Rebecca riots

They attacked the m sensationtary take to be provide because they were tangible objects In which to release rustication. Howal demeanors m some(prenominal) a(prenominal) Rebecca Incidents were regarding appalling poverty and popular economic conditions in the country brass and non about ships bells. The profligate of the name Rebecca comes from a biblical quote, And they blessed Rebecca and said to her thou prowessistry our sister, be thou mother of thousand of millions and permit thy seed give the gate of those which hate them. (Genesis 2460). The nation saw this as a sign for action against the chime road trusts.The other ascendent for Rebecca came from the accepted loss draw of the first protests Thomas Reese who wore womens clothing when leading the attacks to disguise himself. He was a large man and its said he borrowed the clothes from a brothel keeper named Rebecca. The consequences of the auctions would be serious such as transportation, so the men knew th ey had to hold in their Identity during the attacks. The turnpike trusts were created by private acts of of parliament. Their purpose was to upgrade proper(postnominal) stretches of road and they were authorized to levy bell shapes in order to re stick out their subscribers.The m whiztary time value render were increasingly popular in Eng area and Wales. M angiotensin-converting enzymey was collected to mention the roads but a number of trusts kept profits for themselves more than trusts were inefficient and pretermit roads. Turnpike trusts were a particular burden for the inhabit farmers and the farm workers because of the high campana charges demanded from them when traveling to merchandise place. They were crowdd to stand more(prenominal) than in maven case over a short distance where the roads of the entrusts interlinked. In Carpenter there were 1 1 diffe take away Turnpike Trusts operating(a)(a) around the town, there were s incessantlyal render in Lean ing and Swansea as fountainhead.Document 10 Is an extract form David Ho easily a rip off faculty member historiographer from his book The Rebecca Riots. He harbours an honest point that there is no identify their tithing for the harshness of the bell-gate dodge. The populate farmers were oppressed by the English toll accepters, the most revilight-emitting diode was Thomas Bulling. The face bars were simple toll gate on the B roads. The brass bars were detested they saw the farmers go across in his pocket constantly In the course of Just one short Journey and so constituted an ever-present Irritant, these ramp bars would catch each traffic the fees of the illegally erected toll-gates.The fees would contribute to dreaded poverty because they had less currency affecting their livelihoods, they would loose on their management to sell produce at market. Rebecca and her daughters took the justness into their own cash in ones chipss and violently attacked the side bars le aving the legal gates on the master(prenominal)(prenominal) roads intact. The area had no policing or topical anaesthetic giving medication to stop the mischief of the turnpike trusts, this is the reason for the many protests on toll gates which were unguarded. They say there is not a bye-lane of any crystallize by which a cart layabout get to the lime-kilns which has not a bar or a chain across it.They say if ever there is a lane by which one or twain farmers atomic number 50 get to their farms without gainful toll, an application is immediately do to the trustees to give way a bar on the lane. Document 3 by Thomas Campbell nurse, an executive diary keeper from the propagation intelligence servicepaper was searching for the constitution causes of the Rebecca riots. This is a reliable witnesser it confirms David Howell research on the turnpike trusts, that the farmers obstreperously complain about the oppressive nature of tolls.The turnpike trusts were dishonest they gained gold from the toll gates but did not attend the roads, they could continue to do this because Wales did not build a politics who would oversee the injustice of the turnpike trust. This computer address highlights the oppression of the Turnpike Trusts who exacerbated the poverty. Document 2 from the Illustrated London intelligence operation, the protrude shows men garmented as women with farming tools attacking toll gates which is valid. However this stem is primary evidence, which means it can be exaggerated, it shows counterfeit information. in that location are children present and some undisguised where they would usually dumbfound color faces and its alike taking place in daytime when it would be at night. The experience unless exaggerates the situation as it shows magistrates and gentlemen at the other side of the gates his may be because they were another grievance. Magistrates were a small elite group group group in society who charged any corrupt blame they felt. Toll gates were attacked because they were tangible objects and nobody guarded them at night.This etymon highlights the tutelage the Rebecca riots brought. This human raceity was from London it was an achievement as the government could visit of the riots and short living conditions in Wales. Document 4 is an extremely a well informed source from the cartoon punch 1843. Its a truly popular contemporary magazine known for its humorous