ABSTRACT
Analysis of the differing agrarian regions from which the Clubmen came has led under down to put forward the interesting hypothesis that in areas where arable farming predominated the Clubmen were more inclined to support the King, whereas in pastoral areas they tended to favour Parliament. The initial spark for the risings wherever they occurred would invariably appear to have been provided by the presence of plundering troops or some exhorbitant demand from a local garrison. The disturbances can almost be regarded in some areas as equivalent to the food riots of the industrial workers, for what is striking about the spatial distribution of both the 1757 and the 1790s militia riots, particularly in England, is the fact the riots occurred in regions free from food protests. In Lincolnshire in 1796 the militia protests were accompanied by other acts of violence and threats against the rich.
