A BOOKLET has been brought out to mark the 200th anniversary of the Luddites in West Yorkshire.
The Examiner has covered the history of the Luddites and current events to mark the anniversary extensively in recent weeks.
The Luddites were mainly croppers, a small and highly skilled group of cloth finishers, who, at a time of the worst trade depression since the 1760s and facing deepening poverty, rising wheat prices and food scarcity, turned their anger on the new cropping machine which they feared would put them out of work.
In Huddersfield the uprising led to the murder of Marsden mill owner William Horsfall who was shot dead close to the Warren House pub at Crosland Moor as he rode home from Huddersfield town centre on April 28, 1812.
To accompany a major exhibition produced by West Yorkshire Archive Service, a booklet called Man V Machine? is now available for £2 (plus postage), obtainable from all the service’s district offices or through its eshop.
The 25-page booklet aims to give an insight into life in 1812, the major events of riots and murder, as well as the individual stories of some of the Luddites and the personal suffering undergone by their widows and children who were visited by the Quaker, Thomas Shillitoe.
The display is now on at Red House Museum in Gomersal, Halifax Central Library and Huddersfield Library until the end of April and then will be at various other venues such as the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield and Marsden Mechanics’ Institute later this year.
WYAS is one of the partners in the Luddite Link partnership which provides a gateway to information and resources about the Luddite movement in West Yorkshire and throughout 2012 there will be commemo- rative events by the partners, and up-to-date information about all these activities will be found at http://ludditelink.org.uk/ and http://www.archives.wyjs.org.uk/.
WYAS collects a diverse range of records created by a variety of individuals, groups and businesses.
If you would like to discuss the possibility of depositing records or would like to give feedback on the types of records that you would like to see then contact the Collections Team ( archives@wyjs.org.uk )
