Captain Swing

Captain Swing was the mythical leader of the Captain Swing agricultural riots. These were rebellions by impoverished farm workers, especially in the rural south of England, around the year 1830, as farmers started to use threshing machines instead of hand-threshing with flails. Such machinisation deprived seasonal farm workers of an important source of paid work to keep them going through the Winter. This problem was relatively unique to the British agricultural economy, given the high level of "rural proletarianisation"; i.e. the prevalence of agricultural wage-labourers, rather than the ubiquitous peasantry which prevailed in continental Europe.

Gangs formed to, variously, break the threshing machines, set fire to farm buildings, and demand money from landholders. The types of action and protest varied from region to region, as did the degree of popular support.

In the second half of the 20th century, the name of Captain Swing was widely invoked and celebrated by the English folk music revival.

Reference works

Captain Swing (Eric Hobsbawm & George Rudé, 1969)