World Book Day: the Luddite letter writer in E P Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class
I’d choose E P Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class (1963 still in print) as my book for World Book Day. I’m conscious of the fact that the day is aimed at younger people and encouraging reading and Thompson’s book is a weighty tome, which might put some off.
That said it is full of characters who might spark interest and indeed passages that can be read allowed.
In fact Thompson compiled a good deal of the detail in the book and arguably some of the approaches to it while teaching WEA night classes in Yorkshire in the 1950s. His engagement with working-class students underlines the point he made in the 1968 postscript that the book is far from being a dry academic tone
Take this brief piece about a Luddite letter writer, stuck in jail
Thompson notes that in the early nineteenth century working class there was a considerable span of articulateness from the fully articulate artisan to the barely literate.
He writes:
‘Besides this (an example of a wife writing to a journeyman tailor in jail) we may set the letter of the Sheffield joiner Wolstenholme, to his wife’
Our Minaster hath lent me four vollams of the Missionary Register witch give me grat satisfaction to se ou the Lord is carin on is work of grais in distant contres
Thompson goes on ‘the writing of this letter was attended with difficulties since ‘Have broke my spettacles’
In a footnote he suggests that since the prisoners knew their letters were read by the Governor they were inclined to include references to improving reading
In an earlier version of this post the historian John Baxter added the following very useful background to the writer of the above letter:
Good choice and the book has plenty of Luddite literature quoted but Luddites held to the ‘taissez vous'(keep quiet ) maxim.Most avoided being caught.This letter lovingly reproduced by Thompson,was I recall one is several letters held still by the state after several members of the Sheffield Political Hampden Club/union Society revolutionary underground were duped by Oliver the Spy and spent most of second half of 1817 imprisoned without charge.Katrina Navickas has used these letters to emphasise the role women played advocating rights for political prisoners.Think this letter was relating to William,’Old Wolstenholme’ a member of the revolutionary underground in 1801-2 who was this time arrested.He had two sons with him in jail in 1817..James , his son was the ‘Sheffield ‘captain’ so called..they claimed to be Despard’s men as badge of pride and twenty years later he and his own son James were Chartists.The son was elected to the Chartist convention..was in London and connected to the rising planning of 1839 got to hang out with Beniowoski and Dr Taylor but escaped to America in September and never came back.
The family were Kilhamite(TomPaine) Methodists from Scotland Street chapel.written a piece which in desperation for outlet put on Academia as ‘Passing the torch ofLiberty’.Then found at last moment that it was a three generation story..James son of William had won James ,a 36 year old son in 1839.Have revised it but subsumed much of information in my new version Holberry biography .
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