This thread was created from discussion about history on another thread. This is for information and discussion about the history of radicalism and rebellion in the county of Kent, England. I have shamelessly copied and pasted brogdale's summary/list. Obviously discussion or info on this thread does not have to be confined to what is on this list. Although I find all of this interesting, I am at the moment, particularly interested in the possible Digger commune at Cox Hall/Hill -
Much of Kent's radical history is very historical and some of it not really 'indigenous' as it were, but here goes with the stories of resistance:
1. The anti-Roman imperial warfare/'guerrilla resistance' of the Cantiaci to the various invasions of the imperialists culminating in defeat to the imperialists at the Battle of Medway.
2. The Peasants' revolt ( Wat Tyler's rebellion) against the taxes levied to fight war.
3. Jack Cade's rebellion in 1450 in which the "Captain of Kent" led peasants in a revolutionary attempt to take the state from the monarchy who corruptly imposed taxes for war.
4. As Count Cuckula mentioned above, various instances of revolutionary communities that emerged when the 'world was turned upside down' including the Diggers' community at Cox Hall near Dover.
5. The Nore (Chatham) Naval mutiny which, under Richard Parker, transformed from the 'normal' reasons for mutiny into a more explicit, revolutionary, republican action.
6. As iona mentioned above, the1830 Swing Riots protesting mechanisation, the Poor Law and starvation wages were sparked in East Kent in the Elham Valley between Canterbury and Folkestone.
7. The 1838 Battle of Bossenden wood, which I've already wittered about here, in which the rural poor, led by Sir William Courtenay, in villages around Faversham & Canterbury rebelled against their employers and ended up engaged in "the last rising of the agricultural labourers and the last battle fought on English soil."
8. Post WW1 radicalism including the 1920 NFDDSS activism and agitation of the ex-servicemen employed at the Woolwich Arsenal that spooked the authorities into forming the state controlled RBL.
9. The collieries of the Kent coalfield opened and expanded after WW1 and the demand for skilled labour meant that many of the most militant miners from the traditional coalfields who were sacked/black-listed for 1926 action found work in Kent. This tradition of militancy stayed with the Kent miners through to 1984.
and I'm sure that there's far more!
Much of Kent's radical history is very historical and some of it not really 'indigenous' as it were, but here goes with the stories of resistance:
1. The anti-Roman imperial warfare/'guerrilla resistance' of the Cantiaci to the various invasions of the imperialists culminating in defeat to the imperialists at the Battle of Medway.
2. The Peasants' revolt ( Wat Tyler's rebellion) against the taxes levied to fight war.
3. Jack Cade's rebellion in 1450 in which the "Captain of Kent" led peasants in a revolutionary attempt to take the state from the monarchy who corruptly imposed taxes for war.
4. As Count Cuckula mentioned above, various instances of revolutionary communities that emerged when the 'world was turned upside down' including the Diggers' community at Cox Hall near Dover.
5. The Nore (Chatham) Naval mutiny which, under Richard Parker, transformed from the 'normal' reasons for mutiny into a more explicit, revolutionary, republican action.
6. As iona mentioned above, the1830 Swing Riots protesting mechanisation, the Poor Law and starvation wages were sparked in East Kent in the Elham Valley between Canterbury and Folkestone.
7. The 1838 Battle of Bossenden wood, which I've already wittered about here, in which the rural poor, led by Sir William Courtenay, in villages around Faversham & Canterbury rebelled against their employers and ended up engaged in "the last rising of the agricultural labourers and the last battle fought on English soil."
8. Post WW1 radicalism including the 1920 NFDDSS activism and agitation of the ex-servicemen employed at the Woolwich Arsenal that spooked the authorities into forming the state controlled RBL.
9. The collieries of the Kent coalfield opened and expanded after WW1 and the demand for skilled labour meant that many of the most militant miners from the traditional coalfields who were sacked/black-listed for 1926 action found work in Kent. This tradition of militancy stayed with the Kent miners through to 1984.
and I'm sure that there's far more!
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