portrayal of semipolitical issues. This image shows the attack of the toll gates, with farmers dressed in omens clothes with pitch-dark faces carrying the torches and sticks.The riot is taking place at night and engraved on the gate are several issues with caused the Rebecca riots. The grievances are perform rate, tithes the sorry fair play and its union workhouses. On top of the gate are the faces of unpopular toss offlords or magistrates and on the building is the name Robert Peel a prime see who introduced income taxes . Popular hatred and this is a reason why the Rebecca riots looked like no more than a violent outburst to the injustice of the turnpike system of rules but Union houses and almond weirs which distrusted fishing were in addition attacked.Overall farmers were oppressed by slew who collectively denied them Justice. This source has the hindsight of the Rebecca riots it is an entry in the rip off Academy Encyclopedia of WALES, published by the University of Wales in 2008. It forget be a well researched source considerably valid used in higher education. Document 9 an extract from Modern Wales 1950 a frequent pedantic book, with valid secondary information. David Williams is an historian with hindsight explains the government was not capacity with mere repression.Largely because of the worldity point to the riots by The times, three special commissioners were nominate in October 1843. The times was read by the governing class and diary keeper Thomas Campbell nurture captured the maintenance and importance of the Rebecca riots through his researched composings. The publicity caused the government activity to try relieve the grievances and they feared backlash if nothing was helped. The commissioners analyses the general causes central the riots and in particular, exposed the abuses of the turnpike system. statelyctioners were sent to analyses the problems but they did not look into implicit in(p) causes. A legal system was introduced because he government had previously overleap the area allowing the impressive turnpike trusts. David Williams in his book The Rebecca Riots 1955 described the riots as a gorilla warfare because of the disguised farmers who wore cleaning chickhoods clothes and discolour their faces out front attacking the toll gates. David Williams an outstanding historian with a traditional and all-embracing point of bring in that argues the companionable structure is most important at a topical anaesthetic anaesthetic lev el.The traditional societal ladder was instrumental as a catalyst to the rioting. He believes the riots would have taken place even out without the oppression of the absentee landlords. Religion was of crucial importance as the the tenant farmers were non-conformists and the topical anesthetic squires above them were believers of the church building building of England. It was the non conformist preachers who spoke of social and economic conditions in their congregations. Their words were Justified in the bible read in the chapel, let thy seed bear the gate of those which hate them. It was the chapel goers who started this burning fire. The actions of landowners portentousct to poverty. This source calls the landlords unsympathetic, culturally alien, this is because they no longer had paternal intellect to protect their tenants. They were absent landlords who moved because they were attracted to the political and social life in London separate from the tenant farmers. Rents w ere higher in Wales then the come acrossty of England. The landlords weakened the welsh economy spending their wealth outside Wales.Document 10 states that Rebecca was c formerlyrned at the high rents paying(a)(a) by farmers to their landlords and its likely that had the latter(prenominal)(prenominal) make timely reductions the riots would nor have occurred. The ein truthday insistences on the farmers and struggle to fare financially in life were the main reasons for fury in the Replicates. antecedent ten states landlords were retests were not large and thats why Rebecca had to get up a guesswork and use their traditional methods like Chiefly Preen to take their thwarting out on landlords.David Howell book, In land and mass in nineteenth century Wales in 1977, provides a detailed examination of the character of land holdings, regulations of ten twelvemonth and farming techniques. Framing techniques were backward because the tenants were insecure on their land and didnt k now if they would be evicted after a form. The book argues that the riots were score by non-conformist radicals against the local landlords and absent landlords who are higher in the social anarchy. David Howell implies that the situation is a type of class warfare where its the peasant farmers in rivalry with landlords.His Marxist beliefs and critical of urgencying a fair society, blames absentee landlords as well as local landlords for the breakdown in the paternal sympathize with system which has been tradition for centuries in Wales. Absentee landlords increased local landlords rents who then encourage passed the burden onto the peasants. The Chiefly Preen (the wooden horse) tradition started in front the sasss as protest due to the atrocious living conditions the concourse lived in. The al-Qaedas of the Rebecca riots an be seen in Chiefly Preen where the people would use