If you grew up in the UK, you’ve probably heard of the Swing Riots of 1830, a wave of rural unrest that swept across the southern counties. These disturbances were driven by farm labourers who, worn down by years of war, low wages, unemployment and high taxes, felt they had reached a breaking point. The introduction of the threshing machine, blamed for putting thousands out of work, became the main target of their anger as mobs gathered across towns such as Newbury, Thatcham, Kintbury, Hungerford, Inkpen and Lambourn, smashing machinery in protest.
By the end of 1830, it is believed that nearly 2000 people were involved in the riots. In the aftermath, nine of the rioters (including one Kintbury man, William Winterbourne) were hung and a further 450 (including thirteen from Kintbury and four from Hungerford) were transported to Australia.
When these rioters were sent to Australia, they left behind families who suddenly had to survive without them. Wives became single parents overnight, children grew up without fathers and in many cases, parishes had to step in to help.
So, what happened to these families, and how did their lives unfold after their men were sent to Australia?
Robert Page
Thirty-one-year-old Robert Page received a sentence of seven years transportation for his crimes during the riots. He was charged with having assaulted James Franklin at Enborne and stealing two sovereigns from him. He was also found guilty of destroying a machine belonging to Joseph Stanbrook. And in early 1831, he boarded the Eleanor bound for Australia.
Back home in Kintbury, Robert left behind his wife, Lucy, and their three surviving children.
It seems that parish support initially kept the family afloat, with one source recording that “To sustain herself and her fatherless family, Mrs Robert Page recieved each week four gallon loaves and three shillings.”
The Kintbury parish registers give us a clear picture of the family Robert left behind. Page had married Lucy Cook on 12 June 1824, and they welcomed their first child, Emma, later that year (baptised at Kintbury on 17 October 1824). A second daughter Ann was born in 1827 but sadly died within a week. Two sons followed, George (baptised at Kintbury on 16 March 1828) and Barlow (baptised at Kintbury on 1 August 1830).
The 1841 census still shows the Pages living together in Kintbury, with Lucy raising the children alone while Robert was thousands of miles away.
By 1851, however, life had changed. Lucy remarried in 1848 to Felix Baker and was still living in Kintbury. George, now 23, appears to still be living with his mother, but is described as a “son-in-law", a term seemingly used to describe stepchildren.
Barlow, meanwhile, turns up in Hackney and is recorded as a visitor in the Partridge household.
It is Emma’s path, which is the most interesting of all her siblings. By 1851, Emma had left Berkshire altogether. She was living in Hampshire, working as a servant, which is probably how she came to meet her first husband, William Brunsdon, a 50-year-old farmer. The two married in Burghclere on 7 May 1849, when Emma was just 25.
The 1851 census records a three-year-old daughter, Sarah Brunsdon, whose age possibly suggests the reason for the couple's marriage to begin with.
The couple also seem to have had a son. A young William Brunsdon appears on the 1861 census visiting Emma’s mother, Lucy, in Kintbury, recorded as her grandson.
But Emma’s marriage was short. William died in 1854, leaving Emma in a similar situation to her mother in 1831, alone with children to raise.
Just a year later she remarried, this time to Richard Haysome, a labourer. Their first child, Albert, was born in 1855. Then the couple welcomed a daughter Ann in 1857 and another son Walter in 1859. Thirteen-year-old Sarah is still living with the couple at this time, listed as their “daughter-in-law".
The family continued to grow, and in 1868, Emma gave birth to twins, Alice and Emily, who appear with the family on the 1871 census.