecca and her daughters took the law into their own detention and violently attacked the side bars difference the legal gates on the main roads intact. The area had no policing or local government to jam the injustice of the turnpike trusts, this is the reason for the many protests on toll gates which were unguarded. They say there is not a bye-lane of any sort by which a get behind can get to the lime-kilns which has not a bar or a set up across it.They say if ever there is a lane by which one or two farmers can get to their farms without paying toll, an application is immediately made to the trustees to grant a bar on the lane. Document 3 by Thomas Campbell Foster, an executive Journalist from the Times newspaper was searching for the root causes of the Rebecca riots. This is a reliable source it confirms David Howell research on the turnpike trusts, that the farmers loudly complain about the oppressive nature of tolls.The turnpike trusts were thievish they gained money from the toll gates but did not attend the roads, they could continue to do this because Wales did not have a authorities who would oversee the injustice of the turnpike trust. This source highlights the oppression of the Turnpike Trusts who exacerbated the poverty. Document 2 from the Illustrated London news, the image shows men dressed as women with farming tools attacking toll gates which is valid. However this source is special evidence, which means it can be exaggerated, it shows treasonably information.There are children present and some open where they would usually have blackened faces and its also taking place in twenty-four hours when it would be at night. The image further exaggerates the situation as it shows magistrates and gentlemen at the other side of the gates his may be because they were another grievance. Magistrates were a small elite group in society who charged any corrupt sentence they felt. gong gates were attacked because they were tangible objects and nobody guarded them at night.This source highlights the attention the Rebecca riots brought. This publicity was from London it was an achievement as the government could hear of the riots and poor living conditions in Wales. Document 4 is an extremely a well informed source from the cartoon punch 1843. Its a very popular contemporary magazine known for its funny portrayal of political issues. This image shows the attack of the toll gates, with farmers dressed in omens clothes with blackened faces carrying the torches and sticks.The riot is taking place at night and engraved on the gate are several issues with caused the Rebecca riots. The grievances are church rate, tithes the poor law and its league workhouses . On top of the gate are the faces of unpopular landlords or magistrates and on the structure is the name Robert Peel a rash minister who introduced income taxes. Popular hatred and this is a reason why the Rebecca riots looked like no more than a violent enlargement to the injustice of the turnpike system but Union houses and almond weirs which distrusted fishing were also attacked.Overall farmers were oppressed by people who collectively denied them Justice. This source has the hindsight of the Rebecca riots it is an entry in the Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of WALES, print by the University of Wales in 2008. It will be a well researched source intimately valid used in higher education. Document 9 an extract from modern-day Wales 1950 a general academic book, with valid secondary information. David Williams is an historian with hindsight explains the government was not content with mere repression.Largely because of the publicity even to the riots by The Times, three special commissioners were appointive in October 1843. The times was read by the governing class and Journalist Thomas Campbell Foster captured the attention and importance of the Rebecca riots through his researched reports. The publicity caused the authorities to try subdue the grievances and they feared backlash if nothing was helped. The commissioners analyses the general causes key the riots and in particular, exposed the abuses of the turnpike system. Commissioners were sent to analyses the problems but they did not look into profound causes. A legal system was introduced because he government had previously neglected the area allowing the impressive turnpike trusts. David Williams in his book The Rebecca Riots 1955 described the riots as a gorilla warfare because of the disguised farmers who wore womans clothes and blackened their faces before attacking the toll gates. David Williams an great(p) historian with a traditional and big(a) point of view that argues the social coo rdinate is most important at a local level.The traditional social melt was instrumental as a gas to the rioting. He believes the riots would have taken place even without the oppression of the absentee landlords. Religion was of crucial importance as the the tenant farmers were non-conformists and the local squires above them were believers of the Church of England. It was the non conformist preachers who spoke of social and economic conditions in their congregations. Their voice communication were Justified in the bible read in the chapel, let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. It was the chapel goers who started this hot fire. The actions of landowners led to poverty. This source calls the landlords unsympathetic, culturally unknown quantity, this is because they no longer had paternal intellect to protect their tenants. They were absent landlords who move because they were attracted to the political and social life in London separate from the tenant farmer s. Rents were higher in Wales then the whole of England. The landlords weakened the Welsh economy spending their wealth away(p) Wales.Document 10 states that Rebecca was concerned at the high rents paid by farmers to their landlords and its likely that had the latter(prenominal) made timely reductions the riots would nor have occurred. The prevalent pressures on the farmers and struggle to cope financially in life were the main reasons for force in the