Post on 09-Mar-2016
description
summer 2009
the bombilla the quarterly international lighting fanzine
begins its quest in search of the roots of modernity,
archiving and lining up all existing documentation and
information in an attempt affront it in an manner of critical
thought.
Contents :
Instead of Editorial..........................................
Range against the Machine - The
Luddites......................................................
........................1
Actions and Trials of the
Luddites......................................................
......................................17
Masking and Archaic Justice
� .............................................................
...................................27
Underground
Movements.....................................................
....................................................29
Symbolism of Light the Secret story of the Olympic
Flame........................................................4
7
Miscellaneous � Authoritarian use of
Light.........................................................
......................50
Short story of the
Lamp..........................................................
...................................................54
Design 150 years Thonet
No14..........................................................
......................................60
Art : Eric
Drooker......................................................
..............................................................
.63
Music:
Chambawamba...................................................
......................................................... 64
Cover : ZON by Constant
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Imagine a group of prisoners
chained since their childhood
deep down in the darkness of a
cave, their bodies and heads are
locked in such a way that they
can only stare on the wall in
front of them.
Behind the prisoners there is a
huge fire, and between the fire
and the prisoners there is a
walkway along which people pass
holding in their raised hands
various objects, casting in this
way various shadows on the wall
in front of the prisoners.
Occasionally the prisoners will
hear noise, noise which echoes
off the wall of the cave
depicting the shadows. Ultimately
the prisoners make themselves
believe that the noise is coming
from the shadows.
This is the only reality
they know…
Suddenly a prisoner breaks free
from his bounds, slowly and hard-
fought in hands and knees he
manages to crawl up and out of
the cave. Then when he finally
reaches the exit of the cave the
Sun shines upon his face burning
his eyes. Once more he must find
the strength to overcome this
utter challenge and educe
himself, to glint at the Sun. In
time he will learn to see
how to see…
The responsibility that has
fallen upon him "dictates" that
he must now to return to the cave
and help the rest of the
prisoners which remain in green.
"The allegory of the cave"
Plato
Range Against the Machine
1
The Industrial Revolution had an
effect on the imagination of
society, it made people think that
their culture was to be judged
solely by its commercial success
in a struggle of which the whole
world was now the arena. The test
of success was the test of profits
: if a society could make its
social and political conditions
favourable to the earning of high
profits that society was
prosperous.
3
The Industrial revolution as a
theme has been subject to bulks o
critical papers resulting to an
abundance of literature, scholar
exploration and surveys
researching its effects on the
social and economic structure of
society; the quality of life;
laboring and the emerging of new
social classes. Nonetheless one
distinct feature, considerably
investigated, but rather unknown,
would be the chapter of the
Luddites. The legendary counter-
revolution movement of the
skilled English artisans, who
spiritedly and actively opposed to
the evolutionary one-way of the
industrial revolution and to the
effects that it would have on
their livelihood.
It has been argued among social
historians that: “The Luddites
were desperate bands of weavers
who hated machines” or that the
Luddites were involved in a
emotional “pointless frenzied
industrial Jaquering.” Opposition
to these views supports that the
Luddites were well aware of their
social status; as well as their
potential power and that they
organised in a early form of
“conscious class struggle” using
“collective bargain by riot” as a
means of pressure, when all other
measures had failed.
In this article we will shed
light in yet another aspect of
this peculiar revolutionary
movement. That of the
distinguished and prominent
artisans who saw their art and
craft be pounded on the “anvil of
progress”.
Although the Luddites may have,
lost that battle; the seeds of
their revolution would be planted
in the gardens of all creative
arts; beginning from the Romantic
poets and the Victorian
novelists, far- reaching the Pre-
Raphaelites and the Arts and
Crafts movement, thereby touching
literally all that follows.
RANGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
THE LUDDITES
The Luddites, followers of the legendary Ned Ludd, were bands of
British Artisans who in the beginning of the nineteenth century
smashed textile-making machines and burned down factories in the early
stage of the industrial revolution..
How gloomy and Dark is the Day
When Men Have to Fight for their Bread;
Some Judgment will sure clear the way,
and the poor Triumph shall be led.
1
“Great evils would follow if the working people were allowed to feel
and make known the extent of their power”
2
Range Against the Machine
2
It is now time to reexamine and
reevaluate the importance and
momentous influence of this early
movement, (which may well be the
first of it's kind) the bodies of
skilled artisans who experienced
unpredictable changes leading to
unidirectional paths and responded
by declaring nothing but war to
their tyrants.
Who would imagine that Mary
Shelly's
4
Gothic novel
“Frankenstein or the Modern
Prometheus” (1818) was in fact a
reflection to the zeitgeist;
working both as a warning against
the over-reaching of humanity as
well as a critique on the
Industrial revolution. It would be
the influence of Lord Byron;
British figure in Romanticism and
sympathizer of the Luddites;
intimate friend of the Shelly
family who would furnish the link
between the Luddites and Marry.
Byron had risen and outspoken of
“
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” in his speech
against the Frame breaking act; or
Frame-Breaking Bill in the house
of lords on February 27 1812,
defending the Luddites.
The subject of the Luddites ,is
deliberately brought up in
exploration of the roots of the
historic continuity of the
design/production practice, with
the ambition of lining up all
existing documentation and
affronting it in an manner of
critical thought. The Luddite
matter is thus considered primal,
if one takes into consideration
that it was in that time, that the
transition from traditional
production - to mass production
technique occurred; regarding all
the ramifications that this
evolution has had ever since.
The Luddides avowedly were
smashing textile machines in
response to the production of
inferior goods, which they felt
was traumatizing the reputation
of their craft, taking it down
the road of obscurity. Goods that
would have required the skill of
a Master or at least a journeyman
to be produced in the first place.
Apart for the step-down in
standard which was one of the
central reasons that gave rise to
the Luddites. Another fundamental
factor was that the introduction
of machinery took place as a
system that did not allow the
workers to posess control over
it(rather the opposite),if that
were to be the case then their
reaction would have probably been
completely different. Contrary to
that, machinery was introduced
under a system that placed the
workers to the disposal of the
machineries owners (capitalists),
who valued machinery as a means,
“not to a larger and richer life
for the workers, but to greater
and quicker profits for their
enterprise”
5
.These new conditions
were dictating the transformation
of the formerly autonomous worker
from a state of creative work to
a new state of monotonous slavery.
Close you eyes and imagine a
society where all goods are
handmade , tailors, shoemakers,
woodworkers, carpenters and
cabinet makers, spinners weavers,
stockingers and croppers ,
ironworkers, blacksmiths
metalworkers, armorers and
gunmakers, potters, glassblowers,
silversmiths and the list goes on
and on... Now open your eyes and
picture the same people forced to
leave their small original
workshop only to be swarmed under
Range Against the Machine
3
the roofs of the soulless,
colorless new big factories...
In order to infiltrate deeper
within the subject one must have a
a look upon the lives of these
people as it were before the
development of the factory system.
Guilds-War of the Guilds
In England at least as early as
the middle ages all craft would
have been organized in guilds.
Guilds were forms of early
associations of individuals
practicing the same art/craft. A
guild lied anywhere between an
association, a brotherhood, a
craft fellowship and a secret
society. A typical taxonomy would
divide guilds into two types: the
merchant guilds and the craft
guilds. It is interesting to note
that it was in fact the antagonism
of these two guilds or rather the
pursuit of the former guilt for
profit (along with the ingenuity
of engineers )that led to the
acknowledged explosion of mass
production.
The existence of the craft guilds
was developed, on the grounds of
common interest and protection of
the craftsmen, ensuring
independence against the lords and
city authorities. Retrospecting
even earlier in time, during the
formation of the first cities;
people usually came to medieval
towns or cities being social and
economic centers in order to trade
or sell their goods. The Towns or
cities were usually owned by
lords, the lord would therefore
tax the artisans and merchants in
return of their protection within
the walls of the city. Prosperous
towns would attract more merchants
and artisans resulting to an
increased share of taxes for the
lord and the city authorities.
The guilds ultimately guarded the
association best interest and
maintained the standard and
customs of the craft. Their
authorization would further
ensure that the ordinances were
properly executed, punishing
anyone who would betray them. The
ability of securing independence
meant that all practitioners of
the craft should belong to the
guild; thus having the ability to
put pressure upon the authorities
when needed. Eventually certain
circumstances would provide
confirmation of the guild by the
constituted authorities,meaning
that thenceforth the guild was
legally able regulate the trade.
6
In the beginning of the
thirteenth century the craft and
trade or merchant guilds, which
until that time had worked
together in comparative harmony,
began a divergence of their
mutual relations. In the early
period of the middle ages it was
common for the same person to act
both as craftsman and merchant or
tradesman. The producers of goods
of the “forge and loom” purchased
their own material, and when
their productions were completed,
they sold them directly to the
consumer.
As trade and manufacture was
increasing, the small traders
developed into merchants,and as
their fortunes would increased,so
would their greed. Now instead of
manufacturing their own goods ,
the merchants would only deal
with the manufactured goods of
others. Eventually these
merchants would secure privileges
which would develop into
monopolies and henceforth
exercised the monopolistic
Range Against the Machine
4
privileges against their former
associates and co-workers the
craftsmen. Furthermore the
merchants wealth enabled them into
buying-out the assistance of the
King and the official authorities.
The merchants would gradually
separated themselves from their
former fellow members -the
craftsmen- who were no longer
admitted but ousted from the
merchant guilds eventually tried
to take control over the craft
guilds as well. This resulted to
a contest carried on all over
Europe - an active warfare to
who was to control the craft
guilds.
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In English society during Queen
Elizabeth's I regime (1500-
1603)the knitters from the East
Midlands where people
supplementing their income by hand
knitting. Men and women in every
village and town would have then
been seen knitting. Unwanted
innovation first came when William
Lee of Calverton conceived the
knitting frame
8
, the first
mechanical means of knitting; a
remarkable invention (as early as
1589) which was destined to remain
unutilized due to the Queen's
conviction that the hand knitters
would have be “thrown out of work”!
Nevertheless the knitting frame
was such an important discovery
that it would later dominate the
cloth industry for the centuries
to come. After William Lee passed
away in 1610 his brother James
returned to England (from France
where they had both turned to
after Queen Elisabeth's
repudiation) and set a workshop in
London; soon the art of stocking
(socks) was spread in the capital
thus the “
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s” was formed
and granted a Royal charter.
Their motto: >>Speed, Strength
And Truth United<<. The Master,
Wardens, Assistants and Society
of the Art or Mystery of
Framework Knitters so to say...
9
The center of the trade from
London was soon to move to the
north of the country - Leicester
and Nottingham. Unsatisfied
Framework knitters, from the
controls imposed on them by the
guild of London moved their
workshops to the East Midlands
which was a major wool producing
center itself, hence would evolve
into the Country's heart of
Framework knitting. This, is
where the story of the Luddites
will be untangled.
As the British empire would
expand its territorial dominance
becoming "The Empire on which the
sun never sets” a vast market of
raw material and trade soon
sprung up. It is evident that
this was one of the crucial
factors that merchants “bet on
higher stakes” accelerating
production and profit; which in
its turn allegedly resulted to an
abundance of inferior goods.
Notably this factor would later
give birth to the
A
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t; a movement which
started itself in England and was
destined to spread out in the
world as a strong critique
against inferior quality goods;
making an overall attempt to
return to the values of the
handicraft work of the past which
the Luddites were representatives
of. Ironically enough this
movement was product of the
factory system and the industrial
Range Against the Machine
5
revolution as well.
The war of the guilds being still
evident. The Luddites in any case
should be recognized as the
prolongation of this battle in one
of its most dramatic curves;
standing as rearguard and
reminders of the value of craft
which was soon to inspire
generations to come, schools of
thought, utter movements, styles,
groups, artists and designers all
over the world to this very day.
Examining the transition from
handicraft to mechanization there
are some more steps that we need
to follow in order to understand
the psychographic profile of the
people that rose against the
introduction of machinery in their
day to day lives. The transition
from cottage industry to factory
system happened gradually, but it
was destined to change western
civilization forever: This
transition was strongly dependent
on the innovative solutions of the
inventors of the time on one hand,
and on the ingenious cunning
spirit of the globalized merchants
on the other, who as the boarders
of the empire grew so did their
business. Their forward desire was
to lower expenses and accelerate
production and it was in this
logic that certain inventions
sprung up designed to cope with
these demands.
Hand weavers, hand knitters and
sheermen worked in their own pace
within their own cottage. The
craftsmen's traditional techniques
of production required a high
degree of skill. But the new
inventions now enabled non skilled
workers to perform work that had
traditionally been the field high
skilled Guild members. When the
factory owners were to discover
that the new textile machinery
did not take special skills to
handle, they would soon fire all
the men and instead hire women
and children who could be payed
less and handled easier.
The transition of privatively
owned shops to large factories
represented a important shift in
the economic power as well as the
psychology of the nature of work
itself. The loss of autonomy was
now evident, the new nature of
work being monotonous and
dependent on factory's demands
for mass production, the worker
thus had not only lost his
freedom but also lost his contact
with the “fruits of production”
alienating him from the joy of
creative activity. The evolution
is rather a story of an obvious
domino.
Domestic System-Factory
system
Before the Industrial revolution,
the chief British industry was
textile manufacturing providing
employment throughout Britain.
The tools of the trade being the
handlooms and spinning wheels.
The producers of the woolen cloth
were home based and the
production of their goods
depended on the members of the
family. They cleaned, combed,
spun dyed and wove raw material
into cloth. The women and the
younger girls were responsible
for cleaning, carding and
spinning the sheep's fleece and
the men were responsible for the
weaving process upon the hand
looms; (an instrument which
required extra physical strength
therefore was handled by the male
Range Against the Machine
6
members of the family). Cloth
merchants would visit the cottage
industries and provide the
producers with raw material,
collecting the finished goods in
order to sell them in local fairs
or promote them to foreign
markets. Family business on the
other hand ; is a term that still
remains today in the different
vocabularies of nations, whereas
its roots can be derived directly
from antiquity.
