Who Was Ned Ludd?

Ned Ludd is the person from whom Luddites took their name. He lived in the Eighteenth Century and is famous for breaking up some machinery in a fit of rage. (I'm having some sympathy with the poor fellow now; especially after wrestling with some twenty-first century machinery fairly recently!) Actually, because of the unreliability of records at that time, there is little actual proof of Ludd's existence, although by reputation he is believed that he came from the village of Anstey, just outside Leicester. The incident in question supposedly took place in 1779, where Ludd broke two large stocking frames in the village.

Ludd's wider reputation stems from the early Nineteenth Century, where his actions became the inspiration for 'Captain Ludd' (also known as 'King Ludd' or 'General Ludd') who became the Luddites' imagined leader and founder in the 1810s. His signature appears on a 'workers' manifesto' of the time. A reasonable step - in a situation where wrecking machines could lead to heavy penalties or even execution, the use of a pseudonym would be understandable. And so our hero's lasting reputation is born...