1820 SONGS OF REBELLION

1820 SONGS OF REBELLION

Announcing the release of the latest CD by the Lanarkshire Songwriters recalling the ‘Radical Rising’ of 1820, also known as the Scottish Insurrection, which saw artisan workers, such as weavers, shoemakers and blacksmiths, initiate a series of strikes and unrest across central Scotland culminating in the trial of a number of radicals for the crime of treason. The events of the Rising followed years of economic recession after the end of the Napoleonic Wars and considerable revolutionary instability in Europe. As the economic situation worsened many workers societies were established across the country proclaiming radical ideas for fundamental change. This was the last armed uprising on Scottish soil, with the intent of establishing a radical republic. The Rising was quickly and violently quashed with the subsequent trials which saw the execution of John Baird, Andrew Hardie and James ‘Purlie’ Wilson.