The definition of the word factor
is: one that actively contributes
to an accomplishment, result, or
process or one who acts for
someone else; an agent. The
Merchants were the fist to
practice this technique and were
the first to see the optimization
of this agency threw the factory
system. The combination of new
machinery along with factoring
resulted to large numbers of
workers - large buildings and mass
produced finished goods. The
various processes of manufacture,
which had heretofore been
primarily performed by hand under
the masters own roof, would now by
executed by machinery at the
public mills. Gathering together a
number of spinning-wheels, hand-
looms, dye-vats, shearing-boards
etc would allow supervision,
effectivity , regulation of labour
hours, prevention of inaction
among employees, as well as
maintenance of uniform standard of
production ; Most importantly, the
concentration of employees under
one roof prevented that waste of
time which occurred when wool i.e.
had to be carried at a distance
between each process.
The new industrial system had
robbed society of its freedom and
pleasures.
Reading the introduction of “The
Skilled Labourer” we understand
how this happened ..."the
domestic worker had some say in
his own life : he could go out
and dig in his garden or smoke as
he pleased : he was in some cases
a farmer as well as a weaver or a
spinner : he was in short not
quite disinherited from the old
village economy in which a man
did not merely sell his labour
but had some kind of holding and
independence of his own. The
industrial changes that occurred
at this time destroyed this
social economy with its margin of
freedom and choice for the
worker".
10
In was in the same manner that
the worker not only surrender his
freedom to the advent of
industrial revolution but he was
expected to surrender his home as
well(!) His wife who in the old
days brewed the ale, cleaned and
cooked, and helped with the loom,
had now to spend the whole day in
the mill, spinning for the mass
production of yarn, the child
would be sent to the mill as soon
as it could walk(!) It was
supposed we are informed that no
home could be kept going unless
the children of five or six went
to the mill. Therefore under such
a system the owners of capital
could decide not only how the
worker spent his life but how he
brought up his children and
handled his family affairs as
well.
This new reality would influence
a wide range of jobs that had
been previously performed
independently and self-employed
under the ordinance of the
guilts.
Range Against the Machine
7
In older times the Artisan would
have negotiated an agreement with
the merchant regarded as a
business partner rather than a
"cogwheel" within a well tuned
machine. Therefore moving the
state of the manual worker from
the state the of autonomy to
the state of monotony.
It is easy to understand that the
new “status quo” accepted only
investors with sufficient
assets(capital), being able to set
up factories - contrary to the
earlier artisans who initially
needed a small sum of money in
order to open a workshop. These
entrepreneurs would become to be
known as capitalists . Setting
forth an example of scale; as
early as 1790 Mr. Robert Grimshaw,
of Gorton House, Gorton, near
Manchester made plans of a
factory working as much as 500
power-looms,and built a weaving
steam factory at Knott Mill. When
the mill was finished, the
machinery, included only 30 power-
looms, but it is indicative of the
forces of change at the time. It
was not several weeks though at
work after that the owner received
several anonymous letters
threatening destruction to the
mill if he persisted to work it -
and the factory was burned to the
ground.
The time of the Luddites
A more spherical view of this
time of change is required to
understand the full picture of the
conditions that were dominant at
that time. Ten years into the new
century 1810 and English economy
was suffering due to the war in
Europe with the French. Napoleon,
enacted the Continental System,
thus prohibiting English trade from
entering the continent. These
events would effect the of
lowering of wages while the
prices of basic goods, would
continuously rise. The
productivity of the farms was
inadequate to provide food to the
on growing population of the
English Kingdom and on top of all
others America had just declared
war on England (Anglo-American
War 1812-1815) ousting yet
another turf of export,thus
damaging even more the foreign
trade. Enclosure of land, led
many small farmers to be
displaced out by bigger
competitors leading them to
starvation; having no other
choice the farmers turned to the
emerging industrial workplaces.
All previous circumstances
considered the American and
French revolutions were hanging
over the heads of the aristocracy
as the rope noose hangs from the
gallows. Finally a shift in
fashion which also took
place(trousers took the place of
stockings) resulted to a even
deeper depression of the stocking
trade. Putting together these
bits and pieces of the puzzle
that composed the outburst of
popular discontent; we have a
general understanding of the
circumstances under which the
Luddite rising took place in the
north of England the Midlands
(Nottinghamshire); West Riding
(Yorkshire) and Lancashire from
1811 – 1816.
Frank Peel in his book “The
Rising of the Luddites” (1880)
speaks of a “weary war” which the
aristocracy of England undertook
in order to crush French
liberalism and to force a king
upon the French nation. “To crush
Napoleon we had not only sent our
Range Against the Machine
8
own armies but had also in our pay
the hordes of the despots of
Europe. The hard-earned money
wrung from our own working people
till they rose in their misery ”.
It was in this context in which
the re-action of the Luddites
flourished in all three regions of
distresses.
P. Gaskel in his book “Artisans
and Machinery” (1836) describes
the declension of the numerous
class of artisans in Great
Britain, as a painful picture
“from comfort, morality,
independence, and loyalty, to
misery, demoralization,
dependence, and discontent,”
11
Who were the Luddites?
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The Luddite in broad terms have
remained a mystery... The U.K.
National Archives define the
Luddites as: English craftsmen and
other workers in the northern and
Midlands counties who engaged in
destroying textile machinery (1811-
13), so called because their
manifestos and handbills were
sometimes signed 'Ned Ludd' or
'General Ludd'. The introduction
and spread of the new textile
technology reduced wages and
standards of living. Initially the
workers had sought government
regulation of the new technology;
but when it became clear that the
government favoured non-
intervention, groups of organized
workers began to destroy the
machines.
Encyclopedia Britannica 1911 in
its citation on the Luddites says
that Luddites, was the given
name of bands of English rioters
that organized for the
destruction of machinery. They
made their first appearance in
Nottingham and the neighboring
districts. The frame-breakers
called themselves Luddites, and
signed their proclamations by the
name of their leader Ned Ludd;
"sometimes adding office of
Sherwood Forest"
.12
The Royal Forest of Sherwood in
Nottinghamshire , is historically
associated with the legend of
Robin Hood and his band of “Merry
men” to understand the extent to
which the Luddites caught the
imagery of the folk the first
verse of “The triumph of General
Ludd” is more than enough :
N
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The Luddites were most notably
weavers, knitters and croppers
13
Although Frank Peel in his book
“The Rising of the Luddites” on
his account of the Luddites of
Yorkshire will warn us : “If any
of our readers suppose that the
Luddites were all cloth finishers
or croppers who had been goaded
to fury by the rapid introduction
of machinery, which threatened to
deprive them of the means of
earning a livelihood, they will
Range Against the Machine
9
find, on investigation, that they
are mistaken. That the leaders of
the movement in the West
Riding(Yorkshire) were chiefly men
of that stamp is doubtless quite
correct; and that their prime
object was the destruction of the
obnoxious machines is also true;
but there were connected with the
risings, numbers of weavers,
tailors, shoemakers, and
representatives of almost every
handicraft, who being, in most
instances, on the brink of
starvation, entered the conspiracy
in sheer desperation”.
Indeed it is not difficult to
imagine the distress that the
alleged shift of work must have
generated to the people. In the
words of the Hammond's
14
in “The
Skilled Labourer” (1919) we may
observe: “The workers felt(...)
that the grasp of the new power
was closing on them, and they
resisted instinctively every
change that could hasten that
process. They considered about
each invention not whether it
meant that a piece of work could
be done in one hour instead of ten
(...)but whether it brought their
final enslavement a day nearer”
15
Industrialization brought dramatic
change into everyday life; change
beyond imagination.To the world of
Artisans the Industrial Revolution
fell like a war or a plague.“Never
since the days when populations
were sold into slavery did a fate
more sweeping overtake a people
than the fate that covered the
hills and valleys of Lancashire
and the West Riding with the
factory towns”
16
. Again in the
“Rising of the Luddites” Frank
Peel argues that the Luddites were
Artisans who when faced with the
“obnoxious machinery” which could
be handled by less skilled labour
i.e appendices, women and
children , along with the
reduction of their wages and
production of inferior goods
eliciting a damaging name for
their trade; would in a violent
manner wreck the very root of the
problem which was non other than -
the machine- assuming therefore
pressure upon the mill owners in
an attempt to preserve their
wages jobs and trade.
So who were these revolutionaries
and where did they operate?
The Luddites were radical skilled
artisans who mainly operated in
the geographical triangle between
Yorkshire(West-Riding),Lancashire
and the Midlands
(Nottinghamshire). They are
thought to have been named after
a certain Ned Ludd who on an
occasion had broke machinery in
Leicestershire during a “fit of
temper”.(Look in subchapter Ned
Ludd). Luddism utilized
“industrial warfare” in the form
of “collective bargain by riot”
17
as the social historian Eric
Hobsbawn would put it. In
Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire
they operated as a guerrilla
force, were as in Lancashire
under different circumstances
their numbers grew substantially
larger and were involved in
direct action with large number
of riot mobs. From written
accounts we are informed of their
weaponry and tactics the Luddites
were armed, with clubs, sticks,
swords, guns, and pistols. A
number also wielded huge hatchets
and blacksmith's hammers, for the
purpose of making entry into the
places where the frames were kept.
18
“The Luddides were armed in
very
Range Against the Machine
10
motley fashion : some baring guns,
pistols, carrying hedge stakes or
stout bludgeons of various kinds,
and not a few held on their
shoulders huge hammers, mauls, and
murderous looking hatchets of
various sizes. They were nearly
all disguised(...).”
19
Samuel smile in his book “Self
help” illustrates: "the
Neighborhood of Nottingham was the
focus of turbulence the machine
breakers in regular bodies would
gather in nocturnal meetings where
they would arrange their
plans(...) All machines were
doomed by them to destruction. The
masters themselves were doomed to
death ; many of them were
assaulted, and some were murdered.
At length the law was vigorously
set in motion ; numbers of the
misguided Luddites were
apprehended ; some were executed ;
and after several years violent
commotion from this cause, the
machine-breaking riots were at
length quelled."
The Hammond's are clear to state
that the distinguishing mark of
frame-breaking during 1811-12 was
not a wild outburst of popular
anger, but rather a well-planned
and organized policy; The frames
the Luddites were breaking, for
the most part belonged to the
master hosiers, who in their turn
hired them out to workmen. As
stocking knitting was mainly a
domestic industry , the stockinger
would rent the frame from the
master and work it in his own shop
handing back the product in order
for the master to sell. Thus these
frames were scattered round the
villages making it easier for the
Luddites to smash them and
disappear. The workmen who hired
the frames were not concerned to
defend the master hosiers
property.
Ned Ludd
The interpretation of Luddites
name that is given by
Encyclopedia Britannica 1911, is
that in the village of
Leincestershire in 1779 lived a
person of “weak intellect” called
Ned Lud who was “the butt of the
boys” of the village . On one
occasion Ludd was pursuing one of
his tormentors into a house where
there were two stocking frames
and as a result of not being able
to catch the boy turned his anger
to the frames. Afterwards
whenever frames were broken ,it
became a commonly say that Ludd
had done it.
According to the Nottingham
Review the original Ned Ludd, was
a boy apprenticed to learn frame-
work knitting at Anstey, near
Leicester. Ned apparently was not
so fond of working, therefore his
master complained to a
magistrate, who ordered his
whipping. Ned in answer took a
hammer and demolished the hated
frames.
20
Another interpretation coming
from Frank Peel says that the
names the counter-revolutionaries
assumed were "Ludds," "Ludders"
and "Luddites" deriving them from
a youth named Nedd Ludd who, when
his father, a frame-worker in
Leicestershire, ordered him to
"square his needles," he squarred
them effectually by taking up his
hammer and beating them into a
heap.
21
The historic existence of Ned
Ludd is rather fictional, and it
is alleged it is rather
Range Against the Machine
11
supposethat he was a fragment of
popular imagination. General or
King Ludd of the Luddites,
working as a common leader for the
cause, but till new evidence
surface, his existence will
remain a mystery...
The Luddite Oath
22
Art thou willing to become a
member of our society and submit
without demur or Question the
commands of General Ludd?
I am.
Then say after me...
'I ... of my own voluntary will,
do declare, and solemnly swear,
that I never will reveal to any
person or persons under the canopy
of heaven, the names of the
persons who compose thisSecret
Committee, their proceedings,
meeting, places of abode, dress,
features, connections, or any
thing else that might lead to a
discovery of the same, either by
word or deed, or sign, under
thepenalty of being sent out of
the world by the first brother who
shall meet me, and my name and
character blotted out of
existence, and never to be
remembered but with contempt
andabhorrence ; and I furthe- now
do swear, that I will use my best
endeavours to punish by death any
traitor or traitors, should he
rise up amongst us, wherever I can
find him or them, and thoughhe
should fly to the verge of nature,
I will pursue him with increasing
vengeance. So help me God, and
bless me to keep this my oath
inviolable.”
23
References
1 A song sang to Frank Peel by an
old lady on the defeat of the
Luddites at Rafolds Mills.( The
Rising of the Luddites 1880 F.
Peel)
2 Leeds Magistrate
3 Rephrasing what the Hammond
wrote in the introduction of
their book “The skilled Labourer”
nearly 100 years ago.
4 Mary Shelly was daughter of
William Godwin the modern
proponent of philosophical
anarchism and Mary Wollstonecraft
renowned feminist of the time.
