User:Dumelow/Revolt of the Field

National Agricultural Labourers' Union

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/649905.pdf p68: TRades unions were quickly established and reached 150,000 members across all industries. 650,000 agricultural labourers in England at that time. In no area, perhaps, did a majority of labourers join a union and many districts had almost no unionisation. Strong in east Dorset but almost unknown in West Dorset, perhaps because hiring fees weren't used there and perhaps becuase it had n o railways which acted as lines of communication for unionists. The union movement largely confiened to SE England, from east Decovn to Herefordshure, Warwickshire, Lincolnshire as as far north as the East Riding of Yorkshire. More widespread that the las major agricultural protest, the Swing riots of 1830, which was largely confied to the corn-growing regions of southern and eastern england (the Revolt of the Field also included pastrosal farming areas). Wages were perhaps too low in the south west for unions to take hold and too high in northern england for them to be considered necessary. The labourers were iniitally successful because employment rates were high it was easy for them to relocate. The threat of migration helped raise agricultral wages by 20% in 1872.

p69:Between 1872 and 1874 farmers became more oranised via mutual protection societies which worked to counter strikes by initiaing general lockouts of the labour force. In 1874 lockouts affected much of East Anglia and Lincolnshire. The unions lost their power by t1879 with many splitting. M<any of the unions were millenarianist; Henry Taylor, general secretary of the National Agricultural Labourers' Union, stated that the union "had a higher and nobler aim than that of increasing the wages of the labourers; it aimed at raising them intellectually, morally and politically". The unions provided advice to their members on education and abstinance from drinking and smoking. Many of the unions had a strong nonconformist component aand many of their leaders were Methodists.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/650317

The NALU made agreements with the governemnt of New Zealand to provided subsidised passage to the colony for 100,000 settlers from England, leading to an increase in the European population there that helped tip the balance away from the Maori indigenous population.

Magistrates brought in teh army to help harvets the crops.

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-ArnFart-c2.html