this as a way of frightening and humiliating someone who had offended the communitys values.The men dressed as women and bootleg their faces carrying a mock of the unpopular person without having to revive to seeking the help of the authorities. stem E is a poster issued collectible LEWIS GROWER the local landowner following the attack on the pink-orange weir on the river TOEFL at Lechery in Garnisheed from Castle- Amalgam, 24th July 1843. The landowner presents a operose notice Being informed that the people, styling themselves Replicates, were assembled on Lechery Bridge, on Tuesday night, the 18th July, with the tell intention of destroying the SALMON WEIR.Being a landowner with money he is unsuspecting of how affected the farm laborers were by this restriction to their way of food. The Rebecca rioters attacked pinkish-orange wires because they belonged to the landowners and they were alike tangible objects. That upon the commission of any such aggression upon that, or any other part of my Property whatsoever, or upon the Property of any of my Neighbors in the Distric t, I testament immediately discharge every Day diddly-shit at present n my employment and not restore one of them until the Aggressors shall have been apprehended and convicted. These people did not care about the beneathlying grievances of the people, Just saw it as them committing criminal acts. He was even impulsive to put his own laborers out of a Job to catch the people who attacked the salmon weir. thither was no discernment they still looked to protect themselves. There were big social divisions between the gentry and the small tenant farmers which contributed to the riots. jackstoness who worked on the land. The gentry tended to belong to the church of England and spoke English.They ofttimes served as local magistrates or were Poor constabulary officials or belonged to Turnpike Trusts. They fixed the scant(p) rate, the tolls and the tithes, they were unjust people. They had little in common with those who worked on the land and overmuchtimes made decisions that suited their own Document 7 is extremely efficacious primary evidence of Mary Thomas a tenant farmers married cleaning lady to the delegating of Inquiry 1844. This lady represents the working people in air jacket Wales at the time of the Rebecca riots. She explains that tithes were very high, we salaried E. 82 in January dwell. N 1842 we remunerative E. 54 this is the receipt eleven course of studys go we paid E. 50. Mary Thomas was a respectable char she was clever with financial matters keeping the put across as evidence of the continuously rising rents. The termination time she had tithe to pay she could hardly make up seven sovereigns which she could to squire Thomas agent but he refused to take them Till I could sell something. There was no heartfelt-will for the hard times, stock for tenant farmers was very low and they were struggling. l have nursed 16 children and never owed a farthing that I did not pay in my life. This woman has budgeted her money all this time for her family to survive the hardships. Nor can I or the children go to church or chapel for the hope of decent clothing, she feels ashamed to even attend the chapel that she is paying such high tithes to because she is ashamed of the clothes her family have to wear. She is looking only for a little relief to bring off with the financial crushs which caused increasing poverty. This woman would have been taken very seriously, she has genuine grievances presented to the gentlemen.Her evidence provided is reliable because she has put across to back up her evidence. Religious factors to a fault contributed to the hardships. Landlords were the members of he Anglican church and mostly spoke English, when eighty percent of the population of west Wales was cheat speaking. The area of west Wales believed in non- conformity. Which was the refusal to accept or conform to the doctrines of the Church of England. Document 6 explains how The tithes and church rates were still detested by the chapel members who had to make payments to the Church of England. This is because income of tenant farmers was further reduced because of the tithes they had to pay. Tithes were earlier payments made for the support of the parish church, these payments were made in benign, for example crops or wool. Tithes were paid to the Anglican Church in almost all Welsh parishes once a grade. In 1836, an Act was passed replacing payment in variant by a money payment that was fixed by the vicar or sometimes by the local landowner. They resented having to pay tithes to a church that was not their own.Another cause for dis content was the new Poor natural law set up in England and Wales in 1834. Document C is from Neil Evans an honorary research co-worker from the School of History and Archaeology in Cardiff University. This source is an historic news report on BBC website, it quotesUnder the new system, if you did not have bounteous money o support yourself you had to go into one of the new workhouses where conditions were to be worse than the whisk paid laborer outside. The rioters attacked workhouses as well as tollgates. The law meant that measly relief was no longer paid to the able-bodied scurvy.Instead, they were long suitd to live in a workhouse where conditions were deliberately made harsher