Her husband was the major English
Romantic Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley
5 Ibid (pg 5)
6 "The Story of Manual Labor in
all Lands and Ages" Simonds John
Cameron Mc Ennis JohnT (p 579)
7 Ibid (pg 580)
8 Its is said that it was due to
the love for his wife, who
ignored him as she would be
concentrated with her knitting
craft. That William Lee would be
create the first knitting machine.
9 In 1663 Charles II. granted a
charter to an incorporation of
"several persons by the name of
master warden, assistants and
society, of the art and mystery
of framework knitters of the
cities of London and Westminster,
the Kingdom of England and
Dominion of Wales, forever, with
power to exercise their
jurisdiction throughout England
and Wales, and, from time to
Range Against the Machine
12
time, to make by-laws for the
regulation of the said business of
framework-knitting, and to punish
persons who should offend against
such by-laws." Ibid Simonds /Mc
Ennis (pg 608)
10 "The skilled Worked" 1919 J. L.
(John Lawrence) and Barbara
Hammond. Hammond (pg3)
11 "Artisans and Machinery" (1836)
P. Gaskel
12 The frame-breakers called
themselves Luddites, and signed
their proclamations Ned Ludd,
sometimes adding Sherwood Forest.
Ibid Hammonds (pg 259)
13 Weaving and knitting were two
different techniques of producing
fabric from yarn. Croppers, also
called finishers or shearmen were
responsible for the last process
of fabric production (raising and
shearing the Nap) were the third
dynamic group of radicals that
were active in that period.
14 J. L. (John Lawrence) and
Barbara Hammond. British
journalist and writer on social
history and politics.
15 Ibid (pg 4)
16 Ibid (pg 4)
17 Phrase coined by Eric John
Ernest Hobsbawm Social Historian.
18 Ibid Peel (pg12)
19 Ibid (pg 37)
20 Ibid Hammond (pg 259)
21 Ibid Peel (pg12)
22 One of the reasons of the
difficulty to find plethora of
evidence on the actions of the
Luddites was their oath of silence
23 Ibid Peel (pg 22),Ibid
Hammonds 275
Pic 2. Reward poster published 1811
Pic 1 Luddite Riot Map Mechanization and Society: The Luddite Riots (1811-1816)
Range Against the Machine
13
Pic 7. Factory Children 1814 George Walker .
Pic 6. The Cloth-dresser 1813 George Walker
Pic 4. Woman Spinning
Pic 5. The cloth hall 1814
Pic 3. Wensley Dale knitters.
Pic 5. Cloth makers
Photos obtained by the New York Public Library
Range Against the Machine
14
Pic 8. The Luddites on march Pic 9. The Luddites smashing the hated machines
Pic 10. The Leader of the "Luddites General Ludd"
Pic 11. The Murder of William Horesfall
Pic 12. The famous Enochs
Range Against the Machine
15
Pic 13 Hand-Loom Weaver Pic 14 The Stocking frame
Pic 15 Shearmen -croppers working Pic 16 The shearing machine which automated the process of cropping the
Pic 17 The gig-mill which automated the tedious process of raising the nap on a
Pic 18 A ball of yarn
Range Against the Machine
The Luddites of the
Midlands
On 11th of March the framework
knitters of Notinghamshire
demonstrated their disapproval
against the production of cut-ups
(inferior quality stockings)which
as they said “worsened their
trade” and in a violent forceful
reaction destroyed the “obnoxious
machinery” responsible for their
production. After an unsuccessful
meeting that had taken place
between the hosiers and
stockingers; the framework
knitters gathered at the market-
place and “resolved to take
vengeance” upon the hosiery
employers who had reduced their
wages. Presence of the military
prevented any violence in the
town, but at night sixty-three
frames were broken at Arnold, a
village four miles north of
Nottingham
1
. This is the event
that marks the beginning of what
has became to be known as the
"Luddite riots". In a period of
three weeks over 200 frames were
destroyed(!)
In their campaign against ' cut-
ups'the men had the support of
many far-sighted employers. As the
Hammond's explain: “The worthless
cut-up stockings were glutting
still further an over-stocked
market, and as continental trade
was at a standstill, the
hosiersonly expedient was to force
a demand by cheapening
production. Wages went down and
grievances of payment in truck
became acute. Thus the men's
anger was directed against 'cut-
ups' not only as evils in
themselves but as exercising an
evil influence over the whole
trade".
Military troops arrived in early
April to quell the disturbances
and special constables were
enrolled by the Nottingham
authorities to protect the Frames:
“In consequence of the
continuance of these daring
outrages, a large military force
was brought into the
neighborhood, and two of the
London police magistrates, with
several other officers, came to
Nottingham”
2
In vain since the
fever of a uprising had already
struck the Midlands.
Bands of rioters were breaking
into hosiery shops at night
destroying machinery elaborating
in a unusual Industrial Warfare
conflict.The machines were of
very “delicate construction”
therefore a “single blow” of a
hammer rendered them useless
3
.This
was a very carefully planed
policy. The frames or the most
part belonged to the master
hosiers, who hired them out to
ACTIONS OF THE LUDDITES
The first threatening letters of
“
“General Ludd and his army of
Redressers” were sent to hosiery employers in Nottingham in the early
months of 1811. Robert Chamber's in his “Book of days” classifies
march 11th as a “black-letter day in the annals of Nottingshamshire”
and compares it with “no parallel in the history of a civilized
country”. This is because it was the day that the beginning of the
Luddite riots started.
17
Range Against the Machine
their workmen, charging a frame
rent. The wide frames were
scattered around the smaller shops
of the villages. Therefore the
owners of the frames rushed to
remove them from the villages and
lone dwellings of the country, and
brought them into warehouses of
the towns for their better
protection.
After the first weeks of these
events there was a cessation till
the 4th of November. Then -the
campaign- started again with the
destruction of frames at Arnold,
Bulwell, Basford, and other
villages. The destruction
continued throughout the whole of
November in Nottinghamshire.
“On Sunday night, November 10th, a
party of Luddites proceeded to the
village of Bulwell, in open day to
break and to destroy the frames of
Mr. Rollingworth, who, in
anticipation of their visit, had
procured the assistance of three
or four friends, who with firearms
resolved to protect the property.
Many shots were fired, and one of
the assailants, John Woolley, of
Arnold, was mortally wounded,
which so enraged the mob that they
soon forced an entrance(...)the
rioters not only destroyed the
frames, but every article of
furniture in the house.”
4
“John Woolley's funeral on
November 14 was made the occasion
for an orderly and impressive
demonstration of popular feeling”.
The next day a waggonload of
frames again near Arnold was
seized and destroyed as well as
thirty-seven frames in Sutton-in-
Ashfield. The frame breaking would
continue in regular intervals...
The magistrates would publish
letters one of which would state:
"There is an outrageous spirit of
tumult and riot, houses are
broken into by armed men, many
stocking-frames are destroyed,
the lives of opposers are
threatened, arms are seized,
stacks are fired, and private
property destroyed, contributions
are levied under the name of
charity, but under the real
influence of terror".
5
This warning towards the central
government had no effect in
checking the outrages. In the
last week of November, forty-five
frames, chiefly making cut-ups,
were broken at Basford, and
others at Nottingham, Chilwell,
Cossall, Eastwood, Heanor and
Arnold. Twenty more frames were
destroyed the following week, and
the minds of the people inflamed
plundered farmhouses of
provisions and money and the men
declared "they would not starve
while there was plenty in the
land."
6
On December the 6th, 1811 the
magistrates published an edict,
which ordered all people in the
disturbed districts to remain in
their houses after ten o'clock at
night. All public-houses were to
be closed at the same time, and a
reinforcement of a great civil
and military force was sent as
well, thirty-six frames were
broken in the villages around
Nottingham within the six
following days.By December 9,
about 2000 soldiers had already
been sent to the Midlands. From
800 to 900 cavalry and 1000
infantry of the Regular Militia
were present into the disturbed
districts, the frame-breaking was
still continued.
7
18
Range Against the Machine
In December 1811 public
negotiations went on between the
framework knitters and their
employers, the hosiers.
8
Although
no formal agreement was reached,
some hosiers found it expedient to
abandon cut-ups and to pay higher
wages...
9
Frame breaking continued in the
Midlands counties of
Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and
Leicestershire through the winter
and early spring of 1812.
10
The case of the attempted
assassination of hosier Mr.
William Trentha, which took place
in April 1812, should also be
mentioned as an exception in the
policy of the Midland Luddites
solely attacking machines. After
all the disturbances had stopped
Mr. Trentham was attacked
outside his house and wounded.
West Riding and
Lancashire Luddites
Just as things have seemed to be
calming down in the Nottingham
area, new disturbances erupted in
Lancashire, and its surroundings
Cheshire, and Flintshire as well
as in the West Riding of
Yorkshire. Machinery in Manchester
was housed in large factories
contrary to Nottingham where the
knitting frames were scattered
around the smaller shops of the
villages. The attacks that
occurred in Lancashire were
carried out by large crowds of
people and there was no space for
warning letters; the people being
rather direct and straightforward
in their actions and intentions.
In the of West Riding of
Yorkshire factory owners and
cloth merchants were targets of
the croppers the most lethal and
daring group of Luddites namely
the men of "General Snipshears "
From January 1812 Luddite attacks
in Yorkshire concentrated on
small cropping shops and large
mills where shearing frames were
used. Frank Peel says that “The
croppers had the reputation at
this time of being a wild and
reckless body of men ; and the
desperate deeds of which some of
them were afterwards found guilty
seems to show that the accusation
had, at any rate, a good
foundation of truth”
As Samuel Smiles describes the
events:"In Yorkshire and
Lancashire mills were boldly
attacked by armed rioters,and in
many cases they were wrecked or
burnt; so that it be came
necessary to guard them by
soldiers and yeomanry. The
masters themselves were doomed to
death; many of them were
assaulted, and some were
murdered".
11
Machine-breaking had been made a
capital offense since 1721; In
February 1812 an Act of
Parliament was passed, called the
Frame-Breaking Act making
stocking or a lace frame breaking
punished via death. Furthermore
12.000 troops were dispatched
into the areas where the Luddites
were active, (an armed force that
far exceeded the army which
Wellington took into Peninsula in
1808). On February 27, 1812 in
House of Lords, Lord Byron rose
and gave a passionate speech in
defense of the Luddites , in vain
the framework-bill was passed.
19
Range Against the Machine
On the 20th March 1812 the
warehouse of William Radcliffe
12
(one of the first manufacturers to
use power looms) was attacked in
Stockport near Manchester in
Lancashire. On the 4th of April
again in Stockport the house of
Mr. Goodwin was set on fire, and
his steam looms were destroyed.
On the 11th April 1812 the
Luddites made one of their most
crucial attacks. William
Cartwright's Mill at Rawfolds near
Huddersfield of Yorkshire was
stormed. Cartwright who had
suspected such an incident was
prepared and with the support of
armed men held the attack
resulting to the death of two
Luddites. The following week an
assassination attempt was made on
Cartwright's life. Cartwright had
been using cloth finishing
machinery since 1811. Local
croppers began to lose their jobs
and decided to destroy
Cartwright's machinery. The attack
was led by George Mellor a young
cropper from Huddersfield. Who was
later trialled and hung for his
actions. Charlotte Brontë in her
novel "Shirley" published 1849 has
immortalized the event.
Some days later another local mill
owner named William Horsfall seems
to have said that the rioters were
cowards and that if it would be
that they would meet “he would
ride up to his saddle girths in
Luddite blood”, his hostility was
so well known that children would
tease him by running in front of
his horse, calling out ' I 'm
General Ludd.'... I 'm General
Ludd.' Nonetheless the Luddites
took up the invitation and shot
him dead on the public road seven
miles from Huddersfield, on
Crossland on his returning from
the cloth market .
By mid-April, violence was
ranging. The government now saw
the disturbances which broke out
early in 1812, in Cheshire,
Lancashire, and Yorkshire, as
proof that the working classes
were meditating not only the
destruction of machinery but a
general revolution.
13
Lancashire
The definite movement against
steam looms began in Stockport,
the place where they were most in
use. Although they were not found
yet in many factories, the hard
pressed hand-weavers saw in these
machines a new menace to their
livelihood and a new cause of
their misery. Regardless the
secret comities that were active
in that period (1812)at
Stockport, Manchester, and Bolton
destruction of machinery did not
take place all through March,
except for an attempt to burn
William Radcliffe's factory in
Stockport on March 20, where
torches were thrown into the
building, but the owner was able
to save it from destruction.
14
“On Monday, 20th of April (market
day), there were food riots, not
only in Manchester and Bolton,
but also in Ashton and Oldham and
all along the part of Cheshire
northeast of Stockport that lies
between Lancashire and Derby. In
all these places mobs seized
provision carts, and in some
cases broke open shops and
appropriated food with or without
payment. At Tintwistle on April
21, after selling flour, meal,
bacon, and groceries at what they
considered a fair price, they
destroyed some of the machinery
20
Range Against the Machine
in Rhodes' woollen cloth mill, and
also in some cotton mills.”
15
Following the food riot of Oldham;
Burton's Mill was attacked by the
Luddites. Burton knowing that the
introduction of powerlooms would
have caused such problems employed
armed guards and as a result upon
the attack, 5 men were killed on
the side of the Luddites. The next
day after a second failure to
break in the mill; Burtons house
was burned down instead. After the
military arrived on the scene
another seven men at least were
killed in the clashes.
“The manufactory of Mr. Burton
was attacked, and although the
rioters were then repulsed and
five of their number killed by the
military force assembled to
protect the works, a second attack
was made two days afterwards, and
Mr. Burton's house was burnt
before military assistance could
be brought to the spot. When
troops arrived they were fired
upon by the rioters.”
16
“When the
crowd arrived at the factory Mr.
