In 1873, 16 women from the Oxfordshire village of Ascott-under-Wychwood – two with their babies – were imprisoned for supporting agricultural labourers who were striking in an attempt to force their employers to improve their meagre wages. They were each sentenced to seven to ten days of imprisonment with hard labour.

The resulting public outcry demonstrates the support and solidarity of the local community for the women’s determined, courageous actions, and their significance at the national level.

The Ascott Martyrs’ story sheds light on the conditions of agricultural labourers and their families, who at that time made up the bulk of the rural population, and the early history of agricultural trade unionism in Oxfordshire. The extensive press coverage of the events of 1873 also reveals much about the everyday lives of these women, whose actions challenge the popular idea of passive, submissive, apolitical, Victorian womanhood in radical ways.

Tickets cost £6 and are available online via Eventbrite (booking fee applies) or at the Museum shop. Tickets for this event also include access to the museum’s Galleries.

£6