‘The Ascott Martyrs and Modern-Day Britain – A tale of progress?’ – Radical References No.5
Channel: ramblinactivist
Date: 2023-05-21

Ramblinactivist 2023/15, Strawberry Moon 2023.

One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, sixteen women from Ascott-under-Wychwood in Oxfordshire were made an example of by a system of power that sought to resist inevitable change. What does it tell us about Britain today?

To mark the 150th anniversary, on the 21st of May 2023, this rather long piece explores a microcosm of local history: It’s long because, without the context of how the case arose, it’s difficult to understand what happened at the time; more importantly, by understanding what happened then, we gain a greater insight into what is happening in our own time.

Our ancestors lived through such trying lives in order to hand us the world as it is today. And that struggle continues today, because, although we might have more ‘material stuff’ in our lives, England has not changed that much.

For the extensively referenced text and an audio podcast of this post, goto:
http://www.fraw.org.uk/lwap/files/005/index.shtml

You can find more of these reviews in ‘Radical References’ here:
http://www.fraw.org.uk/lwap/files/index.shtml

Finally, it would really help to promote this work if you could follow, subscribe, or like my social media presence – which can be accessed from the link above. In today’s digital analytics popularity contest, all that button-pressing means something in this messed-up world.

Chapters:
00:00 Opening titles;
00:34 Introduction;
02:20 The context;
04:53 ‘The Ascott Martyrs’;
09:18 Fast-forward to today...;
11:34 Epilogue;
13:04 Closing credits.

#protest #strike #union #workhouse #oxfordshire #rurallife #socialhistory