The London Socialist Historians Group has said that a move by the National Trust to include the Sycamore tree under which the Tolpuddle Martyrs met in 1833/4 as part the Queen’s Jubilèe celebrations is wrong and should not go ahead.
The Martyrs were not monarchists and the Crown only intervened in the case in 1836 when keeping them in Australia became inconvenient
LSHG organiser Dr Keith Flett said Boris Johnson is against rewriting history of which this is a good example. The NT need to own it’s error here.
Contact Dr Keith Flett 07803 167266
Update 20th May
It’s been pointed out that with the June 2002 Jubilee the Martyrs Tree was dedicated to the Queen with a plaque. However history is not static. In 2002 the Labour Government was involved in an historical culture war.
Nigel Costley’s argument that Tolpuddle should be part of a great national celebration in 2022 has a point but it has problems. The chances of arguing that this is the story we want to tell as opposed to the one Johnson is going to tell in wall to wall media are slim
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