Georgian
The year 1830 brought a wave of unrest to the countryside of southern and eastern England, remembered as the Swing Riots. It was a troubled time for rural labourers, and the story of that year – and of why Leigh itself stayed quiet – says a great deal about life in our corner of Kent.
The roots of the trouble lay in the aftermath of the long war against Napoleon. Victory had been won, but the nation was left financially exhausted. Around 1815 to 1820, the army and the navy were paid off, and thousands of demobilised men returned home to find work scarce and wages poor. Meanwhile, the price of bread was pushed upwards by the export of English corn, while new farming machinery was taking jobs that labourers had once relied upon. To make matters worse, many of the landlords who owned the land were absent, living far from their estates and showing little sympathy for the hardships of those who worked on them. The anti-Corn Law reformers, who would later campaign for cheaper bread, had not yet begun to act by 1830.
The disturbances began in Kent. The name "Swing" came from the threatening letters, signed by the mythical Captain Swing, that were sent to wealthy farmers across the county. Kent suffered badly: the Sevenoaks district saw more than a dozen cases of arson, and Edenbridge recorded nearly as many. There were two arson incidents in the Weald and one at Penshurst. Sevenoaks also witnessed a riot over wages. Yet despite this violence on the doorstep, no rioting incidents were reported in Leigh itself.
Why should our village have escaped? Part of the answer lies in the gunpowder mill. By 1830 the Leigh mill was employing a large number of men and boys, and it paid its workers more than they could earn on the farms. The mill also generated spin-off employment for builders, bakers and blacksmiths, giving the village a broader and more secure economy than many rural communities. In such circumstances, the desperate grievances that drove labourers to riot elsewhere were felt less keenly here.
Landownership mattered too. Hall Place was the home of the Farmer Baily family, who at one stage owned the biggest yacht in the country. Whatever their wealth, the Bailys were comparatively good landlords: they built a good number of cottages in the village, and together with Penshurst Place they owned many of the local farms. Tenants with reasonable landlords had less reason to take to the fields with fire and fury.
Local government also played its part. The Leigh Vestry, the equivalent of a parish council but with considerably more power, ran its own affairs with some competence. It had its own policemen and road builders, provided sick pay and a school, and employed an excellent young doctor. A village that looked after its poor in this way had less cause for the resentment that exploded elsewhere.
The riots of 1830 did not bring immediate relief, but change did follow. The Poor Law Reform Act of 1834 introduced reforms, and the Guardians of the Poor took on increasing responsibilities for welfare. Later in the 1830s came the Battle of Bossenden Wood, a further reminder that rural discontent had not gone away. It was not until the 1840s that the situation of the rural poor genuinely improved.
For anyone wishing to explore the wider picture, the local history archive holds a copy of A Historical Atlas of Kent, which sets these events in their county context.