Burton warned them, ' if you dare
to attack this factory I will
resist with force of arms.' They
continued to throw stones and to
use clubs, and Burton and his
servants fired from the factory.
Five rioters were killed and
eighteen wounded, and the mob
retired with imprecations, vowing
that they would burn down Burton's
dwelling house as a punishment for
what they considered as a cold-
blooded murder.”
17
“The next day, a mob about two
hundred strong, chiefly consisting
of local miners, with fowling-
pieces(16th-century European
firearms) and picks, reappeared
and set fire to Burtons house.
When the military arrived the mob
received with shots, resulting
the soldiers opening fire,
killing or wounding (not clear)
about six.”
18
Yorkshire
The Luddite disturbances in
Yorkshire were parallel to those
in Lancashire, but they lasted
longer into the summer of 1812 ,
and the trials took place during
January 1813. The scene of the
disturbances was within the
woollen district of the West
Riding of Yorkshire, and in the
beginning it was said to be the
work of a small band of -highly
organized- workmen aiming for
the destruction of shearing
frames.
The men began destroying the
shearing frames of small shops in
the Huddersfield district in the
later part of February 1812.
'
'
G
G
e
e
n
n
e
e
r
r
a
a
l
l
S
S
n
n
i
i
p
p
s
s
h
h
e
e
a
a
r
r
s
s
'
' and his
men, would send a warning letter,
to the owner of the frames asking
him to take them down; full
destruction not only of his
frames but the of the entire
premises would find him who would
not comply with the guilds
terms...
Since troops to further protect
the region failed to be sent,
machine breaking continued and
grew now not only attacking the
small shops but expanding their
vengeance to the larger
establishments. With their
Enoch's , (big hammers) the
Yorkshire Luddites continued
“their work of destruction”
Ironically enough the firm of
Enoch, James Taylor, Marsden,
from Leeds manufactured not only
21
Range Against the Machine
the shearing frames that the
Luddites hated so ; but the
sledgehammers that guaranteed the
shearing frames destruction as
well !
A barrage of sabotage was carried
out by the croppers during the
spring months of 1812 . On March
15, at Taylor Hill near
Huddersfield Mr. Vickerman's
establishment was attacked ten
frames and thirty pairs of shears
were broken. On March 24,
Thompson's mill at Rawdon near
Leeds was attacked and the
machinery destroyed ; the next day
25th of March, Mr Dickinson's
premises in Leeds were forced-
entered and cloths were cut to
pieces. Mr. Joseph Foster,
proprietor of a big mill at
Horbury, also saw his shearing
frames destroyed on April the 9;
and two nights after the Horbury
affair, on Saturday, April 11,
1812, occurred the attack on
William Cartwright's mill at
Rawfolds in Liversedge.
Cartwright, whose two waggon loads
of frames had been broken up on
the Hartshead Moor shortly before
that time, was expecting an
attack,t hus for six weeks before
April 11 he had slept in his mill
for every night.
On the night on the attack
contingents from Halifax,
Huddersfield, Liversedge,
Heckmondwike, Gomersal, Birstall,
Cleckheaton, and other places,
(about 150), met about three miles
from the mill, between 10 and 11
o'clock. They were armed with
guns, pistols, stakes, hammers,and
whatever else would come in handy
After that the separated into
smaller fractions of musket men or
pistol men or hatchet men and they
marched like a regular army to the
mill, reaching their destination
more than half an hour after
midnight. Another team from Leeds
was expected to meet them before
their arrival but they never made
it, turning back home when they
had heard the first shots fired.
19
Two young men were shot by
Cartwright's firing squads
Hartley and Booth, died after
some hours:
By six in the morning Booth's
agony drew to an end ; as ' he
lay at the point of death he
signaled to Mr. Roberson, who
instantly went to his side.
Can you keep a secret ? ' gasped
the dying man.
I can,' eagerly replied the
expectant clergyman.
So can I,' replied poor Booth,
and soon after calmly expired.'
Hartley,death fighting all
through Sunday, died at 3 o'clock
on Monday morning. No word
passing his lips either
.20
Hartley was buried at Halifax on
the Wednesday amidst an immense
concourse of people from all
sides.The Magistrates in their
panic arranged Booth's funeral
earlier that had been planed
avoiding this way possible
conflicts banning the people to
pay the last honours.
'
V
V
e
e
n
n
g
g
e
e
a
a
n
n
c
c
e
e
f
f
o
o
r
r
t
t
h
h
e
e
B
B
l
l
o
o
o
o
d
d
o
o
f
f
t
t
h
h
e
e
I
I
n
n
n
n
o
o
c
c
e
e
n
n
t
t ' was chalked upon
many doors the next days.. At it
was no Lie...
As Cartwright was on his way home
a week later, on Saturday, April
18, riding back from
Huddersfield where he had went to
give evidence at the court-
22
Range Against the Machine
martial on a soldier who had
refused to fire. (the man was
sentenced to three hundred lashes)
he was fired at by two men, both
of then missed their aim.
21
But
this was only the beginning...
Just after the Rawfolds mill
affair, alarm was created by a
food riot at Sheffield on April
14, in which a mob, composed
mainly of women and boys, seized
potatoes and other vegetables and
attacked the storehouse of local
militia arms, taking away seventy-
eight stands of arms out of 864,
and damaging some!? 200 more!
On April 28, ten days later,after
Cartwright's attempt of
assassination William Horsfall
was shot by four men as he rode
home from Huddersfield market, and
died about two days later.
The “leading spirit” amongst the
executors was George Mellor, a
friend of the late John Booth,
prominent member among the
revolutionists seems to have
challenged the the new strategy
“
l
l
e
e
a
a
v
v
e
e
t
t
h
h
e
e
m
m
a
a
c
c
h
h
i
i
n
n
e
e
s
s
a
a
n
n
d
d
k
k
i
i
l
l
l
l
t
t
h
h
e
e
m
m
a
a
s
s
t
t
e
e
r
r
s
s” . Despite the
generous reward that was offered
all kept silent on the affair of
the murdering despite that
probably the majority knew or had
suspected who had done it. When no
result came from the
investigations; the authorities
began to blame each other; the
magistrates and military the same.
At this chronic period the cause
would "catch fire" the
concentration of the Luddites
would be the gathering of
ammunition as if they were
planning their great attack.
T
T
h
h
e
e
r
r
e
e
v
v
i
i
v
v
a
a
l
l
o
o
f
f
t
t
h
h
e
e
w
w
a
a
r
r
o
o
f
f
t
t
h
h
e
e
c
c
r
r
a
a
f
f
t
t
g
g
u
u
i
i
l
l
d
d
s
s
a
a
g
g
a
a
i
i
n
n
s
s
t
t
t
t
h
h
e
e
m
m
e
e
r
r
c
c
h
h
a
a
n
n
t
t
g
g
u
u
i
i
l
l
d
d
s
s
a
a
n
n
d
d
t
t
h
h
e
e
g
g
o
o
v
v
e
e
r
r
n
n
m
m
e
e
n
n
t
t
.
. Governmental forces
of a estimated total over 12000
soldiers along with the
“voluntary local militia” and a
network of spies and informants
were dispatched between the brave
men. This would not discourage
the Luddites instead now they
would plunder the churches for
lead and break into houses for
guns and ammunition seizing
everything they could melt in
order to make bullets. In
Stockport it was said that
“bodies of 100 men and upwards
entered houses in search of
weapons night after night.In West
Riding reports delivered to the
central government indications
spoke of an “open rebellion”
atmosphere within the air . Even
more alarming messages from spies
were warning of a “overthrow of
the government and destruction of
all property.”
Nevertheless for better or for
worst none of this happened
instead the government gave its
a response with and extensive
“come back” instituting arrests
trials and heavy punishment
leading to death or
transportation for the
protagonists .
In 1816 a revival of violence
partly again due to the downturn
on trade and partly due to the
bad harvest of that year; the
Luddites were reactivated and
attacked Heathcote and Boden's
mill in Loughborough, smashing 53
frames. On 28 June 1816 .Troops
were used to end the riots and ,
six men were executed and another
three were again transported to
Australia .
23
Range Against the Machine
By 1817 the Luddite movement had
ceased to be active in
Britain.What really became of them
? No one knows their hidden
weaponry you see was never found...
The trials
The death penalty did not, apply
to the frame-breakers of
Nottinghamshire which were in
custody awaiting the March
Assizes, since the Frame Breaking
Act was passed after their arrest.
The Assizes took place before Mr.
Justice Bayley in March. Nine
prisoners were trialed ; two were
acquitted (one of them of sending
a threatening letter), and the
remaining seven were sentenced to
be transported for either seven or
fourteen years to Australia.
William Carnell, aged twenty two,
and Joseph Maples, aged sixteen,
who were both acquitted on the
charge of burglary, had been
sentenced to fourteen years'
transportation for breaking into a
house in company with a party of
twelve and destroying seven
frames.
Late in October, six months after
Horsfall's death, his murderers
were apprehended. Early in
December some more arrests were
made : Job Hey, John Hill, and
William Hartley for stealing arms
in August ; James Hey, Joseph
Crowther, and Nathan Hoyle for
demanding firearms as late as
November 29.
By march 1812 all disturbances in
Lancashire and Cheshire had now
ended, and the numbers of the
rioters which were in prison,were
awaiting their trial.For the food
riots at Manchester, eight persons
were triald, six men, two women:
four were acquitted and four were
found guilty and received the
death sentence.
Of the four condemned, three John
Howarth, John Lee, and Thomas
Hoyle were found guilty of
breaking into John Holland's
house and stealing bread, cheese,
and potatoes.
The fourth, Hannah Smith, a woman
of fifty-four, had played a
violent part in the food riots
according to the accounts “ When
the mob had seized ten bushels of
potatoes in order to sell them
for a fairer price Hannah Smith
was heard to say, ' damn them we
will have them for nothing,' and
was also accuse of threatening
that ' we will not be satisfied
with Potatoes,' therefore but
demanding fairer prices for milk
and butter as well.
The rioters at Burton's at
Middleton, were charged with
arson. But the Manchester rioters
six men were trield for setting
fire to Burton's house and were
found guilty. Again for arson in
the successful attack on the West
Houghton factory, thirteen
prisoners were triald nine men,
two boys of fifteen and sixteen,
and two were girls of fifteen and
nineteen. The ' tender sex ' of
the two girls, Mary and Lydia
Molyneux, saved them from death
as they had played an active part
in the attack “with Muck Hooks
and Coal Picks in their Hands
breaking the Windows of the
Building they were swearing and
cursing the souls of those that
worked in the Factory.” John
Brownlow, the boy of fifteen, was
saved by his mother, whom two
witnesses described as having
pulled him away against his will.
24
Range Against the Machine
The four who were found guilty
were condemned to death. Their
names were Job Fletcher, Thomas
Kerfoot, James Smith, and Abraham
Charlson, aged sixteen .Abraham
Charlson the boy at the time of
his execution it is said that he
called on his mother for help
thinking she had the power to save
him.
For the fourth category of
offenses, namely illegal oaths,
fifteen men and boys were
sentenced to seven years'
transportation. Two more men were
sentenced to seven years'
transportation for breaking into a
mill at Worsley, and stealing
grain and flour, and six women and
girls and one man received the
punishment of six months
imprisonment for rioting at
Middleton(it is nor sure) .
The Special Commission opened at
York on Saturday, January 2, 1818.
6 The Judges were Mr. Baron
Thomson and Mr. Justice Le Blanc,
both of whom had already had been
present at the Lancaster trials.
The first trial was of four men,
Swallow, Batley, Fisher, and Lumb,
members of a plundering gang, .
All four were found guilty. Next
day, Wednesday, came the trial of
George Mellor, William
Thorpe, and Thomas Smith for
the murder of Horsfall, which
was evidenced by one their fellow
murderer, Benjamin Walker New
evidence though that have surfaces
contradict this (Huddersfield
Daily Examiner Jan 8 2009 "Why the
Luddites Fought Change").
All three were found guilty and
condemned to death.
Thursday was spent over the trial
of John Schofield for shooting at
John Hinchcliffe. Friday's
sitting of the court was taken up
with charges of administering
illegal oaths.
The trial of eight prisoners for
the attack on Cartwright's mill
was taken on Saturday, and lasted
the whole day. All the prisoners
were croppers of good character,
in the prime of life. Cartwright
and the others in the mill were
unable to identify any of the
assailants, but they were
betrayed by other accomplices,
helped by a few shreds of
corroborative evidence.Five of
the prisoners were found guilty
and three acquitted.
“Society ought not to exist, if
not for the benefit of the whole.
It is and must be against the law
of nature, if it exists for the
benefit of the few and for the
misery of the many. I say, then,
distinctly, that a society, in
which the common labourer . . .
cannot secure a sufficiency of
food and raiment, is a society
which ought not to exist; a
society contrary to the law of
nature; a societywhose compact is
dissolved.
22
William Cobbert
25
Range Against the Machine
References:
1 "The book of Days" Robert
Chambers
2 ibid
3 "Self Help"(1908) Samuel Smiles
(pg. 75,76)
4 Ibid Chambers
5 "History of the Machine-Wrought
Hosiery and lace Manufacturers"
(1867) Felkin William (pg.233)
6 Ibid Felkin (pg. 235)
7 "The Skilled Labourer" (1919) J.
L. (John Lawrence) and Barbara
Hammond (pg. 262)
8 Writings of the Luddites Kevin
Binfield (pg. 15,16)
9 Lecture 15 "Mechanization and
SocietyThe Luddite Riots (1811-
1816)" Department of History
University of California, Dr.
Barbara J. Becker
10 Binfield, Kevin. Luddites and
Luddism: History, Texts
Interpretation.