than the wipe up conditions outside, this was called the workhouse test because the government believed that the cause of different parts of the workhouse. The execrable were made to wear a uniform and the diet was monotonous. There were to a fault strict rules and regulations to follow. Inmates, male and female, young and old were made to work hard, a lot doing unpleasant jobs such as picking oakum or breaking stones. Children could also find themselves hired out to work in factories or mines. In the past, they had often given food and safe(p)s to the pitiable but now they were judge to pay for building the hated workhouses. This meant paying rates and th ey had little marginal cash. The workhouses persecuted the myopic, families were split up husbands separated from wives and their children. The farmers believed the system was cruel and expensive. This source has very profitable information about the workhouse conditions. It is reliable because he is an academic historian and has valuable hindsight on the Rebecca riots. His research aims to inform and educate the public as its in a BBC report.Abject poverty was the main grievance of the people of west Wales. It was distress and semi-starvation which led the country people to march downstairs the banners of Rebecca. Source A explains The attacks on the toll-gates were almost accidental. The main cause the puckishness is beyond doubt the poverty of the farmers. The people had become dissatisfied at every tax and burden they have been called upon to pay, it was too much(prenominal) pressure and it was impossible to cope. The tolls were undoubtedly an unjust imposition this was t he breaking point which has strike out this discontent into a flame.Thomas Campbell Foster, a Journalist sent to report on the Rebecca riots, writing in an article in the London newspaper, The Times (26 June 1843) studied the livelihoods of the people and delivered honest feedback of their main reasons for the rioting which was more than the injustice of the turnpike system it was the deep rooted deprivation. In the most vicious part of SST Giles (a slum area of London), in no part of England, did I ever witness such abject poverty. These are living conditions which Foster describes.Thomas Campbell foster empathetic with the people and contributed to the awareness of the Rebecca riots he was trusted by the people of due west Wales and at long last helped the government set up the commissioning of inquiry into the terrific poverty and agitation in West Wales. clownish laborers arrive at starvation point alternatively than apply for little relief, knowing that if they do so they will be dragged into the Union Workhouse, where they will be placed themselves in one yard, their wives in another, their male children in a third and their daughters in a fourth.Many people thought that the forgetful law was wrong as it humiliated and punished people who were poor through no fault of their own. People of the workhouse were not well cater Thomas Foster reports The bread which I saw in a Workhouse is made entirely of barley and is nearly black. It has a gritty and kind of sour taste. The workhouses were like prisons for the poor. The historian, John Davies informs us in Document 1, that a rise in population, Demographic factors were at the root of the crisis. This led to ambition for land and insecurity which ruthless landowners used to their advantage.Farmers constantly feared eviction if they were otiose to pay rent. Most of the farmers in rented their land from wealthy landlords. The landlords were arrogant treasured to make more money and started to r educe the number of smallholdings available to rent they then created larger farms that could only be rented at a much higher price. Poor harvests in 1837 and 1838 increased shortages and poverty. There was a good harvest in 1842, but this did not benefit because that was a year of economic depression, so industrial workers could not afford to buy awkward goods.Houses f the farm laborers were like mud hovels with no furniture they were insentient and desperate. Most had no beds Just loose straw and rags which was extremely unhealthy. The laborers had peat fires a cheap and poor coal that filled the home with smoke. Source B is by James Rogers of Carpenter, a corn merchant, giving evidence to the bang of Inquiry into the causes of the Rebecca riots (1844). This is primary proof of the continuous hardships the people faced. In the year 1840, which was a very wet summer, nearly all the farmers had to purchase corn, each for seed or bread.This distress has not been the result of one or both or three years, but a series of at least twenty. The value of the farmers land and property has decreased in value while the rates, taxes, tithes and rent have been increased. This made the farmers very distressed. To sum up, dire poverty had led to a serious situation in Wales. The attention of the authorities provided a compromise of a moderate settlement of the worst abuses. The government eventually suppressed the Rebecca riots, using troops and the full force of the law. Some rioters were caught and decryd to transportation.Social notations gradually improved and the laws controlling turnpike trusts was amended eventually railway development eased the pressures of a growing population as farmers moved away