The Rebecca Riots - A Welsh Revolt Quiz

Answer: Toll gates

Although the imposition of increasing number of toll gates was the most important factor in the protests this should not be seen in isolation.
The mid-nineteenth century was a time of severe agrarian depression. The situation was made worse by the reform of the Poor Law in 1834 which stopped poor relief to anyone outside of the workhouse. This made things very tough for small landowners, tenant farmers and country people in general to get by. People were too poorly nourished to fight diseases, etc. and some literally starved to death. Those that managed to raise livestock or any harvest found their way to the markets blocked by toll gates. The companies who owned the tolls were supposed to maintain and improve the roads but much of the money was embezzled and not put to proper use. The farmers were being forced to pay increasingly high toll charges for a deteriorating service; they were not happy and were becoming increasingly militant.
Further east, in industrial South Wales, the Chartists were mobilising support for the right to vote and for greater worker representation; rebellion was in the air. The first toll was destroyed in 1839 by a group led by Twm Carnabwth. A second toll was also destroyed fairly soon afterwards but this was followed by a lull of some three years before the main rebellion took hold.

Answer: A Biblical quotation

The truth about the name Rebecca's Daughters and their style of dress is sometimes disputed but the most widely accepted version is that it is based on the Bible verse, Genesis 24:60,

'And they blessed Rebekah and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them'.

Another version has it that the leader Twm Carnabwth borrowed a voluminous white outfit from a lady friend of his called Rebecca and the idea caught on with his followers but there is no hard evidence for this.

Either way, the disguise was very useful for in those days rioters could be hanged and the judges were not slow in giving out this punishment.

Answer: There was no local police force in the area

Sir Robert Peel had set up the Metropolitan Police Force in London in 1829. Several other cities and highly populated areas then followed suit but few rural communities could afford such a presence. At the time of the outbreak of the Rebecca Riots the nearest local police force was in Glamorgan some fifty or so miles away. This is not to say that the authorities were not concerned by the outbreaks of violence, far from it. Special constables were drafted in to protect the tolls and when they were found lacking the government called in the military. Several accounts of battles between rioters and soldiers give an alarming picture of the level of violence.

Answer: They all were attacked

The tollgates were always the principal focus of the protests. Exact figures are hard to come by but the numbers of tollgates destroyed across west Wales ran into many hundreds. Other targets were also sought, in particular the hated workhouses which were a potent symbol of repression. Church of Wales ministers were attacked for being part of the establishment.

The Anglican church was allowed to raise tithes, which did not please the poor folk, especially when the established church seemed to raise no objections to the tollroads.

The majority of the population belonged to non-conformist denominations, which at the very least lent tacit approval to the protests although most disapproved of the violence. The numbers of Rebecca's Daughters was undoubtedly joined by some criminal elements who used the anonymity of the disguise for their own ends. Also some local scores were settled under the banner of Rebecca; petty criminals and absent, unmarried fathers were targets in some communities.

Answer: They dug a grave within sight of Trevor's house and indicated that he would soon be filling it

The news was given out in September 1843 that troops would be allowed to fire upon Rebecca's Daughters.
A grave was then discovered to have been dug within sight of Dinefwr Castle, the Trevor family seat. Intimations were given that George Rice Trevor would be filling the grave by the 10th October. However the threat was not carried out.

Answer: She was the only person known to have been killed by Rebecca rioters

The protests were initially against the tollbooths and their owners. Many buildings were completely destroyed in the riots but by and large the people operating the tolls were given time to escape and were left relatively unharmed. Public opinion was definitely with the protesters and, as long as little violence was done to people, most of the local population supported the protesters. One attack at Hendy started to change public perception when the toll-operator Sarah Williams was shot dead by protesters.

There had been an attack on the toll some three days earlier which had been repulsed by troops. Some protesters had been injured and some saw revenge as a motive for the subsequent attack. Sarah had been given notice to leave the building by the protesters but she had refused to go and was shot dead for her pains.

Answer: A blind old lady

This report from the South Wales Police Museum Brochure:

"The farmers would act out a scene before destroying the gates. This would involve the farmers' leader, a "blind old woman" dismounting from a horse and hobbling towards a toll gate. The farmer would ask his followers, also dressed as women,


"What is this, my children? There is something in my way. I cannot go on."

"What is it, mother Rebecca? Nothing should stand in your way," would come the reply.

"I do not know my children. I am old and cannot see well."

"Shall we come and move it out of your way, mother Rebecca?"

"Wait!," replied "Rebecca," "It feels like a big gate put across the road to stop your old mother."

"We will break it down, mother. Nothing should stand in your way."

"Perhaps it will open ... Oh my dear children, it is locked and bolted. What can be done?"

"It must be taken down, mother. You and your children must be able to pass."

The command, "Off with it then, my children," would herald the destruction of the gate with hatchets by several of Rebecca's many followers."

Answer: Llandrindod Wells

The Walk Gatehouse in Llandeilo was destroyed by Rebecca on August 9th 1843 which led to a sizeable military presence being posted in the town.
A similar presence was posted in Llandovery after Rebecca attacks (which led to the the formation of Llandovery Cricket Club!).
The Pen-y-Pistyll tollgate in Rhayader was destroyed on 22nd September 1843 and further attacks followed. The attacks in and around Rhayader probably represented the furthest north of the Rebecca riots.
Llandrindod Wells did not really become established as a town until after the coming of the railway in 1865, some 20 years or so after the Rebecca Riots had subsided.

Answer: Transportation to Australia

John Hughes and David Davies each received a sentence of 20 years' transportation to Australia. John Jones was transported for life. The majority of other sentences handed out were for shorter periods but there is no record of any Rebecca protesters returning to Wales after completing their sentences.

The Rebecca protests had not gone unheeded and had found a sympathetic ear in some elements of the London Press. Pressure on the government led to a Royal Commission into the affair and by 1845 most of the hated tollroads had disappeared.

Answer: Alexander Cordell

"The Hosts of Rebecca" is the second novel in a trilogy of books by Alexander Cordell (1914-97). The books follow the fictitious Mortymer family through a series of historical events. The first in the trilogy, "The Rape of the Fair Country" is set in industrial South-East Wales and marks the events leading up to the Chartist Riots in Newport (1839). "The Hosts of Rebecca" deals mainly with agricultural issues and the violence associated with the Rebecca Riots.

The third book, "Song of the Earth" follows the family as they emigrate to America.