11Ibid Smiles (pg. 75,76)
12 Radcliffe wrote the essay
“Origin of the New System of
Manufacture, Commonly Called Power
loom Weaving.” (1828)
13Ibid Hammond (pg. 271)
14 Ibid (pg. 273)
15 Ibid (pg.288)
16 Ibid (pg. 271)
17 I bid (pg. 289)
18 Ibid
19 Ibid (pg. 304)
20 Ibid (pg. 307)
21Ibid (pg.308)
22 Political Register, 11
September 1819
26
Masking and Archaic Justice
Norman Simms in his Article: "Ned
Lud's Mummers Play" (1978)
examines the Luddite rebellion
from a folklore point of view
catching more on the rather
"mythical" figure of Ned Ludd.
Simms interestingly calls upon
archaic values such as “
t
t
h
h
e
e
j
j
u
u
r
r
i
i
d
d
i
i
c
c
a
a
l
l
n
n
a
a
t
t
u
u
r
r
e
e
o
o
f
f
j
j
u
u
s
s
t
t
i
i
c
c
e
e”
utterly comparing it with the
Luddite activities, who sought
revenge swearing on this ancient
understanding of justice which
lies altogether within the forces
of nature itself .Such notions of
the juridical nature of justice
find way in the expressions of all
countries and cultures in all
times .
Observant of the details and
tactics in which the Luddite
revolutionaries were engaged
Simms derives information from
various sources, pointing out the
use of masks, disguises, special
calls, and other activities
perfectly connecting these
findings with past popular satires
and folk theatrical plays (such as
the “Mummers play”
1
)which
thoroughly communicated either by
chant or by mock provocative
messages to their victims
therefore an producing an “utter
form of violence.”
If one wishes to infiltrate with-
in the notional value of
“archaic justice” he/she should
not keep his/her mind nailed down
to the bounding limits of westerns
society's modern evolution.
(Modern civilization is more or
less merely 100 years old
therefore such is our genetic
experience as well). Folk
tradition is a very strong element
in human nature and if one
removes his/her "blinds" he will
be able recognize it, within
today's society as well.
The question of the
"
"
J
J
u
u
r
r
i
i
d
d
i
i
c
c
a
a
l
l
r
r
i
i
g
g
h
h
t
t
t
t
o
o
v
v
i
i
o
o
l
l
e
e
n
n
c
c
e
e
2
2
w
w
i
i
t
t
h
h
i
i
n
n
t
t
r
r
a
a
d
d
i
i
t
t
i
i
o
o
n
n
a
a
l
l
c
c
o
o
m
m
m
m
u
u
n
n
i
i
t
t
i
i
e
e
s
s
”
”
is
the second of archaic values that
Simms examines within the context
of the Luddite rebellion, or of
rebellion itself if one wants to
extend the problem to further
thinking.
Simms categorizes the keepers of
these rights, separated in two
sides. On one side stand the
established authorities which
“external and alien” to the
traditional societies have
imposed their power upon the
people i.e the squire, the
parson, the magistrate, the
school teacher, and the tax
collector.On the other side stand
the “traditional agents of
the village community's
archaic power” i.e. certain
families or clans which were
traditionally associated with
rights of access to common lands,
streams and pathways, or craft
fraternities who had their their
families and “craft mysteries”
to protect; ultimately
individuals whose personalities
were suited to represent the
common sense of justice.
The seconds group entitlement to
“
a
a
r
r
c
c
h
h
a
a
i
i
c
c
j
j
u
u
s
s
t
t
i
i
c
c
e
e” may
irrevocably be demonstrated
through words, acts and symbols
which are kept secret since they
are not part of the alien-
established authority. Thus
naturally comes the need for
disguise.
Masking and Archaic Justice.
27
Masking and Archaic Justice
The disguise of the person as well
as the act becomes only stronger
when the victim does not accept
retributive justice; this secrecy
especially needed when the victims
are part of the dominant power
system that has been imposed on to
the community.
Thus comes the conclusion that
during the Luddite uprisings , the
followers of Ned Ludd a.k.a. the
army of redressers disguised
themselves as strangers partly to
avoid detection by the magistrates
and partly to appear as the
“
i
i
m
m
p
p
e
e
r
r
s
s
o
o
n
n
a
a
l
l
f
f
o
o
r
r
c
c
e
e
s
s
o
o
f
f
a
a
r
r
c
c
h
h
a
a
i
i
c
c
j
j
u
u
s
s
t
t
i
i
c
c
e
e” they sought of getting
rid of the polluting object that
poisoned their community thus
punishing with action of violence
the property owners who refused to
recognize the juridical integrity
of the craft-villages.
References :
1.Mummers' Plays in English
tradition (also known as mumming)
are seasonal folk plays performed
by troupes of actors known as
mummers or guisers (or by local
names such as rhymers, pace-
eggers, soulers, tipteerers,
galoshins, guysers, and so
on.)Such forms of play exist in
almost all cultures.Existing as a
need of the folk to criticize the
wrong doings of the established
authority.
2.Verbal violence is also
considered a form of Violence.
This form of violence has been is
exercised within traditional
communities in the form of satire
since ancient times. Humiliation
by mocking chants or jostling on
the street during folk-plays are
common ,minor forms of folk
violence.
3.Norman Simms is Associate
professor at the Department of
Humanities/English, University of
Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand he
refers to himself as s
psychohistorian his main research
interests being Middle English
and Eighteenth-Century
literature, especially origins of
the novel, history of
mentalities, and Jewish
civilization. He is a poet and
reviewer and has compiled several
anthologies and written numerous
scholarly articles and
monographs. The examined article
was written as early as 1978
titled ‘Ned Ludd's Mummers’
Play’, Folklore, 89 , (pg 166-178)
28
Underground Movements
When it comes to underground
movements there is always a
charming aura which surrounds
them. In this first issue of
>
>
>
>
t
t
h
h
e
e
b
b
o
o
m
m
b
b
i
i
l
l
l
l
a
a
<
<
<
< we will
introduce a underground
organization that is active as we
speak… The name of the group is
>
>
>
>
L
L
a
a
M
M
e
e
x
x
i
i
c
c
a
a
i
i
n
n
e
e
D
D
e
e
P
P
e
e
r
r
f
f
o
o
r
r
a
a
t
t
i
i
o
o
n
n
<
<
<
< and although we do not hold any
ties with them we are indeed
impressed by their executing
capacity and style. If we were to
give a general idea of the
group’s activities we could talk
of people's gathering dedicated
educational deeds ! Their actions
actually speak for
themselves...but what do we
actually know about them? Their
turf so long is the city of
Paris...
Paris except for its alleged
reputation as the “City of Light”
is also famous for its
underground facilities we are of
course talking of the “carrières
de Paris” or "quarries of Paris" a
number of underground mines that
were formed during the stone
quarrying that was needed to built
the city . They are situated just
under the capital of France. Mines
and galleries that are connect to
each other running more or less
for 280 kilometers underground.
During the 18th century, the then
growth of the Paris population
resulted in the saturation of the
existing cemeteries. Towards the
end of the 18th century, a limited
part of the above mentioned
network was used as an
underground ossuary for the
remains of approximately six
million Parisian citizens.
Reading from the official website
of the "Ossuaire Municipal" we
are informed that the removal of
the bones began on April 7, 1786
and was continued until 1788, as
well as the fact that from the
day of their creation, the
Catacombs were a subject of acute
curiosity. Historic figures who
had visited them among others
included: In 1787, Lord of d'
Artois, who would later become
Charles X, went for an
underground tour in company of
ladies from the Court.The
following year, the visit of
Madam de Polignac and Madam de
Guiche is mentioned . In 1814,
François 1st, emperor of Austria,
residing as a winner in Paris
visited them as well. In 1860,
Napoleon III went down under
together with his son.
Popular culture has also
immortilized the Paris
underground... who hasn't read
of inspector Javert and Jean
Valjean's escape through the
sewers in the set of “Les
miserables” of Victor Hugo.
Nevertheless to this day public
tours are possible on a daily
basis and about two kilometres of
the passages are open to the
public the rest are strictly
prohibited...
Which brings us to our subject:
on August 23rd of 2004 the Paris
police discovered a fully
equipped cinema-cum-restaurant
(!) in a large and previously
uncharted underground cavern.
Les Arènes de Chaillot or "The
Chaillot Arenas"
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47
Underground Movements
Featuring a full-sized cinema
screen, projection equipment,
tapes of a wide variety of films,
(including 1950s film noir
classics and recent thrillers) as
well as an informal restaurant and
bar(!) The premises enjoyed a
professionally installed
electricity system at least three
phone lines and a closed-circuit
TV camera that even triggered a
tape of dogs barking!!! for the
unwanted visitors intimidation.
Amazing indeed.
But there is more ... Since it is
popular amongst daredevils to
occasionally stroll within the
capacity of quarries, this has led
to the formation of a special
police force responsible to keep
away the catafiles by frequently
patrolling the Paris underground.
It was this team that in one of
their patrols came upon the site
beneath the Palais de Chaillot,
across the Seine from the Eiffel
Tower.When the Police came back
after 3 days with officials of the
French electricity company they
found a note warning them :
“
“
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The City of Paris indeed is well
known for its hundreds of
kilometers of underground
quarries. Moreover, for numerous
Urban Explorers all over the
world, Paris is the “Mecca of
Urban Exploration” and what the
French police discovered on august
23rd 2004 is the proof of the
capacity of the movement.The band
of Urban Explorers known as >>La
Mexicaine De Perforation<<(The
Perforating Mexicans) built an
entire cinema under the Chaillot
Hill,situated just few meters from
the Eiffel tower on the other bank
of the river Seine. All through
the summer of 2004, La Mexicaine
De Perforation managed their
cinema screening dozens of movies
in the namely “Urbex Movies
festival”.You can even find the
Movie program of the festival at
Urban-Resources an information
bank devoted to photography,
architecture, industrial
archeology and urban exploration.
The news soon hit the big
mainstream publishing houses i.e
National Geographic featured an
article named “Paris's Urban
Underground” as well as others
in the “The Guardian” and “La
Liberation”. Whats really
interesting is that the "The
Perforating Mexicans" are just
part of a bigger group of
activists called "The UX" or in
their native language “Les
UX”.Amongs their known subgroups
ones are the "The Mouse House"
(an all-female team) and the
"Undergunther"
The Untergunther as mentioned
above a subgroup of “les UX”
consists between others of
architects and historians.They
achieved noteworthy attention for
a project they completed
something more than 2.5 years
ago. The Untergunther's
activities attain amongst others
restoring blemished monuments,
without permission ! In other
words they do what the government
or officials don't do or don't
care to do... self initiation
they call it.
Lets see some of their
achievements:
48
Underground Movements
In September 2005, the
Untergunther installed a
workshop, called UGWK, at the top
of the Pantheon (a building in
the Latin Quarter in Paris build
in the late 18th Century) , which
as they inform us was previously
used as a clandestine theater by
the >>La Mexicaine De
Perforation<<.
Then, on their own funding, they
restored the 19th-century Wagner
clock a timepiece that had been
working for over a century and as
they suggest someone apparently
tired of its weekly winding
sabotaged its gears during the
1960. The group invited Jean-
Baptiste Viot , a professional
clockmaker, to directed a “year
long aesthetic and mechanical
restoration process”. The rest of
the story pretty much involves a
little bit of everything a second
attempt of sabotage from the CMN
(the governmental department in
charge of the administration of
Pantheon ) in fear of humiliation
as well as pressing changes
against the Untergunther group
which resulted to involvement
of the mainstream press most
notably the Times and a trial
which took place on November of
2007 and which outcome result was
the drop of all charges...
Navigate yourself to their
website and you will find more
details on their achievements,
documented evidence read their
story; articles; contact them
and even watch a video performing
Live!
Sources:
http://ugwk.org/
http://www.urban-resources.net
Pic 1: Paris Catacombs.
Pic 2: Underground Theatre
Pic 3 : Map of the Catacombs of
Paris
49
Olympic Flame
In the ruins of the Temple of
Hera, in Olympia 14 virgin
priestesses dressed in white
robes, under the supervision of a
fifteenth High priestess plea to
Apollo god of sun and light to
ignite the “sacred” flame:
"
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"
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Th Olympic flame of the Modern
Olympic Games was born on the
site of the Ancient Games in
Olympia Greece.
The technique was accordingly to
the ancient Greek “tradition”,
focusing the rays of the Sun in a
specially designed concave
mirror. This Neo-Pagan ceremony
would continue to take place for
the years to come on the same
ground and with the same ritual;
only to survive and to emerge
into the envious-globally
recognised saluted event. The
Olympic Torch Relay without doubt
is one of the most recognisable
symbols of the Olympic Games, the
top athletic event of the world.
"The Olympic Games are a festival of pleasure and optimism. They call
together the youth of the entire world. I am convinced that these
young people will be the best exponents of understanding and peaceful
cooperation between nations. The spirit of sportsmanship is the spirit
of chivalry and respect for achievement. Honourable nations respecting
one another mutually are the strongest guarantee of peaceful
cooperation"
Dr. Frick Reich Minister of the Interior.
“The most significant and striking of the ceremonial aspects connected
with the Olympic Games is the Olympic Fire. Ignited during the opening
ceremony, it burns day and night at the Olympic Stadium and other
scenes of competition during the period of the Games”
Official report of the 11th Olympic Games
“The torch relay is so ingrained in the modern choreography that most
people today assume it was a revival of a pagan tradition, unaware
that it was actually concocted for Hitler’s Games in Berlin,”
Tony Perrottet, “The Naked Olympics.”
The Secret Story of the Olympic Flame
Light and Symbolism
Olympic Flame
The Olympic Flame today, is
considered a symbol of “Peace
and Brotherhood” between nations
and countries and the Olympic
Torch relay is a highly noble
event which most people consider
a honour to participate in; an
indispensable feature and
characteristic of the Olympic
Games.What is less known is that
this ceremony was an initiated
by the Nazi propaganda machine
and the motives behind its
creation were nothing else but
innocent (!).
