Now Hist. Used, chiefly attrib., to designate a system of intimidation practised in agricultural districts of the South of England in 1830–1, consisting in sending to farmers and landowners threatening letters over the signature of a fictitious Captain Swing, followed by the incendiary destruction of their ricks and other property.
Three pretended lives of Swing appeared: The Life and History of Swing, the Kent Rick-burner, written by himself, 1830, A Short Account of the Life and Death of Swing, the Rick-burner, written by one well acquainted with him, by H. N. Coleridge, and The Genuine Life of Mr. Francis Swing, 1831. A review of the first of these, by Gen. P. Thompson, entitled ‘On Machine-breaking,’ in the Westminster Review, Jan., 1831, was republished in pamphlet form, ‘In answer to “Swing.”’
1830. Poor Man’s Guardian, 31 Dec., 8/1. There is no doubt that the fire was caused by an incendiary, as Mr. Ley had previously received a ‘Swing’ letter, threatening that his place should be fired before the 10th of January.
[1832. Lett. to J. Keate (Headmaster of Eton), in N. & Q., 7th Ser. VII. 268/1. If you do not lay aside your Thrishing machine you will hear further from … SWING.]
1836–7. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Tales, viii. ‘But this letter … is anonymous.’ ‘I see—bit o’ Sving, eh?’
[1841. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Ser. II. Babes in Wood, xvii. And Captain Swing came in the night, And burnt all his beans and his barley.]
1845. W. Wing, Antiq. Steeple Aston, 58. The riots in the agricultural districts in 1830–1, called the ‘Swing-riots.’
1859. Times, 21 Nov., 6/4. In the same way the excesses of the Luddites and SWING were turned to account to show that the fabric of our society was built on sand, and must speedily fall.
[1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., xxxix. And while Swing and his myrmidons were abroad in the counties.]
1888. World, 2 May, 5. He quoted the example of the Swing Fires as an example of an evil which may have averted greater evils.