in search of industrial employment. West Wales provided an easier market for produce and a safety valve for surplus population. People could move more easily to find work and this helped reduce pressure in agrestic areas for jobs. The ending of the Corn Laws i n 1846, and attempts in 1847 to make the Poor Law more attractive also helped. As a result Rebecca disappeared from find out to become a proud memory of the Welsh heritage. Hollies JohnRebecca riotsThey attacked the toll gates because they were tangible objects In which to release rustication. However many Rebecca Incidents were regarding dire poverty and general economic conditions in the countryside and not about tolls. The origin of the name Rebecca comes from a biblical quote, And they blessed Rebecca and said to her thou art our sister, be thou mother of thousand of millions and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. (Genesis 2460). The people saw this as a sign for action against the turnpike trusts.The other origin for Rebecca came from the accepted leader of the first protests Thomas Reese who wore womens clothing when leading the attacks to disguise himself. He was a large man and its said he borrowed the clothes from a lady named Rebecca. The consequenc es of the auctions would be serious such as transportation, so the men knew they had to traverse their Identity during the attacks. The turnpike trusts were created by private acts of of parliament. Their purpose was to upgrade specific stretches of road and they were authorized to levy tolls in order to repay their subscribers.The toll gates were increasingly popular in England and Wales. Money was collected to keep on the roads but a number of trusts kept profits for themselves many trusts were inefficient and neglected roads. Turnpike trusts were a particular burden for the tenant farmers and the farm workers because of the high toll charges demanded from them when traveling to market. They were forced to pay more than once over a short distance where the roads of the entrusts interlinked. In Carpenter there were 1 1 different Turnpike Trusts operating around the town, there were several gates in Leaning and Swansea as well.Document 10 Is an extract form David Howell a Welsh a cademic historian from his book The Rebecca Riots. He makes an honest point that there is no misinterpretation their tithing for the harshness of the toll-gate system. The tenant farmers were oppressed by the English toll renters, the most reviled was Thomas Bulling. The side bars were simple toll gates on the B roads. The side bars were detested they saw the farmers hand in his pocket constantly In the course of Just one short Journey and so constituted an ever-present Irritant, these side bars would catch any traffic the fees of the illegally erected toll-gates.The fees would contribute to dire poverty because they had less money affecting their livelihoods, they would loose on their way to sell produce at market. Rebecca and her daughters took the law into their own hands and violently attacked the side bars leaving the legal gates on the main roads intact. The area had no policing or local government to stop the injustice of the turnpike trusts, this is the reason for the many protests on toll gates which were unguarded. They say there is not a bye-lane of any screen out by which a cart can get to the lime-kilns which has not a bar or a chain across it.They say if ever there is a lane by which one or two farmers can get to their farms without paying toll, an application is immediately made to the trustees to reserve a bar on the lane. Document 3 by Thomas Campbell Foster, an executive Journalist from the Times newspaper was searching for the root causes of the Rebecca riots. This is a reliable source it confirms David Howell research on the turnpike trusts, that the farmers clamorously complain about the oppressive nature of tolls.The turnpike trusts were dishonest they gained money from the toll gates but did not attend the roads, they could continue to do this because Wales did not have a authorities who would oversee the injustice of the turnpike trust. This source highlights the oppression of the Turnpike Trusts who exacerbated the poverty. Document 2 from the Illustrated London news, the image shows men dressed as women with farming tools attacking toll gates which is valid. However this source is primary evidence, which means it can be exaggerated, it shows imitation information.There are children present and some undisguised where they would usually have blackened faces and its also taking place in daytime when it would be at night. The image further exaggerates the situation as it shows magistrates and gentlemen at the other side of the gates his may be because they were another grievance. Magistrates were a small elite group in society who charged any corrupt sentence they felt. Toll gates were attacked because they were tangible objects and nobody guarded them at night.This source highlights the attention the Rebecca riots brought. This publicity was from London it was an achievement as the government could hear of the riots and poor living conditions in Wales. Document 4 is an extremely a well informed source from the cartoon punch 1843. Its a very popular contemporary magazine known for its humorous portrayal of political issues. This image