On the 20th of July 1936, an
actress featuring the High
priestess of Apollo the Greek
Olympian Sun God, in the ruins
of Ancient Olympia, lit the
first Olympic torch; causing its
ignition by placing it inside a
burnished-steel concave mirror,
thus concentrating the rays of
the sun to create fire.
The "sacred fire" would begin its
journey passing its flame from
hand to hand, traveling thousands
of miles on foot, on a continuous
journey. Day and Night, only
designated to reach remote Berlin
in a ceremony which commemorated
and celebrated the Power of the
Reich. Nevertheless the torch
relay would symbolically serve
yet another purpose… >>Perfect
Conceptualism<< creating a link
between the ancient and the
Modern, Olympia and Berlin,
Ancient Greek Civilization and
the newborn Pan-Germanic Nation;
Ancient Greece believed to have
been an Aryan forerunner of the
Modern German Reich; all melding
perfectly with the notions of
Aryan racial superiority.
In the following article on the
Olympic flame and torch relay we
will convey first hand-authentic
information as well as
picturesque representations and
rare photographic documentation
of the pioneer event which was
destined to mark the Course of
Olympic Games once and for all.
We will begin our journey in the
time capsule of the bombilla
delivering information coming
directly from the official
reports of the 11th Olympic
Games. A report which is
conducted every 4 years and
exists for all the Olympiads to
date. Most information is apposed
verbatim to your disposal as
further comments were considered
not necessary at all...Enjoy :
“The Olympic torch relay run
began at noon on July 20th in
Olympia, where the sacred fire
was ignited by Greek maidens on
the threshold of the ancient
Stadium and carried through the
Altis to the altar at the foot of
the Kronos. Here, at a special
“stele” erected in honour of
Coubertin, the first runner
ignited his torch and departed.
This ceremony was broadcast to
the whole world, (…) From this
time on, hourly reports about the
progress of the relay run arrived
at the Headquarters of the
Organizing Committee, and as the
Olympic flame neared its goal the
enthusiasm increased throughout
Europe. Berlin had already been
festively adorned for the
occasion. Tall masts had been
erected along the entire route
from the Town Hall, past the
Royal Palace to the Stadium, and
the streets were decorated with
banners and garlands after the
plans of the architect, Herr
Lottermoser.”(Official Report.
Vol I. pg 86)
Olympic Flame
The Radio Coverage mentioned
above that reached the ears of
the German people brought forth
only the cheerful receptions and
hurrays for the flame thus
reflected an overall embracing
feeling as well as the
impression of the general
acceptance of the Reich. Covering
the ceremonies and the route
through the countries that the
flame traveled through on going
its log trip to Berlin. The relay
run covered the following general
route:
"The lengthy course was divided
into stretches of 1,000 metres,
each was covered by a runner, who
then passed the Olympic Fire to
his successor. The Organizing
Committee estimated that an
average time of 5 minutes was
required for each 1,000 metres"
(Ibid pg 512 Vol I)
“The Organizing Committee
maintained constant connections
with the groups in charge of the
Olympic Torch Relay Run in the
different countries. The reports
received shortly before the first
runner left Olympia indicated
that an unusual degree of
interest prevailed in every
nation. Each of the 3,075 runners
felt that he was an exponent of
the Olympic ideals, and all
cooperated gladly in the mission
of transferring the Olympic Fire
from hand to hand for 10 days and
nights until the final bearer
arrived at the Berlin Stadium on
August 1st to ignite the fire
which would burn throughout the
Olympic period. All were
conscious of the symbolic
significance of this relay run,
which represented a link, so to
speak, between the ancient and
the modern Festival.The eyes of
the entire world were turned
expectantly to Olympia when the
Olympic Fire was ignited at noon
on Monday, July 20th, 1936”(pg
515 Vol I)
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“It was a moment deeply
impressive in its solemnity when
the first runner ignited his
torch and, accompanied by the
enthusiasm of the spectators who
had gathered from far and near,
began the first stage of the
relay run which would end in
Berlin. A broadcasting car of the
German Broadcasting Company
accompanied the Olympic Fire
throughout its journey(...)
Olympic Flame
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The Germany Broadcasting Company
with all of its affiliated
stations brought this unique
event to every part of Germany,
and numerous foreign companies
transmitted the ceremony.(…)Like
the German Broadcasting Company,
the Olympic Film Companysent an
expedition to Greece under the
leadership of Leni Riefenstahl to
accompany the Olympic Fire to
Berlin. Countless enthusiasts
lent their support to this event
in the different countries so
that the Torch Relay Run became a
triumphal procession of the
Olympic Fire from modern Hellas
to Berlin, and one which will
undoubtedly attain a permanent
place in the history of the
Games. The enthusiasm and
participation of the population
all along the route were without
precedent. Even when the runner
passed through a town or village
in the middle of the night all of
the inhabitants turned out to
cheer him on his way.”(Ibid pg.
518,519 )
Greece:
“Since sporting clubs existed
only in the larger cities,
peasant youths from the districts
through which the Fire passed
were usually enlisted as torch
bearers (…) and ran in their
national costumes, which included
the short, full skirt or
“fustanella.” In compliance with
the suggestions of the Organizing
Committee, the Greek Olympic
Committee organized special
ceremonies at various appropriate
points, these being in the nature
of popular festivals(…) On every
occasion the orator expressed the
gratitude of the New Hellas to
the New Germany for having
instituted the Olympic Torch
Relay Run. Even in spite of
streaming rain the entire
population of Saloniki was
present at the ceremony held
there. From this city the course
of the relay run passed through
the rich plains of Serrés to the
Bulgarian frontier.” (Ibid pg.
521)
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Olympic Flame
Bulgaria:
“The entire course through
Bulgaria was marked off by the
Bulgarian Labour Service(…)
Ascending rapidly above the
rushing Struma, the highway
continued in the direction of
Sofia. Excellent organization
enabled every difficulty to be
surmounted; the entire course was
designated by road signs bearing
the five Olympic rings(…)In
addition to the scheduled
ceremonies, short festivities
were held in practically every
village along the route. The most
outstanding of all was the
magnificent ceremony held in
Sofia, on which occasion the
broad square in front of the
cathedral was packed with an
enthusiastic crowd in festive
attire. The transferring of the
Fire to the Yugoslav runner at
the frontier was in the nature of
a demonstration of Bulgarian-
Yugoslav friendship ”(Ibid pg.
523)
Pic 4: The Olympic torch relay
ceremony held in Sofia
Yugoslavia:
“The preparations in Yugoslavia
were also adequate for meeting
every requirement (…) The
population participated
enthusiastically in the
ceremonies which were held at
Kragujevac as well as at the
grave of King Alexander in
Topola. In Belgrade the fountain
on the Terazija was transformed
into a high altar from which the
Olympic Fire burned during the
ceremony in the Capital City.
Most of the Yugoslav runners
belonged to the Sokol Federation,
and many peasants ran in the
curious long-tongued shoes common
to the country. The Fire was
carried through the villages
inhabited by the German minority
group by the descendants of
Swabian peasants, who were
cheered enthusiastically by the
villagers. Following ceremonies
in Novisad and Subotica, the
Olympic Fire was passed on to the
Hungarian runners ”(Ibid pg. 526)
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Olympic Flame
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“On the stretch from Budapest to
the frontier a slight detour was
made through the Hungarian mining
district, the torch-bearers
running past high mining shafts
and through workers settlements
in order to bring an Olympic
greeting to the miners. The speed
of the runners was increased
slightly in Hungary in order to
gain time for ceremonies in
Szegedin and Kecskemét. In
Kecskemét, (…), an altar was
erected on the idyllic market
square (…).The peasants arrived
in great numbers for this event,
wearing their colourful
traditional costumes. Gypsies
along the way serenaded the
runners with music and the gypsy
chieftain, Magyari, performed
during the ceremony in Budapest.
(…)Accompanied by jubilant cries
of “Elyen!,” the runners hastened
through the Hungarian landscape
to the Austro-Hungarian frontier,
where the guards were powerless
in the face of the enthusiastic
crowds that assembled there as
the Fire was transferred to the
first Austrian runner. The
addresses of greeting and
ceremony of passing on the Fire
took place amidst boundless
jubilation.”(Ibid pg. 526,527)
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Austria:
“It was only with difficulty that
the President of the Austrian
Olympic Committee, as the first
Austrian runner, could make his
way through the crowd (…). The
ceremony in Vienna formed the
climax to the festivities in
Austria, and no one who was
present is likely to forget the
picture of the torch-bearer
silhouetted against the evening
sky as he approached the
Heldentor to ignite the Olympic
Fire at the altar high above the
principal square. Spotlights
played upon the tower containing
the Austrian sporting banner and
crowned by the Olympic flag which
had been erected in the Burg
Courtyard. The entrance of the
Olympic Fire into Vienna took the
form of a triumphal procession of
quite unexpected proportions. The
members of the Austrian sporting
federations had all turned out at
twilight, and an endless parade
proceeded through the festively
decorated streets to the scene of
the ceremony at which numerous
government and municipal
personages were present. The
slight delay in the departure of
the runner from this ceremony was
soon made up, and the fire
arrived at the Czechoslovak
frontier at the appointed
minute.”(Ibid pg. 528)
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Olympic Flame
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“The Olympic Fire was transferred
at the Czechoslovak-Austrian
frontier while two thick
phalanxes of sportsmen and
spectators looked on. State
police were on hand to keep the
way open. The special interest
which was evidenced throughout
Czechoslovakia in the Olympic
Torch Relay Run is indicated by
the fact that the President of
the Republic participated in the
ceremony which was held in
Prague. On this occasion the
venerable buildings on the market
square lent a special
impressiveness to the
festivities. The runner departed
for the German border at 1
o’clock in the morning, cheered
by the enthusiastic spectators.
On Friday, July 31st, at 11.45
a.m. the last Czechoslovak runner
handed the Fire to the German
athletes in Hellendorf. Full of
pride, the German runners carried
the Fire in the direction of
Berlin.”(Ibid pg. 530)
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.
As the flame passed from
Czechoslovakian to German hands
it went through a number of
city’s to be celebrated before it
reached Berlin. Let’s have a look
on how it was welcomed :
“The entire route through Saxony
was lined by phalanxes of the
members of National Socialist
Party organizations, school
children and sportsmen. When the
report that the Olympic Fire had
crossed the German frontier
arrived at the Market Square in
Pirna, fanfares were blown by
Hitler Youth groups, and as the
last notes died out the church
bells began to ring. In Dresden a
special ceremony was held on the
Koenigsufer opposite the Bruehl
Terrace (…) The arrival of the
runner was announced through
fanfares blown by the Hitler
Youth trumpeters (…) The third
ceremony in Germany took place at
the Market Square in Meissen,
where the approach of the Olympic
Fire was again heralded by
fanfares blown from the towers of
the town. After an Olympic Fire
had been ignited at an altar in
front of the Town Hall, the
District Leader of the National
Socialist Party and the Mayor of
the town held addresses "(Ibid
pg.531)
“The arrival of the Fire in Bad
Liebenwerda was the occasion of a
particularly impressive ceremony.
As the night was starlit and
warm, a festive air prevailed
throughout the town, and more
than 20,000 persons assembled at
the principal square, which was
bathed in the illumination of
floodlights and thousands of
candles " (Ibid pg. 532)
Olympic Flame
"The flags of the 7 nations
through which the Olympic Fire
had been carried waved over the
square, and three shots from the
1,000 year old landmark of the
town, the Lubwart Tower, which
was also illuminated and adorned
with the five Olympic rings(…)
The Organizing Committee had
planned a special programme for
the forenoon of August lst, its
climax to be the youth ceremony
in the Lustgarten. After 25,000
German youths as well as the
youth groups from 28 nations had
assembled in impressive array and
members of the Reich Government
had held addresses, trumpet
fanfares announced the approach
of the Olympic Fire" (Ibid)
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Olympic Flame
“The Olympic Fire arrived at the
outskirts of Greater Berlin at
10.48(…) The final route led
through Wilhelm Strasse and down
the central promenade of Unter
den Linden to the Palace Bridge.
The flame could be seen
approaching over the countless
heads of the assembled Hitler
Youths, and cheers rang out as it
came nearer. Then the last torch
bearer ran down the centre aisle
of the Lustgarten to the altar,
which was erected before the
steps of the Museum. Here the
International Olympic Committee
witnessed for the first time the
lighting of the Olympic Fire. As
the flames sprang up, the bearer
ran back across the Lustgarten to
a second altar in front of the
Palace, where another Olympic
Fire was ignited.” (Ibid pg. 540)
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Olympic Flame
Adolf Hitler,as Patron of the
Olympic Games held a reception
ceremony for the International
Olympic Committee and Count
Baillet-Latour held a speech.
This is an "excellent" extract
from that speech addressing the
Führer and the German nation.:
“I feel certain that the
stupendous preparations which
Germany has made for the Olympic
Games and which are particularly
obvious in the excellent
organization of the Festival will
constitute a permanent monument
to the contribution which she has
made to human culture in general.
All those who appreciate the
symbolism of the sacred flame
which has been borne from Olympia
to Berlin are profoundly grateful
to your Excellency for having not
only provided the means of
binding the past and the present,
but also for having contributed
to the progress of the Olympic
ideals in future years.”(Ibid pg.
540-541)
The chancellor and patron only in
return of these kind words
thanked the Count and sworn
“eternal faith” to the Olympic
ideas etc… they then all headed
for the stadium
“The streets, which were lined by
members of the National Socialist
Motor Corps, Storm Troops and
Special National Socialist
Guards, were thronged from
beginning to end with countless
thousands of spectators, and the
enthusiastic applause proved to
the International Olympic
Committee that the German nation
was actually and sincerely
participating in the Festival.