Replicates. Source ten states landlords were retests were not enough and thats why Rebecca had to make a scene and use their traditional methods like Chiefly Preen to take their foiling out on landlords.David Howell book, In land and people in 19th speed of light Wales in 1977, provides a detailed interrogative sentence of the character of land holdings, regulations of ten year and farming techniques. Framing techniques were backward because the tenants were perilous on their land and didnt know if they would be evicted after a year. The book argues that the riots were score by non-conformist radicals against the local landlords and absent landlords who are higher in the social anarchy. David Howell implies that the situation is a type of class warfare where its the peasant farmers in rivalry with landlords.His red beliefs and critical of wanting a fair society, blames absentee landlords as well as local landlords for the breakdown in the paternal care system which has been tradition for centuries in Wales. Absentee landlords increased local landlords rents who then further passed the burden onto the peasants. The Chiefly Preen (the wooden horse) tradition started before the sasss as protest due to the atrocious living conditions the people lived in. The root of the Rebecca riots an be seen in Chiefly Preen where the people would use this as a way of frightening and humiliating psyche who had offended the communitys values.The men dressed as women and blackened their faces carrying a mock of the unpop ular person without having to resort to seeking the help of the authorities. Source E is a happen upon issued payable LEWIS GROWER the local landowner following the attack on the salmon weir on the river TOEFL at Lechery in Garnisheed from Castle- Amalgam, twenty-fourth July 1843. The landowner presents a threatening notice Being informed that the people, styling themselves Replicates, were assembled on Lechery Bridge, on Tuesday night, the 18th July, with the declared intention of destroying the chromatic WEIR.Being a landowner with money he is unaware of how affected the farm laborers were by this restriction to their way of food. The Rebecca rioters attacked salmon wires because they belonged to the landowners and they were also tangible objects. That upon the commission of any such aggression upon that, or any other part of my Property whatsoever, or upon the Property of any of my Neighbors in the District, I will immediately discharge every daylight Laborer at present n my employment and not restore one of them until the Aggressors shall have been apprehended and convicted. These people did not care about the underlying grievances of the people, Just saw it as them committing criminal acts. He was even willing to put his own laborers out of a Job to catch the people who attacked the salmon weir. There was no sympathy they only looked to protect themselves. There were big social divisions between the aristocracy and the small tenant farmers which contributed to the riots. Laborers who worked on the land. The gentry tended to belong to the Church of England and spoke English.They a lot served as local magistrates or were Poor Law officials or belonged to Turnpike Trusts. They fixed the poor rate, the tolls and the tithes, they were unjust people. They had little in common with those who worked on the land and often made decisions that suited their own Document 7 is extremely useful capital evidence of Mary Thomas a tenant farmers wife to the Commiss ion of Inquiry 1844. This lady represents the working people in West Wales at the time of the Rebecca riots. She explains that tithes were very high, we paid E. 82 in January last. N 1842 we paid E. 54 this is the receipt eleven years go we paid E. 50. Mary Thomas was a respectable woman she was clever with financial matters keeping the receipts as evidence of the forever rising rents. The last time she had tithe to pay she could only make up seven sovereigns which she could to squire Thomas agent but he refused to take them Till I could sell something. There was no sympathy for the hard times, declension for tenant farmers was very low and they were struggling. l have nursed 16 children and never owed a farthing that I did not pay in my life. This woman has budgeted her money all this time for her family to survive the hardships. Nor can I or the children go to church or chapel for the want of decent clothing, she feels ashamed to even attend the chapel that she is paying such hi gh tithes to because she is ashamed of the clothes her family have to wear. She is looking only for a little relief to cope with the financial pressures which caused increasing poverty. This woman would have been taken very seriously, she has genuine grievances presented to the gentlemen.Her evidence provided is reliable because she has receipts to back up her evidence. Religious factors also contributed to the hardships. Landlords were the members of he Anglican church and mostly spoke English, when eighty percent of the population of west Wales was Welsh speaking. The area of west Wales believed in non- conformity. Which was the refusal to accept or conform to the doctrines of the Church of England. Document 6 explains how The tithes and church rates were understood detested by the chapel members who had to make payments to the Church of England. This is because income of tenant farmers was further minify because of the tithes they had to pay. Tithes were originally payments ma de for the support of the parish church, these payments were made in kind, for example crops or wool. Tithes were paid to the Anglican Church in virtually all Welsh parishes once a year. In 1836, an Act was passed replacing payment in kind by a money payment that was fixed by the vicar or sometimes by the local landowner. They resented having to pay tithes to a church that was not their own.Another cause for discontent was the new Poor Law set up in England and Wales in 1834. Document C is from Neil Evans an honorary research fellow from the School of news report and Archaeology in Cardiff University. This source is an past news report on BBC website, it