Ned Ludd

Ned Ludd, possibly born Edward Ludlam,[1][2] is the person from whom, it is popularly claimed, the Luddites took their name.

Engraving of Ned Ludd, Leader of the Luddites, 1812

In 1779, Ludd is supposed to have broken two stocking frames in a fit of rage. When the "Luddites" emerged in the 1810s, his identity was appropriated to become the folkloric character of Captain Ludd, also known as King Ludd or General Ludd, the Luddites' alleged leader and founder.

History

Supposedly, Ludd was a weaver from Anstey, near Leicester, England. In 1779, either after being whipped for idleness[3] or after being taunted by local youths,[4] he smashed two knitting frames in what was described as a "fit of passion".[5][6] This story is traceable to an article in The Nottingham Review on 20 December 1811, but there is no independent evidence of its truth. John Blackner's book History of Nottingham, also published in 1811, provides a variant tale, of a lad called "Ludlam" who was told by his father, a framework-knitter, to "square his needles". Ludlam took a hammer and "beat them into a heap".[7] News of the incident spread, and whenever frames were sabotaged, people would jokingly say "Ned Ludd did it".[5][6]

By 1812, organised frame-breakers became known as Luddites, using the name King Ludd or Captain Ludd for their mythical leader. Letters and proclamations were signed by "Ned Ludd".[5]

In popular culture

Music

• The character of Ned Ludd is commemorated in the folk ballad "The Triumph of General Ludd." Chumbawamba recorded a version of this song on their 2003 release, English Rebel Songs 1381–1984.
• The Fall's song Ludd Gang (the b-side to The Man Whose Head Expanded) is about Ned Ludd.
• Robert Calvert wrote and recorded another song "Ned Ludd," which appeared on his 1985 album Freq; which includes the lyrics:

They said Ned Ludd was an idiot boy
That all he could do was wreck and destroy, and
He turned to his workmates and said: Death to Machines
They tread on our future and they stamp on our dreams.

• Steeleye Span's 2006 album Bloody Men has a five-part section on the subject of Ned Ludd.
• The Heaven Shall Burn song "The Final March" has a direct reference to Captain Ludd.
• Alt-country band The Gourds affectionately refer to Ned Ludd as "Uncle Ned" in the song "Luddite Juice" off their 2009 release, Haymaker.[8]
• The Scottish folk musician Alasdair Roberts sings of Ned Ludd in his song "Ned Ludd's Rant (For World Rebarbarised)" on his 2009 album, Spoils.
• San Diego punk band The Night Marchers included a song called "Ned Lud" on their 2013 release "Allez, Allez."
• Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy (band) references Ned Ludd in the song "You'll Never Work in This Town Again" on their 2019 release, Office Politics.

Literature

• Edmund Cooper's alternative-history The Cloud Walker is set in a world where the Luddite ethos has given rise to a religious hierarchy which dominates English society and sets carefully prescribed limits on technology. A hammer – the tool supposedly used by Ned Ludd – is a religious symbol, and Ned Ludd is seen as a divine, messianic figure.
• The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire, a steam-punk trilogy by Rod Duncan describes a hypothetical world nearly 200 years after a successful Luddite revolution. The powerful and corrupt International Patent Office controls and restricts technological progress and Ned Ludd is given a similar status to Henry Ford in Brave New World.
• The novel The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), by Edward Abbey, is dedicated to Ned Ludd.
• Anne Finger wrote a collection of short stories titled Call Me Ahab about famous disabled historical and literary figures, which included the story "Our Ned" about Ned Ludd.
• Ecodefense: A Field Guide To Monkeywrenching was published by Ned Ludd Books. Much of the content came from the "Dear Ned Ludd" column in the newsletter of the group Earth First!.
• In the comic book series Superman Unchained, a terrorist group called Ascension that opposes modern technology uses the image of Ludd in their broadcasts.[9]
• The Luddites were the inspiration for the play The Machine Breakers (Die Maschinenstürmer) by the German playwright Ernst Toller (1893-1939).
• Ned Ludd is a character in the novel The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss.

Television

• In NBC's The Blacklist, episode 8 of season 1, an activist network that plans an attack on the US financial system is led by a man who calls himself General Ludd.
• On the Disney Channel's Big Hero 6: The Series, there is a recurring villain named Ned Ludd who lives in the woods and abhors modern technology.

Games

• In Sarah Northway's Rebuild: Gangs of Deadsville one of the factions is a group called The Luddies led by a man dubbed King Ludd Owen. The group is described as "part hippie, part luddite" and is an obvious reference to Ned Ludd and his luddites.

Other

• The Ned Ludd, a craft beer pub on Friar Lane, Nottingham, is named after Ned Ludd.[10]

See also

• Captain Swing
• Rebecca Riots

Notes

1. Palmer, Roy (1998) The Sound of History: Songs and Social Comment, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-215890-1, p. 103
2. Chambers, Robert (2004) Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar, Part 1, Kessinger, ISBN 978-0-7661-8338-4, p. 357
3. Hammond, J.L.; Hammond, Barbara (1919), The Skilled Labourer 1760-1832 (pdf), London: Longmans, Green and co., p. 259
4. Chase, Alston (2001) In a Dark Wood, Transaction Publishers, ISBN 978-0-7658-0752-6, p. 41
5. Alsen, Eberhard (2000) New Romanticism: American Fiction, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-8153-3548-1, p. 43
6. George Gordon Lord Byron (2002) The Works of Lord Byron. Letters and Journals, Adamant Media Corporation, ISBN 978-1-4021-7225-0, p. 97
7. Traill, Henry Duff & Mann, James Saumarez (1902) Social England. Vol. V, Cassell & Co, p. 841
8. Coe, Jonathan. "The Gourds," The Daily Gamecock, January 20, 2009
9. Scott Snyder (w), Jim Lee (p), Scott Williams (i). "The Fall" Superman Unchained 2 (September 2013), DC Comics
10. "Ned Ludd, Nottingham". whatpub.com. Retrieved 2019-04-03.