Union Songs

Foster's Mill

A Luddite song

Come all you croppers stout and bold
Let your faith grow stronger still
Oh the cropper lads in the County of York
They broke the shears at Foster's Mill

The wind it blew the sparks they flew
Which alarmed the town full soon
And out of bed poor people did creep
And run by the light of the moon

Around and around they all did stand
And solemly did swear
Neither bucket not kit nor any such thing
Should be of assistane there

Around and around we all will stand
And sternly swear we will
We'll break the shears and the windows too
And set fire to the tazzling mill

Notes

Printed in Roy Palmer's "Poverty Knock" where he adds:
"This mill stood between Horbury and Ossett (near Wakefield) in Yorkshire.The attack took place on 9 April 1812, when a crowd of between three and six hundred, armed with firearms, hatchets and clubs, destroyed gig mills, shear frames and cloth, together with a number of windows".

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union songs..........a selection by mark gregory