Source B A magistrate reported in 1790 about an incident when he was called in to protect a manufacturer's property from being attacked by workers: 'From the depredations of a lawless Banditti of colliers and their wives, for the wives had lost their work to spinning engines ... they advanced at first with much insolence, avowing their intention of cutting to pieces the machine lately introduced in the woolen manufacture; which they suppose, if generally adopted, will lessen the demand for manual labour. The women became clamorous. The men were more open to conviction and after some expostulations were induced to desist from their purpose and return peaceably home.' J.L Hammond and B. Hammond, The Skilled Labourer 1760-1832, quoted in Maxine Berg, The Age of Manufactures, |
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