The Destruction of Stocking Frames, etc. Act 1812 ( 52 Geo. 3. c. 16), also known as the Frame-Breaking Act and before passage as the ''Frame Work Bill'', was an Act of Parliament passed by the British Government in 1812 aimed at increasing the penalties for

Luddite The Luddites were members of a 19th-century movement of English textile workers who opposed the use of certain types of automated machinery due to concerns relating to worker pay and output quality. They often destroyed the machines in organ ...

behaviour in order to discourage it.

Passage and content

The Frame Work Bill was introduced to Parliament on 14 February 1812 by the Home Secretary Richard Ryder, acting in concert with

Spencer Perceval Spencer Perceval (1 November 1762 – 11 May 1812) was a British statesman and barrister who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1809 until his assassination in May 1812. He is the only British prime minister to have been as ...

(who was at that time both

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

and

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

), the Attorney General Sir Vicary Gibbs, the Solicitor General Sir

Thomas Plumer Sir Thomas Plumer (10 October 1753 – 24 March 1824) was a British judge and politician, the first Vice-Chancellor of England and later Master of the Rolls. Early life and education Plumer was the second son of wine merchant Thomas Plumer (di ...

, and three Nottinghamshire MPs concerned about the Luddite Movement taking hold in their constituencies. Rushed through as an "emergency measure", the Act was passed with an overwhelming majority and received

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

on 20 March, despite opposition. Fundamentally, there was agreement between members of the government and the opposition that the measure was a last resort; but where supporters believed that all other avenues had been exhausted, opponents (seeing relative tranquillity over the winter period) did not. The newly created

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

used his maiden speech in the House of Lords to oppose the bill. The Act, as passed, made the destruction of mechanised looms –

stocking frame A stocking frame was a mechanical knitting machine used in the textiles industry. It was invented by William Lee of Calverton near Nottingham in 1589. Its use, known traditionally as framework knitting, was the first major stage in the mechanis ...

s – a capital felony (and hence a crime punishable by death). Similarly raised to the level of capital felony were the associated crimes of damaging frames and entering a property with intent to damage a frame. In these respects the act was a stronger version of the

Protection of Stocking Frames, etc. Act 1788 The Protection of Stocking Frames, etc. Act 1788 ( 28 Geo. 3. c. 55) was an Act of Parliament passed by the British Government in 1788 and aimed at increasing the penalties for the deliberate disruption of the activity of mechanical knitting mac ...

, which had made similar acts punishable by 7–14 years in a

penal colony A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer ...

. All measures included in the Act were only to be applied temporarily, and were duly set to expire on 1 March 1814.

Significance

Although approximately 60 to 70 Luddites were

hanged Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

in the period that the statute was in force, no death sentences seem to have been justified on its grounds, with judges preferring to use existing legislation. Due to come to an end on 1 March, the Act was officially repealed in 1814 with the passage of the Destruction of Stocking Frames, etc. Act 1813 ( 54 Geo. 3. c. 42), which instituted a new maximum penalty for the destruction of stocking frames of life transportation; in 1817, that Act would itself be repealed and the death penalty once again reinstated in the Destroying Stocking Frames, etc. Act 1817 ( 57 Geo. 3. c. 126). By that time, however, Luddism had largely subsided as a movement.

References

External links

Full text of the act on Google Books

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605023227/http://www.luddites200.org.uk/LordByronspeech.html , date=5 June 2016 United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1812 1812 in economic history March 1812 Spencer Perceval Lord Byron Luddites

Passage and content

Significance

See also

References

External links