The Last Rising of the Agricultural Labourers

Book excerpt: The Hernhill Rising of 1838 was the last battle fought on English soil, the last revolt against the New Poor Law, and England's millenarian rising. Fought in a corner of rural Kent, it was also the last rising of the agricultural laborers. In this comprehensive analysis, Reay draws on intensive research in local archives to provide a critical study of the background of the rising and its social context. He presents a unique casestudy of popular mobilization in nineteenth-century England, producing a vivid portrait of the daily existence of the farm laborer and life in the village. Exploring the wider context of agrarian relations, rural reform, protest, and control, this study will be of special interest to students and scholars of modern British history and social, agrarian, and local historians.