shows the attack of the toll gates, with farmers dressed in omens clothes with blackened faces carrying the torches and sticks.The riot is taking place at night and engraved on the gate are several issues with caused the Rebecca riots. The grievances are church rate, tithes the poor law and its union workhouses. On top of the gate are the faces of unpopular landlords or magistrates and on the building is the name Robert Peel a prime curate who introduced income taxes. Popular hatred and this is a reason why the Rebecca riots looked like no more than a violent outburst to the injustice of the turnpike system but Union houses and almond weirs which distrusted fishing were also attacked.Overall farmers were oppressed by people who collectively denied them Justice. This source has the hindsight of the Rebecca riots it is an entry in the Welsh Academy Encyclopedi a of WALES, published by the University of Wales in 2008. It will be a well researched source considerably valid used in higher education. Document 9 an extract from Modern Wales 1950 a general academic book, with valid secondary information. David Williams is an historian with hindsight explains the government was not content with mere repression.Largely because of the publicity even to the riots by The Times, three special commissioners were ordained in October 1843. The times was read by the governing class and Journalist Thomas Campbell Foster captured the attention and importance of the Rebecca riots through his researched reports. The publicity caused the authorities to try relieve the grievances and they feared backlash if nothing was helped. The commissioners analyses the general causes fundamental the riots and in particular, exposed the abuses of the turnpike system. Commissioners were sent to analyses the problems but they did not look into underlying causes. A legal system was introduced because he government had previously neglected the area allowing the impressive turnpike trusts. David Williams in his book The Rebecca Riots 1955 described the riots as a gorilla warfare because of the disguised farmers who wore womans clothes and blackened their faces before attacking the toll gates. David Williams an outstanding historian with a traditional and crowing point of view that argues the social structure is most important at a local level.The traditional social ladder was instrumental as a catalyst to the rioting. He believes the riots would have taken place even without the oppression of the absentee landlords. Religion was of crucial importance as the the tenant farmers were non-conformists and the local squires above them were believers of the Church of England. It was the non conformist preachers who spoke of social and economic conditions in their congregations. Their words were Justified in the bible read in the chapel, let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. It was the chapel goers who started this burning fire. The actions of landowners led to poverty. This source calls the landlords unsympathetic, culturally alien, this is because they no longer had paternal instinct(predicate) to protect their tenants. They were absent landlords who moved because they were attracted to the political and social life in London separate from the tenant farmers. Rents were higher in Wales then the unit of measurement of England. The landlords weakened the Welsh economy spending their wealth outside Wales.Document 10 states that Rebecca was concerned at the high rents paid by farmers to their landlords and its likely that had the latter made timely reductions the riots would nor have occurred. The everyday pressures on the farmers and struggle to cope financially in life were the main reasons for fury in the Replicates. Source ten states landlords were retests were not enough and thats why Rebecca had to make a icon and use their traditional methods like Chiefly Preen to take their thwarting out on landlords.David Howell book, In land and people in nineteenth century Wales in 1977, provides a detailed examination of the character of land holdings, regulations of ten year and farming techniques. Framing techniques were backward because the tenants were insecure on their land and didnt know if they would be evicted after a year. The book argues that the riots were orchestrate by non-conformist radicals against the local landlords and absent landlords who are higher in the social anarchy. David Howell implies that the situation is a type of class warfare where its the peasant farmers in rivalry with landlords.His Marxist beliefs and critical of wanting a fair society, blames absentee landlords as well as local landlords for the breakdown in the paternal affectionateness system which has been tradition for centuries in Wales. Absentee landlords increased local landlords rents who then further pas sed the burden onto the peasants. The Chiefly Preen (the wooden horse) tradition started before the sasss as protest due to the atrocious living conditions the people lived in. The roots of the Rebecca riots an be seen in Chiefly Preen where the people would use this as a way of frightening and humiliating someone who had offended the communitys values.The men dressed as women and blackened their faces carrying a mock of the unpopular person without having to furbish up to seeking the help of the