The streets resembled a sea of
flags, and the rousing enthusiasm
of the crowds rendered the trip
from the centre of the city to
the Stadium a veritable triumphal
Olympic procession. Every square
was densely packed, and
handkerchiefs were waved from all
the windows as Berlin greeted in
true festive spirit the beginning
of the Olympic Games. A few drops
of rain did not dampen the
enthusiasm, and the weather
cleared up at the same moment as
the German Chancellor entered the
Reich Sport Field.” (Ibid pg. 544)
“The Olympic Stadium was packed
long before the opening ceremony
began, but the spectators were
well entertained. The Olympic
Symphony Orchestra (…) presented
a concert under the direction of
Professor Havemann” (Ibid pg. 544)
Finally the flame would reach the
Olympic Stadium of Berlin where
in a glorious scenery decorated
with swastikas and Olympic flags,
side by side and under
fanfares,and thousands of frantic
Germans performing the Nazi
salute shouting 'Zeig Heil' would
watch upon Fritz Schilgen the
national champion runner, run
into the stadium and light the
Olympic cauldron giving the sign
of the opening of the 11th
Olympic summer Games.
But just some moments before…
Olympic Flame
Dr.Lewald :In only a few moments
now will appear the torch-bearer,
who will bear the Olympic fire
aloft to the tripod from which,
during these festive weeks, the
Olympic flame will ascend to the
sky. He is the last of over 3,000
youths, belonging to seven
nations, who for thousands of
miles have followed one another
in the greatest relay race which
the world has ever seen. From the
altar of the temple of Zeus in
ancient Olympia, through Hellas
and Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and
Hungary, through Austria,
Czechoslovakia and Germany, the
flame has been carried.Over
mountains and valleys, on hard or
dusty roads, through rain and
darkness, in the heat of the
noonday sun and through the
coolness of the nights, in order
to create both an actual and a
spiritual bond of fire between
our German fatherland and the
ancient Greek shrine, founded
nearly four thousand years ago by
settlers from northern
lands.”(Ibid pg.562)
When Dr. Lewald had concluded his
address, the German Chancellor
Adolf Hitler prounounced the
following words amidst an
impressive silence:
“
“I proclaim
open the Olympic Games of
Berlin, celebrating the
Eleventh Olympiad of the
modern era.
”
”(Ibid pg. 563)
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Olympic Flame
“The commander of the procesion,
Major Feuchtinger, gave the
command, “Hoist flag!,” and the
Olympic emblem was slowly
elevated to the top of the mast
which had been erected at the
western end of the Stadium. The
artillery detachment fired
saluting salvos, and clouds of
carrier pigeons arose from the
walls of the May Field. Each one
bore the colours of the
participating nations, and
carried the news of the opening
of the Games throughout the
world. The trumpets were again
heard from the Marathon Towers,
this time playing the fanfare
which introduced the Olympic
Hymn. Richard Strauss himself
conducted his composition, which
was rendered publicly for the
first time, and the Stadium
resounded from the flood of
melody as a gigantic chorus sang
the jubilant verses. (Ibid pg.
563,564)
“As the Hymn came to an end and
the resounding call, “Festival
of peace! Olympia !,” echoed
through the Stadium, the cheers
of the multitudes outside were
heard, since the moment had
arrived for which friends of
sport throughout the world had
been waiting. The Olympic Fire,
which had left Olympia eleven
days before, was about to arrive
at its destination. A slender
youth appeared at the East Gate
of the Stadium holding a torch
aloft. As in greeting, he
remained for a moment at the top
of the steps, then ran lightly
into the arena and passed the
phalanxes of the teams standing
in formation upon the field. For
many this was the climax of the
entire Festival. With rapid,
elastic strides he ran up the
Marathon steps to the altar which
contained the bronze tripod.
After raising the torch again for
a final time in greeting, he
illuminated the Fire at the
altar, which according to the
regulations shall burn in the
Stadium during the 16 days of the
Games. It was a moment in which
every heart beat faster, an
occasion which in its solemnity
impressed all alike.”
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.
Olympic Flame
For many as we read this was the
climax of the entire Festival.
"It was a moment in which every
heart beat faster, an occasion
which in its solemnity impressed
all alike.”
Whether we like it or not this is
the truth of the introduction of
the >>Olympic torch relay<<
within the institution of the
Olympic Games . As we are
informed from the 2nd edition of
Olympic Museum Report on the
Olympic flame and the Olympic
Torch Relay (pg 6): In 1936, Carl
Diem, Secretary General of the
Organizing Committee of the Games
of the XI Olympiad in Berlin,
proposed the inclusion of a torch
relay in the programme of the
Olympics . The flame was lit in
Olympia and transported to Berlin
via a torch relay. Carl Diem who
was in charge in the organisation
of the Berlin Olympics on a visit
to Greece for an Olympic
conference in 1934, along with
the President of the Organizing
Committee, Theodore Lewald had in
common the inspiring idea of
creating a link between the
ancient Greek and the modern
Olympic Games. Together with the
“majesty” of minister of
propaganda Joseph Goebbels this
event would create a far-reaching
blown out of proportion; over
ambitious result as were the sum
of the Reich’s displays.
Nevertheless it should be
mentioned here that the idea of a
burning flame had been in fact
introduced in the previous
Olympiad held in the Netherlands
and it had been used in the Los
Angeles Olympics as well but the
“genius conception” of a torch
relay was far more than anybody
had imagined and surely only the
extravagance of the Nazi Reich
could come up with the thought as
well as the execution of such an
attempt. Therefore a pageantry
was staged which would kindled
the flame in Greece in Olympia
and bring it all the way on
foot(!) to the Olympic stadium of
Berlin.
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Olympic Flame
Only to Imagine the boundaries
of such an attempt! However its
execution was conceived planned
and carried out by the Nazi
administration with all the
complications that this undoubted
truth fossils…
What is utterly strange is that
that the so called “Democratic”
countries embraced the Neo-Pagan
Ceremony, which was of specific
service to its animators -keeping
the show on the road- they
allowed deliberately all the
nations to believe that the flame
was somehow connected with
Olympia and the ancient Olympic
Games; when as a matter of fact
it’s a common secret that there
was NO such torch relay in the
ancient Olympic games in Greece
whatsoever. Today one can even
read this fact, as a statement in
the official Olympic Museums
Report release on the Olympic
flame and the Games : “There was
never a relay organised for the
either ancient Olympic Games or
other Pan-Hellenic Games
(organised in Nemea, Delphi and
Isthmia)”.(Olympic Museum Report
pg 4)
From the same source we may now
learn the truth: “However, in
Athens, flame races called
lampadedromia were organised to
honour certain gods, including
Prometheus. The flame was
transmitted by runners and the
first competitor to arrive at the
altar of the god had the honour
of renewing its fire”.(Ibid pg 4)
In the same pamphlet we may also
read : “In the context of the
modern Games, the Olympic flame
represents the positive values
that Man has always associated
with fire. The purity of the
flame is guaranteed by the way it
is lit using the sun’s rays.The
choice of Olympia as a departure
point emphasizes the link between
the Ancient and Modern Games and
underlines the profound
connection between these two
events”.In other words the
Olympic Games administration
accepts all that the flame stood
for in the days of the 3rd Reich…
Pic 21: The first Olympic Torch
Pic 22: Poster of the Olympia -
Berlin torch Relay
Olympic Flame
Lets have a look upon the "image
board" which the German design
team worked with in order to
create this indisputably
successful event: What gave
thought and inspiration to the
formation of this Neo-pagan
ceremony?
These are the facts a) The
Lampadadromia, which a religious
torch race occurring during
religious festivals in antiquity
that survived until Roman times
b) The the never extinguished
sacred fire that burned
continuously in the altar of
Hestia in the the Prytaneium of
Olympia also known as "eternal
flame" as well as the sacred fire
that burned in the altar of Zeus
during the games. c) The fact
that messengers were sent to
vocally announce the beginning of
the Games in order to guarantee
save passage to the competitors
who wished to participate.
In the book "Greek Athletic
Sports and Festivals" by E.Norman
Gardiner (1910). Grandier refers
to the torch race several times
as well as on the existence of
the >>lambadedromia<< he informs
us that this was a religious
ritual for which individuals or
teams on foot or on horseback
competed holding a light torch.
The purpose of the competition
was to arrive first with the
torch still lit in order to light
the alter. An interesting thought
is the indication from the author
that the origins of racing,itself
derives from the torch-race, “in
which the competitors, starting
from the distance of a stade,
raced with lighted torches to the
altar, the one who arrived first
and lighted the fire receiving
the prize”
Explaining the origin of the
lambadedromia he says “thus the
torch-race, which we meet with in
many parts of Greece, was
connected with the primitive
custom of periodically
distributing new and holy fire
from the sacred hearth where it
had been kindled".
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.
Olympic Flame
The following extract coming from
the release of the Olympic Museum
on the Olympic Torch Relay and
the Olympic Flame only confirms
the above :“At a set time before
the start of the ancient Olympic
Games,. They invited the citizens
to come to Olympia and proclaimed
the sacred truce (ekecheiria),
that is, the obligation to halt
combats one month before and
during the period of the Games.
In this way, the athletes and
spectators could travel without
fear to Olympia and back
home.”(Ibid pg.4)
In the following plan we can see
what surfaced from the German
excavations of Olympia. Hereby
where number 9 is marked we can
descry the Prytaneium where the
eternal fire of Hestia burned
whereas where number 3 is marked
stood the Altar of Zeus.
Olympic Flame
The Igniting of the
flame
The official report of the 11th
Olympic Games informs us that
people from all over Greece as
well as Greek governmental
representatives were present at
the ceremony which marked the
ignition of the first Olympic
torch which was held in the
Altis. “Olympia thus became once
more for a day the centre of
interest of the Greek nation.”
“The German Charge d’Affaires,
representatives of the German
Broadcasting Company and press
correspondents from throughout
the world were present at the
altar erected in front of the new
entrance to the north of the
Prytaneion and outside the
Altis(…)The ceremony of lighting
the fire itself took place at the
starting base of the Olympic
Stadium, spectators not being
admitted. Fifteen young Greek
maidens entered the ancient
stadium through the covered
passageway in order to ignite the
Olympic Fire with the aid of the
hot noonday sun. A magnifying
glass mounted upon an iron stand
caught the rays of the sun which
stood high above the Alpheios
Valley and concentrated them upon
inflammable material, which soon
began to burn. The fire was then
carried by the Greek maidens past
the Temple of Hera to the Fire
Altar in front of the Altis where
the first runnerswere waiting”
(Ibid Off. Rep pg.515)
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Olympic Flame
After messages from Greek
representatives and an
announcement from Baron Pierre de
Coubertin was read to the runner
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Fascinating is the fact that the
attempt has been partly captured
in film under the directions of
Leni Riefenstah which filmed the
documentary >>Olympia<<.
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"Sporting and chivalrous
competition awakens the best
human qualities. It does not
sever, but on the contrary,
unites the opponents in
mutual understanding and
reciprocal respect. It also
helps to strengthen the
bonds of peace between the
nations. May the Olympic
Flame therefore never be
extinguished."
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We shall finish this article with
the prophetic words of George
Orwell "He who controls the
present controls the Past, he who
controls the past controls the
Future"
Miscellaneous
"
"
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Popular Science
Issue: Apr, 1939 Source:blog.modernmechanix.com
Miscellaneous
Modern Mechanix
Issue: Aug, 1931 Source :blog.modernmechanix.com
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Cops get a dome light
Japanese motorcycle cops are being
outfitted with these new helmets,
which have a flashing light on top.
Police can use the light to flag
down drivers or to control traffic
on heavily traveled city streets.
Popular Science
Issue: Nov, 1968
Source:blog.modernmechanix.com
Story of the Lamp
Next to its usefulness for heating
and cooking, the greatest use of
fire is to furnish light in order
to drive darkness away . Man is
not content, unlike birds and
brutes, to go to sleep at the
setting of the sun. He takes part
of the night-time and uses it for
work, for travel, for social
pleasures, or for the improvement
of his mind, adding in this way
several years to his life. He
could not do this if he was
compelled to grope in darkness.
Therefore when the great source of
daylight disappears he must make
light for himself, for the sources
of nightlight, the moon and the
stars and lightning and the aurora
borealis and are not sufficient
enough to satisfy his needs. Here
we shall follow man in his efforts
to conquer darkness, and we shall
tell the story of the lamp.
We will begin this story with an
odd but interesting kind of lamp.
The firefly or lightning-bug which
is seen so often in the summer
nights was in the earliest time
brought into the service of
mankind in order to shed its
light. Fireflies were imprisoned
in a rude box i.e. in the shell of
a coconut, or a gourd thus the
light of the insect's bodies was
allowed to shoot out through the
numerous holes made in the box. We
must not despise the light given
out by these tiny creatures. " In
the mountains of Tijuca," once
said a traveler, " I have read the
finest print by the light of one
of these natural lamps, fireflies
placed under a common glass
tumbler , and with distinctness I
could tell the hour of the night
and discern the very small figures
which marked the seconds of a
little Swiss watch."
FIG. I. A FIREFLY LAMP.
Although fireflies have been used
here and there by primitive folk,
they could hardly have been the
first lamp. Man's battle with
darkness really began with the
torch, lighted from the fire of
the cave or the wigwam, which was
kept burning for the purposes of
illumination. Hence a burning
stick was the first lamp.
The first improvement in the
torch was made when slivers or
splinters of resinous or oily
wood were tied together and
burned. This may well be regarded
as a lamp which was all wick. An
invention which in its turn
resulted to a fuller and clearer
light, one that would burn much
longer than the single stick.
