FEATURE Unite Wonder Women


Village honours women whose bravery changed lives 150 years ago


ASCOTT ITS WOMEN HEROES


Ascott-under-Wychwood is a village with a hidden past. A once forgotten incident where a touch of wickedness clashed with some very determined women.


This quiet little village was once the centre of a national scandal which sparked a riot in Chipping Norton and a Times editorial. There were protests in Hyde Park, angry questions in the House of Commons, a Home Office review and Queen Victoria may have personally intervened.


It was a battle between rapidly unionising agricultural workers and the rural establishment of Church, State, Lords and farming gentry arrayed against them. Sixteen women were imprisoned with hard labour – and two of them were forced to take their newborns to jail with them.


They became known as the Ascott Martyrs.


The backlash against their


imprisonment was the beginning of the right to picket and protest and the death knell for the idea that local vicars should double as magistrates. And it brought thousands of poor rural labourers flocking to join the then new


The churchyard across from the


houses has the worn gravestone of Martha Smith, one of the Martyrs. Martha lived, worked, worshipped within 100 yards of where she is buried.


28 uniteLANDWORKER Autumn 2023


Agricultural Labourers’ Union set up the year before.


It’s set in then poor west Oxfordshire against a backdrop of problems created by a series of bad trade deals which damaged British farming amid the first truly global economic recession. Add a bloody European war, interest rates ramped up by the Bank of England, low wages squeezed lower and industrial unrest.


The historical parallels with today echo down to 2023 and this year’s 150th anniversary. Unite has helped ensure the story of the Ascott Martyrs is not forgotten.


Although local clergy helped create the scandal, the village church now hosts a memorial wall-hanging telling the Martyrs’ story.


A few paces from the church are rows of former Charity Houses for rural labourers.


Just paces away, the Swan Inn boasts the ‘most beautiful pub garden in the Cotswolds’. In 1873 it hosted a celebration lunch for the women when they were released from prison.


A large oak tree commemorates the Martyrs and dominates the village green. It’s surrounded by memorial plaques to the Martyrs and the type of blue ribbon worn by agricultural union members of the day.


Further down, former Crown Farm is now an equestrian centre. In 1873 it was owned by Richard Hambidge and was at the centre of a strike when his farm labourers demanded another two shillings a week.


He brought in two local lads from a nearby village to break the strike. The women, some of whom were also farm labourers, went to the farmer’s field to confront the lads.


Exactly what happened is unclear. Between 16 and 30 women were involved and some banter ensued (they joked to the lads that they’d remove their trousers).


Fanny Honeybone, then 16, later recalled to Landworker that little


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40