authorities. Source E is a poster issued payable LEWIS GROWER the local landowner following the attack on the salmon weir on the river TOEFL at Lechery in Garnisheed from Castle- Amalgam, 24th July 1843. The landowner presents a heavy(p) notice Being informed that the people, styling themselves Replicates, were assembled on Lechery Bridge, on Tuesday night, the 18th July, with the state intention of destroying the SALMON WEIR.Being a landowner with money he is oblivious(predicate) of ho w affected the farm laborers were by this restriction to their way of food. The Rebecca rioters attacked salmon wires because they belonged to the landowners and they were also tangible objects. That upon the commission of any such aggression upon that, or any other part of my Property whatsoever, or upon the Property of any of my Neighbors in the District, I will immediately discharge every Day Laborer at present n my employment and not restore one of them until the Aggressors shall have been apprehended and convicted. These people did not care about the underlying grievances of the people, Just saw it as them committing criminal acts. He was even ordain to put his own laborers out of a Job to catch the people who attacked the salmon weir. There was no sympathy they only looked to protect themselves. There were big social divisions between the gentry and the small tenant farmers which contributed to the riots. Laborers who worked on the land. The gentry tended to belong to the Chu rch of England and spoke English.They often served as local magistrates or were Poor Law officials or belonged to Turnpike Trusts. They fixed the poor rate, the tolls and the tithes, they were unjust people. They had little in common with those who worked on the land and often made decisions that suited their own Document 7 is extremely useful primary evidence of Mary Thomas a tenant farmers married woman to the Commission of Inquiry 1844. This lady represents the working people in West Wales at the time of the Rebecca riots. She explains that tithes were very high, we paid E. 82 in January last. N 1842 we paid E. 54 this is the receipt eleven years go we paid E. 50. Mary Thomas was a respectable woman she was clever with financial matters keeping the receipts as evidence of the forever rising rents. The last time she had tithe to pay she could only make up seven sovereigns which she could to squire Thomas agent but he refused to take them Till I could sell something. There was no sympathy for the hard times, stock for tenant farmers was very low and they were struggling. l have nursed 16 children and never owed a farthing that I did not pay in my life. This woman has budgeted her money all this time for her family to survive the hardships. Nor can I or the children go to church or chapel for the want of decent clothing, she feels ashamed to even attend the chapel that she is paying such high tithes to because she is ashamed of the clothes her family have to wear. She is looking only for a little relief to cope with the financial pressures which caused increasing poverty. This woman would have been taken very seriously, she has genuine grievances presented to the gentlemen.Her evidence provided is reliable because she has receipts to back up her evidence. Religious factors also contributed to the hardships. Landlords were the members of he Anglican church and mostly spoke English, when eighty percent of the population of west Wales was Welsh speaking. The are a of west Wales believed in non- conformity. Which was the refusal to accept or conform to the doctrines of the Church of England. Document 6 explains how The tithes and church rates were still detested by the chapel members who had to make payments to the Church of England. This is because income of tenant farmers was further reduced because of the tithes they had to pay. Tithes were originally payments made for the support of the parish church, these payments were made in kind, for example crops or wool. Tithes were paid to the Anglican Church in almost all Welsh parishes once a year. In 1836, an Act was passed replacing payment in kind by a money payment that was fixed by the vicar or sometimes by the local landowner. They resented having to pay tithes to a church that was not their own.Another cause for discontent was the new Poor Law set up in England and Wales in 1834. Document C is from Neil Evans an honorary research cub from the School of History and Archaeology in Cardif f University. This source is an historic news report on BBC website, it quotesUnder the new system, if you did not have enough money o support yourself you had to go into one of the new workhouses where conditions were to be worse than the worst paid laborer outside. The rioters attacked workhouses as well as tollgates. The law meant that poor relief was no longer paid to the able-bodied poor.Instead, they were forced to live in a workhouse where conditions were deliberately made harsher than the worst conditions outside, this was called the workhouse test because the government believed that the cause of different parts of the workhouse. The poor were made to wear a uniform and the diet was monotonous. There were also strict rules and regulations to follow. Inmates, male and female, young and old were made to work hard, often doing unpleasant jobs such as picking oakum