Ned Ludd
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Ned Ludd or Ned Lud (possibly born Ned Ludlam[1]) is the person from whom the Luddites took their name. His actions were the inspiration for the folkloric character of "Captain Ludd" (also known as King or General) who became the Luddites' imagined leader and founder.
Although no actual proof of his existence has been found, it is believed that he came from the village of Anstey, just outside Leicester in England.
The incident that inspired his transformation from 18th century common man to 19th century hero of the proletariat, was when he broke two stocking frames in a fit of rage. This incident is identified as having occurred in 1779, rather than at the time of the Luddites in the 1810s.
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[edit] Popular culture
[edit] Music
The character of Ned Ludd has been commemorated in the folk ballad "General Ludd's Triumph." Chumbawamba recorded a version of this song on their 2003 release, English Rebel Songs 1381–1984.
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 5-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.[2]
[edit] 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 novel The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), by Edward Abbey, is dedicated to Ned Ludd.
Thomas Pynchon wrote an essay entitled "Is it O.K. to be a Luddite?"[3] in 1984, discussing the historical Luddites in the light of the 25th anniversary of C. P. Snow's influential lecture The Two Cultures.
[edit] References
- ^ Anstey at Welcome to Leicester (visitoruk.com) According to this source, "A half-witted Anstey lad, Ned Ludlam or Ned Ludd, gave his name to the Luddites, who in the 1800s followed his earlier example by smashing machinery in protest against the Industrial Revolution."
- ^ Coe, Jonathan. "The Gourds," The Daily Gamecock, January 20, 2009
- ^ Pynchon, Thomas. "Is it O.K. to be a Luddite?" The New York Times Book Review, 28 October 1984, pp. 1, 40-41.
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