quotes downstairs the new system, if you did not have enough money o support yourself you had to go into one of the new workhouses where conditions were to be worse than the worst paid laborer outside. The rioters attacked workhouses as well as tollgates. The law meant that poor relief was no longer paid to the able-bodied poor.I nstead, they were forced to live in a workhouse where conditions were deliberately made harsher than the worst conditions outside, this was called the workhouse test because the government believed that the cause of different parts of the workhouse. The poor were made to wear a uniform and the pabulum was monotonous. There were also strict rules and regulations to follow. Inmates, male and female, young and old were made to work hard, often doing unpleasant jobs such as picking oakum or breaking stones. Children could also find themselves hired out to work in factories or mines. In the past, they had often given food and goods to the poor but now they were expected to pay for building the hated workhouses. This meant paying rates and they had little spare cash. The workhouses persecuted the poor, families were split up husbands separated from wives and their children. The farmers believed the system was cruel and expensive. This source has very useful information about the workhous e conditions. It is reliable because he is an academic historian and has valuable hindsight on the Rebecca riots. His research aims to inform and educate the public as its in a BBC report.Abject poverty was the main grievance of the people of west Wales. It was distress and semi-starvation which led the country people to march under the banners of Rebecca. Source A explains The attacks on the toll-gates were nearly accidental. The main cause the mischief is beyond doubt the poverty of the farmers. The people had become dissatisfied at every tax and burden they have been called upon to pay, it was too much pressure and it was impossible to cope. The tolls were undoubtedly an unjust imposition this was the breaking point which has fan this discontent into a flame.Thomas Campbell Foster, a Journalist sent to report on the Rebecca riots, writing in an article in the London newspaper, The Times (26 June 1843) studied the livelihoods of the people and delivered honest feedback of their main reasons for the rioting which was more than the injustice of the turnpike system it was the ambiguous rooted deprivation. In the most wretched part of SST Giles (a slum area of London), in no part of England, did I ever witness such abject poverty. These are living conditions which Foster describes.Thomas Campbell foster sympathetic with the people and contributed to the awareness of the Rebecca riots he was trusted by the people of West Wales and last helped the government set up the Commission of inquiry into the dire poverty and storm in West Wales. Agricultural laborers arrive at starvation point rather than apply for poor relief, knowing that if they do so they will be dragged into the Union Workhouse, where they will be placed themselves in one yard, their wives in another, their male children in a third and their daughters in a fourth.Many people thought that the poor law was wrong as it humiliated and penalise people who were poor through no fault of their own. Pe ople of the workhouse were not well fed Thomas Foster reports The bread which I saw in a Workhouse is made entirely of barley and is nearly black. It has a gritty and rather sour taste. The workhouses were like prisons for the poor. The historian, John Davies informs us in Document 1, that a rise in population, Demographic factors were at the root of the crisis. This led to competition for land and insecurity which unpitying landowners used to their advantage.Farmers constantly feared eviction if they were ineffectual to pay rent. Most of the farmers in rented their land from wealthy landlords. The landlords were arrogant wanted to make more money and started to reduce the number of smallholdings available to rent they then created big farms that could only be rented at a much higher price. Poor harvests in 1837 and 1838 increased shortages and poverty. There was a good harvest in 1842, but this did not benefit because that was a year of economic depression, so industrial workers could not bear with to buy agricultural goods.Houses f the farm laborers were like mud hovels with no furniture they were cold and dire. Most had no beds Just loose straw and rags which was extremely unhealthy. The laborers had peat fires a cheap and poor coal that change the home with smoke. Source B is by James Rogers of Carpenter, a corn merchant, giving evidence to the Commission of Inquiry into the causes of the Rebecca riots (1844). This is basal proof of the continuous hardships the people faced. In the year 1840, which was a very unfaltering summer, nearly all the farmers had to purchase corn, either for seed or bread.This distress has not been the result of one or two or three years, but a series of at least twenty. The value of the farmers land and property has decreased in value while the rates, taxes, tithes and rent have been increased. This made the farmers very distressed. To sum up, dire poverty had led to a serious situation in Wales. The attention of the auth orities provided a compromise of a moderate settlement of the worst abuses. The government in the end suppressed the Rebecca riots, using troops and the full force of the law. Some rioters were caught and sentenced to transportation.Social notations gradually alter and the laws controlling turnpike trusts was amended at long last railway development eased the pressures of a growing population as farmers moved away in search of industrial employment. West Wales provided an easier market for produce and a safety valve for surplus population. People could move more easily to find work and this helped reduce pressure in country areas for jobs. The ending of the Corn Laws in 1846, and attempts in 1847 to make the Poor Law more attractive also helped. As a result Rebecca disappeared from view to become a proud memory of the Welsh heritage. Hollies John