ABSTRACT
Food riots in Britain were in the main the direct collective actions of town artisans and proto-industrial and industrial, that is, non-agricultural, workers. The fact that food rioting in Britain was mainly a strategy employed by industrial workers in defence of their living standards has certain implications for any study of the geography of food riots, particularly an explanation of regional shifts in that geography. The Midland countries suffered the earliest outbreaks of rioting in 1756 and in particular the area between Birmingham and Nottingham saw a great deal of crowd activity in August and September. Crowds in Wiltshire were exceptionally large and disciplined; their targets seemed to be local provision dealers of considerable size. In the vicinity of Stroud in Gloucestershire the initial disturbances concerned local bakers, millers and dealers in provisions; women and boys played an important part here.