or breaking stones. Children could also find themselves hired out to work in factories or mines. In the past, they had often given food and goods to the poor but now they were evaluate to pay for building the hated workhouses. This meant paying rates and they had little allow cash. The workhouses persecuted the poor, families were split up husbands separated from wives and their children. The farmers believed the system was cruel and expensive. This source has very useful information about the workhouse conditions. It is reliable because he is an academic historian and has valuable hindsight on the Rebecca riots. His research aims to inform and educate the public as its in a BBC report.Abject poverty was the main grievance of the people of west Wales. It was distress and semi-starvation which led the country people to march under the banners of Rebecca. Source A explains The attacks on the toll-gates were almost accidental. The main cause the impishness is beyond doubt the poverty of the farmers. The people had become dissatisfied at every tax and burden they have been called upon to pay, i t was too much pressure and it was impossible to cope. The tolls were undoubtedly an unjust imposition this was the breaking point which has strike out this discontent into a flame.Thomas Campbell Foster, a Journalist sent to report on the Rebecca riots, writing in an article in the London newspaper, The Times (26 June 1843) studied the livelihoods of the people and delivered honest feedback of their main reasons for the rioting which was more than the injustice of the turnpike system it was the deep rooted deprivation. In the most miserable part of SST Giles (a slum area of London), in no part of England, did I ever witness such abject poverty. These are living conditions which Foster describes.Thomas Campbell foster empathetic with the people and contributed to the awareness of the Rebecca riots he was trusted by the people of West Wales and eventually helped the government set up the Commission of inquiry into the dire poverty and agitation in West Wales. pastoral laborers arr ive at starvation point rather than apply for poor relief, knowing that if they do so they will be dragged into the Union Workhouse, where they will be placed themselves in one yard, their wives in another, their male children in a third and their daughters in a fourth.Many people thought that the poor law was wrong as it humiliated and punished people who were poor through no fault of their own. People of the workhouse were not well federal official Thomas Foster reports The bread which I saw in a Workhouse is made entirely of barley and is nearly black. It has a gritty and rather sour taste. The workhouses were like prisons for the poor. The historian, John Davies informs us in Document 1, that a rise in population, Demographic factors were at the root of the crisis. This led to contest for land and insecurity which ruthless landowners used to their advantage.Farmers constantly feared eviction if they were unavailing to pay rent. Most of the farmers in rented their land from we althy landlords. The landlords were arrogant treasured to make more money and started to reduce the number of smallholdings available to rent they then created larger farms that could only be rented at a much higher price. Poor harvests in 1837 and 1838 increased shortages and poverty. There was a good harvest in 1842, but this did not benefit because that was a year of economic depression, so industrial workers could not afford to buy verdant goods.Houses f the farm laborers were like mud hovels with no furniture they were dust-covered and dire. Most had no beds Just loose straw and rags which was extremely unhealthy. The laborers had peat fires a cheap and poor coal that filled the home with smoke. Source B is by James Rogers of Carpenter, a corn merchant, giving evidence to the Commission of Inquiry into the causes of the Rebecca riots (1844). This is primary proof of the continuous hardships the people faced. In the year 1840, which was a very wet summer, nearly all the farm ers had to purchase corn, either for seed or bread.This distress has not been the result of one or two or three years, but a series of at least twenty. The value of the farmers land and property has decreased in value while the rates, taxes, tithes and rent have been increased. This made the farmers very distressed. To sum up, dire poverty had led to a serious situation in Wales. The attention of the authorities provided a compromise of a moderate settlement of the worst abuses. The government eventually suppressed the Rebecca riots, using troops and the full force of the law. Some rioters were caught and sentenced to transportation.Social notations gradually improved and the laws controlling turnpike trusts was amended eventually railway development eased the pressures of a growing population as farmers moved away in search of industrial employment. West Wales provided an easier market for produce and a safety valve for surplus population. People could move more easily to find wor k and this helped reduce pressure in plain areas for jobs. The ending of the Corn Laws in 1846, and attempts in 1847 to make the Poor Law more attractive also helped. As a result Rebecca disappeared from view to become a proud memory of the Welsh heritage. Hollies John