ABSTRACT
Machine-wrecking was by no means uncommon throughout the eighteenth century, but came to a head in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Lancashire between 1812 and 1813 (see Map 9.1). The starting-point was a set of disturbances in Nottingham, in March 1811. A demonstration of stockingers was dispersed by the military; as a result sixty stocking-frames were broken at the large village of Arnold. This was followed by several weeks of disturbances, mainly at night, throughout the hosiery villages of north-west Nottinghamshire. Although the stockingers or hosiers did obtain some
improvements in pay, Luddism declined in 1812; the movement was revived on several occasions, and did not entirely disappear until early 1817.
