Publisher's Synopsis
The Hernhill Rising of 1838 was the last battle fought on English soil, the last revolt against the New Poor Law and England's last millenarian rising. The bloody Battle of Bosenden Wood, fought in a corner of rural Kent, was the culmination of a revolt led by the self-styled Sir William Courtenay. It was also, despite the greater fame of the 1830 Swing Riots, the last rising of the agricultural labourers.;Barry Reay provides a comprehensive and scholarly analysis of the abortive rising, its background and its social context, based on intensive research particularly in local archives. He presents a case-study of popular mobilization in 19th-century England, giving a portrait of the day-to-day existence of the farm labourer and the life of the village. Dr Reay explores the wider context of agrarian relations, rural reform, protest and control.
