James Brine, James Hammett, George Loveless, James Loveless, Thomas Standfield and John Standfield never expected to be remembered as significant figures in history. They were not government ministers, military leaders or great scientists, but humble farm labourers in a Dorset village in the 1830s. Yet each July, even today nearly two centuries later, thousands of people go to their village, Tolpuddle, to commemorate their lives. They are better known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs.
The events which were to have such a huge impact on their lives began in 1831, when, concerned about rising prices, they had a meeting with their employers, the local farmers, to discuss an increase in wages. The meeting seemed to go well. The men’s leader, George Loveless, was an eminently respectable man, a Methodist lay preacher, and the 2-hour meeting ended amicably: the Tolpuddle farmers agreed to pay the men as much for their work as other farmers in the surrounding area.
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