LUDDITES, The, were organized bands of rioters for the destruction of machinery, who made their first appearance in Nottingham and the neighbouring midland districts of England about the end of 1811. The origin of the name is curious, and is given as follows in the Life of Lord Sidnιouth (vol. iii. p. 80). In 1779 there lived in a village in Leicestershire a person of weak intellect, called Ned Lud, who was the butt of the boys of the village. On one occasion Lud pursued one of his tormentors into a house where were two of the frames used in the stocking manufacture, and, not being able to catch the boy, vented his anger on the frames. Afterwards, whenever any frames were broken, it became a common saying that Lud had done it. It is curious also that the leader of the riotous bands took the name of General Lud. Tlιe Luddite riots arose out of the severe distress caused by commercial depression and the consequent want of employment. They were specially directed against machinery because of the widespread prejudice that its use directly operated in producing a scarcity of labour. Apart from the prejudice, it was inevitable that the economic and social revolution implied in the change from manual work to work by machinery should give rise to great misery by upsetting all the old industrial habits and arrangements. The riots began at Nottingham, in November 1811, with the destruction of stocking and lace frames, and, continuing through the winter and following spring, spread into· Yorkshire and Lancashire. They were met by severe repressive legislation,—a notable feature in the opposition to it being Lord Byron’s speech in the House of Lords, the first which he delivered there. In 1816 the rioting was resumed, through the fearful depression that followed on the ...