Further improvement would come
when a long piece of wax or fatty
substance was wrapped about with
leaves. This was something like a
candle, only the wick which were
the leaves was on the outside,
whereas the oily substance which
fed the wick would lie in the
center.
A Short Story on the History of Artificial light
circa 1911 with a special interest in the last two paragraphs.
54
Story of the Lamp
FIG. 2. A BURNING STICK WAS THE
FIRST LAMP.
In the course of time it was
discovered that it was better to
smear the grease on the outside of
the stick, or whatever was to be
burned. Realizing that it was
better to have the wick on the
inside. Torches were then made of
rope coated with resin or fat, or
of sticks or splinters smeared
with grease; here the stick
resembling to the wick of the
candle as we know it today, the
coating of fat corresponding to
the tallow or paraffin. Rude
candles made of oiled rope or of
sticks smeared with fat were
invented in primitive times, and
they continued to be used for
thousands of years after. In the
dark ages, dark in more senses
than one torch-makers began to
wrap the central stick first with
flax or hemp and then place around
this a thick layer of fat.
Resulting to a torch that gave out
a very good light.
It was about the time of Alfred
the Great (900 A.c.) when another
step was taken: the central stick
was left out altogether, and the
thick layer of fat or wax was
placed directly around the wick
of twisted cotton. The stick of
wood of the original torch was
gone. The candles of today are
made of better material than
those of the olden time, moreover
they are much cheaper as well.
Yet in principle they do not
differ from the candles of a
thousand years ago. The torch
had developed into the candle .
FIG. 3. THE CANDLE.
The development of the candle has
been given first because its
forerunner, the torch, was first
"apparel" used for lighting. It
must not be forgotten though that
along with the torch there was
used, almost from the beginning,
another kind of lamp. Almost as
soon as men discovered that the
melted fat of animals would burn
easily that being certainly very
long ago they invented a rude
form of lamp from which the lamp
of today has been evolved.
55
Story of the Lamp
The cavity of a shell (Fig. 4) or
of a stone, or even the skull of
an animal, would be filled with
melted fat or oil, and a wick of
flax or other fibrous material was
laid upon the edge of the vessel.
The oil or grease passed up the
wick by capillary action,( Hold
the end of a dry towel in a basin
of water and watch the water rise
in the towel. It rises by
capillary action.) and when the
end of the wick was lighted it
continued to burn as long as there
were both oil and wick. This can
be considered as the earliest form
of the lamp. As man became more
civilized, instead of a hollow
stones or skulls, an earthen
saucer or bowl was used. Around
the edge of the bowl a spout or
gutter was made for holding the
wick.
In the lamps of the ancient Greeks
and Romans the reservoir which
held the oil was closed, leaving
a hole in the center through which
the oil might be poured. Sometimes
it was possible that these lamps
would have several spouts or
nozzles. Of course the more wicks
a lamp had, the more light it
would give. There is in the museum
at Cortona, in Italy, an ancient
lamp which has sixteen nozzles.
This interesting relic (Fig. 5)was
used in a pagan temple in Etruria
and dates back to more than twenty-
five hundred years ago.
FIG. 4. A SHELL FILLED WITH OIL
AND USED AS A LAMP.
FIG. 5. AN ETRUSCAN LAMP 25OO
YEARS OLD.
Lamps such as which have been
described above, were used among
the civilized people of the
ancient world and continued to be
used throughout the Middle Ages
far into Modern times. They were
equally very costly as well as
beautiful (Fig. 6), but they
never gave out a good light. Only
to add the unpleasant odor, they
sent out, as well as the fact
that they were so smoky they
covered the walls and furniture
with soot. The candle was in
every way better than the ancient
lamp, and after the invention of
wax tapers candles in the
thirteenth century, lamps were no
longer used by those who could
afford to buy tapers. For
ordinary purposes and ordinary
people, however, the lamp
continued to provide its service,
but it was utterly not Improved.
56
Story of the Lamp
FIG. 6. AN ANCIENT LAMP.
Far-reaching the end of the
eighteenth century, the lamp was
still the unsatisfactory,
disagreeable thing it had always
been. Late in the eighteenth
century improvement came. In 1783
Aimé Argand, a Swiss physician
residing in London, designed a
lamp that was far better than any
that had ever been made before.
What did Argand do for the lamp?
Examining an ordinary lamp in
which coal-oil is burned. The
chimney protects the flame from
sudden gusts of wind and also
creating a draft of air, (Lighting
a short piece of candle and
placing it into a tumbler, if one
covers the top of the tumbler the
flame will die off teaching us
that a flame must have a constant
supply of fresh air in order not
to go out .) This is the case for
the fire-chimney as well creating
a draft. Argand's lamp (Fig. 7)
was the first to have a chimney.
Looking below the chimney one will
see open passages through which
fresh air may pass upward finding
its way to the wick. Further
notice will show that as this
draft of air passes upward it is
so directed that, when the lamp is
burning, an extra quantity of air
plays directly upon the wick.
In other words before Argand, the
wick received no supply of air.
Noticing the wick of modern
lamps which is flat or circular,
but thin. The air in abundance
played upon both sides of the
thin wick, burning it without
making smoke. (Smoke is simply
halfburned particles of a burning
substance. The particles pass off
half-burned because enough air
has not been supplied.) Now
Argand, by making the wick thin
and by causing plenty of air to
rush into the flame, enabled all
the wick to be burned thereby
resulting to the introduction of
a strong white flame.
FIG. 7. AN ARGAND LAMP.
57
Story of the Lamp
After the invention of Argand, the
art of lampmaking was improved by
leaps and by bounds. More progress
was made in twenty years after
1783 than had been made in twenty
centuries before. New burners were
invented, new and better oils were
used, and better wicks made. But
all the new kinds of lamps were
patterned after the Argand. The
lamp you use at home may not be a
real Argand, but it is doubtless
made according to the principles
of the lamp invented by the Swiss
physician in 1783.
Soon after Argand invented his
lamp, William Murdock, a Scottish
inventor, was destined to show the
world a new way of lighting. It
had long been known that fat or
coal, when heated, gave off a
vapor or gas which when burned
gave off a bright light. Indeed,
it is always the gas that burns,
and not the substance. In the
candle or in the lamp the flame
heats the oil which comes up to it
through the wick and thus causes
the oil to give off a gas. It is
this gas that burns and gives off
the light. Now Murdock, in 1797,
put this principle to a new good
use. He heated coal in a large
vessel, and allowed the gas which
was driven off to pass through
mains and tubes to different parts
of his house. Wherever he wanted a
light he let the gas escape at the
end of the tube (Fig. 8) in a
small jet and lighted it. Here was
a lamp without a wick. Murdock
soon extended his gas-pipes to
factories, and lighted them up
with gas. As soon as it was
learned how to make gas cheaply,
and conduct it safely from house
to house, whole cities were
"rescued" from darkness by the new
illuminant.
A considerable part of London was
lighted by gas in 1815 and
Baltimore was the first city in
the United States to be lighted
by gas in 1821.
FIR. 8. THE GAS JET
The gas-light proved to be much
better than even before. In towns
and cities almost everybody who
could afford to do so laid aside
the old wick-lamp and burned gas.
Innovation came once again at
about 1876 and a new ; kind of
light began to appear. This was
the electric light. The powerful
arc light (Fig. 9), made by the
passage of a current of
electricity between two carbon
points, was the first to be
invented. This gave as much light
as a hundred gas-jets or several
hundred lamps. Such a light was
excellent for lighting streets,
but its painful glare and its
sputtering rendered it unfit for
use within doors. It was not
long, however, before an electric
light was invented which could be
used anywhere. This was the
famous Edison's incandescent or
glow lamp (Fig. 10) , which we
see on every hand. Edison's
invention is only a few years
old, yet there are already more
than thirty million incandescent
lamps in use in the United States
alone.
58
Story of the Lamp
FIG. 9- AN EARLY ARC LIGHT
The torch, the candle, the lamp,
the gas-light, the electric light,
these are the steps of the
development of the lamp. And how
marvelous a growth it is! How
great the triumph over darkness!
In the beginning a piece of wood
burns with a dull flame, and fills
the dingy wigwam or cave with soot
and smoke; now, at the pressure of
a button, the house is filled with
a light that rivals the light of
day, with not a particle of smoke
or soot or harmful gas. Are there
to be further triumphs in the art
of lighting? Are we to have a
light that shall drive out the
electric light ? Only time can
tell.
FIG. IO. AN INCANDESCENT ELECTRIC
LIGHT.
The story of the Lamp was derived
from the book "Stories of Useful
Inventions" by S.E.Forman N.Y .C. -
1911 adding a few interventions
from the bombilla team.
59
No 14
The Konsumstuhl Nr 14, also known
as the “Viennese coffee shop chair
no.14” or “bistro chair” is
considered to be “the chair of
chairs” and has allegedly sold
more than 50 million copies,
becoming one of the best selling
chairs of all times. Moreover
being the first mass produced
chair in the World, it is also
regarded to be one of the most if
not -the- most successful
industrial product(s) in the
world. The No 14 was created as
early as 1859 and won the golden
metal at the 1867 Paris World's
Fair.
Thonet's straight forward ambition
according to the Herald Tribune's
article “The chair that seated
millions” was to create the first
mass manufactured chair in the
world, which was to be sold at an
affordable price (three florins
slightly less than a bottle of
wine). Minimal in its design and
its use of material Thonet
succeeded in anticipating classic
modernism more than 50 years prior
to Mies Van de Roche's famous
“less is more”. Incorporating a
new philosophy of furniture design
Thonet revolutionized the
furniture world and industry of
his time and led the
transformation of homes, cafes and
restaurants, as well as school and
office furnishing to appeared
somewhat “lighter” and less
extravagant than it had been
before. For these matters Master
Cabinet maker Micheal Thonet (1796-
1871) is regarded as a pioneer of
furniture and industrial
design the same. After almost 20
years of experimentation
Thonet's conviction that bent
beech-wood was the future of
chair making was proved correct.
Bentwood process involved the use
of steam to make wood soft and
pliable so that it could be bent
into any desired shape.
Although as Giovanni Renzi, and
Gebruder Thonet say in the book
“The history, development and
copies of the bestselling chair
in the world” Thonet's original
idea was not to create a “mass-
consumption chair” (at least
until the time of the great
exposition 1851), and that
Micheal Thonets working
techniques were the same as those
of any other cabinetmaker of the
Biedermaier period. But it was
the technological language that
he used that set him apart from
all others thus pursuing the
“mass consumption chair”.
Thonet following a carpenter's
apprenticeship, set himself up as
an independent cabinetmaker in
1819. His first major
breakthrough as a young cabinet
maker was the "Boppard layerwood
chair" for the construction of
which he had developed his
special bentwood methods.His
failure in attending a pattern in
Germany as well as his business
bankruptcy led him to accept an
invitation of Prince Klemens
Wenzel von Metternich when they
met at the Craft show in Koblenz
at the trade fair of 1841, the
prince who was enthusiastic about
Thonet's furniture had intentions
No 14 150 turned years Old
“Never was a better and more elegant design and more precisely crafted
and practical item created”
Le Corbusier
No 14
of promoting Austria's
industrialization thus invited
him to the Vienna court.
In the next year, Thonet was able
to present his furniture, and his
chairs in particular, to the
Imperial Family and eventually
accepted to relocated there with
his entire family. There, he
worked with his sons on the
interior decoration of the "Palais
Liechtenstein" for the Carl
Leistler establishment before he
reopened his buisness.
On July 1842 he was awarded the
privilege of "bending any wood,
even the driest type, into any
shape using a chemical-mechanical
process".Making him the only firm
in the Austro-Hungarian Empire
that could legally produce
bentwood furniture Thonet and his
sons would developed production
technique machines and process
that would allow them to build
bentwood furniture in large
quantities. The unique technology
of wood bending heated by steam as
well as the the idea of designing
separate pieces which would be
combined make the final models
enabled him to produce large
numbers of furniture in relative
short time. Therefore Thonet made
the transition from craft workshop
to industrial factory production.
Six pieces of steam-bent wood, ten
screws,two nuts are the parts
needed to assembly the No 14
chair. The No 14 chair was easily
dismantled and assembled anywhere
therefore it was eligible for
easier shippment. The key features
that characterize the No 14 chair
was its cheapness in
production,its functionality and
high aesthetic as well as its
practicality in transportation.
Later on Thonet would continue
its ground breaking innovations
and go on to cooperate only with
the biggest innovators of the
20th century namely Walter
Gropius, Mart Stam, Marchel
Breuer and Mies Van de Roche
leading to a new series of steel
tube furniture. But that's
another story...
This year celebrating the 150th
anniversary of the no 14 chain
(today known as the 214 chair)
the “Muji by Thonet” chair is
being launched.
Pic 1. The thonet chair six pieces of
steam-bent wood, ten screws and two
Pic 2 Muji by Thonet
art
Discover Drooker
62
music
Chumbawamba
History Luddite
Track listing :
01 Rock And Roles
02 Multinationals
03 Work
04 This Wood
05 Tearing Up Zoo
06 Liberation
07 Rape
08 Marching Around in Circles
(Part 1)
09 Telly
10 Body
11 Marching Around in Circles
(Part 2)
63
music
Track Listing:
01. "The Cutty Wren"
02. "The Diggers Song"
03. "Colliers March"
04. "The Triumph of General Ludd"
05. "Chartist Anthem"
06. "The Bad Squire"
07. "Song on the Times"
08. "Smashing of the Van"
09. "The World Turned Upside Down"
10. "Poverty Knock"
11. "Idris Strike Song"
12. "Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire"
13. "Coal Not Dole"
Chumbawamba
English Rebel Songs 1381-1984
64
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