> Does anyone know of any more info/references on the Rebecca Riots in
South
> Wales between 1842-44?
> Angela
Oh yessssssss. I did these for O-Levels, ten years ago, along with the Merthyr Riots, the Chartists and the NorthEast Wales Tithe Wars (People, Protest and Politics, a history module designed by the Nationalists and taught in schools of a certain kind). I've spent the entire intervening time wishing that someone would ask about them.
Basically, the original protest was against the turnpike at Efailwen, IIRC, and was mainly a movement of the tenant farmers, who were having to pay huge tolls for the use of the privately owned roads (the tolls payable for shipping a wagon of lime from the coast could easily add up to more than the value of the lime itself). They dressed up as women and blacked their faces to avoid being identified, but it was pretty widely known that the original "Rebecca" was a farmer called Twm Carnabwth (Tom from Carnabeth), who borrowed the clothes of a local woman called Rebecca for the raid. The biblical verse about the daughters of Rebecca was adopted later.
Most of the Rebecca attacks were directed at turnpikes and tollhouses, but there was a second strand of protestors, who also used the Rebecca name and disguise, but didn't share leadership or aims, Their target was mainly the workhouses. Key leaders were a guy called Mike Bowen, who led the raid on the workhouse at Fishguard and David Davies, a local character known as Dai'r Cantwr (David the Singer), who got thrown into jail when an old woman was killed during one of the riots, but had his sentence commuted to lifetime transportation in the face of popular outcry.
BTW, "Welsh", is a Middle English word meaning "foreigner, slave"
fascinating article http://clever.net/quinion/words/articles/welsh.htm
dd
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