Wooden Storage Box

Date1836

Credit LineGift of Mrs. W. R. Shaw, London, Ontario, 1970.

Object number1970.015.001

Label TextJohn Standfield made this box in 1836 to carry his belongings back to England from Australia. He and five other men, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, had been deported to Australia in 1834 for banding together to protest wage cuts. Mass protests led to their eventual pardon and return to England in 1836. Five of the six, and their families, later immigrated to Canada, some settling in the London area. In the 1820s and early 1830s in rural England, things were going badly for agricultural labourers. These men did not own land but instead worked for landowners. There were more labourers than work and so wages were slashed. Explained George Loveless, a Methodist lay preacher, and leader of the Tolpuddle Martyrs in 1837: "We learned that in almost every place around us the masters were giving their men 10 shillings per week. We expected to be entitled to as much. But no, nine shillings must be our portion. After some months we were reduced to eight shillings per month. From this time, we were reduced to seven shillings per week. And, shortly after, our employers told us that they must lower us to six shillings a week. We consulted together what had better be done, knowing it was impossible to live honestly on such scanty means." Faced with this situation, some workers responded with violence, and some responded by moving to the cities in search of work. George Loveless and his five associates in a village called Tolpuddle in Dorset, chose to form a union. His associates were his brother, James, a father and son, Thomas and John Standfield, James Brine, and James Hammett. They believed that if they banded together, James Frampton, their employer, would be forced to increase their wage. But Frampton called their bluff. He lowered rates to 6 shillings and workers still came. Frampton also had the six troublemakers arrested. They were tried under old laws used against mutiny at sea. Their crime? They had sworn an oath against sharing contents of their meetings. The judge who heard their case was related to Squire Frampton and the sentence was swiftly given: seven years transportation to Australia. It was the harshest sentence that could be handed down. Said Loveless: “As soon as the sentence was passed, I got a pencil and a scrap of paper and wrote the following lines: ‘God is our guide. No swords we draw. We kindle not war’s battle fires. By reason, union, justice, law we claim the birthright of our sires. We raise the watchword liberty. We will. We will. We will be free.” After their transportation, workers across Great Britain protested. They realized that if farm workers couldn’t form a union then unions would be crushed. In March 1836, the government remitted the sentences in the face of public pressure. All six men received full and free pardons and returned to England. Only one of the six, James Hammett settled again in Tolpuddle, where he died in 1891. In two groups in 1844 and 1846, the remaining five immigrated to Canada, three to London, itself. John Standfield eventually became the Reeve or Mayor of East London. James Brine married Elizabeth, John Standfield's sister in 1839. George Loveless died here in 1874 at the age of 77.

NameBox, Storage