No Ordinary Convict: A Welshman Called Rebecca by Janine Marshall Wood

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Signed by author.

The Rebecca Riots took place between 1839 and 1844 to protest primarily about excessive tolls imposed on travel across the Welsh countryside. It was a just cause in a harsh, poverty-stricken era; a serious movement imbued with a sense of the ridiculous.

Each protest was led by a young man disguised as a woman, face blackened, who was called Rebecca. He was followed by hundreds of his raucous ‘daughters’.

John Hughes was a Rebecca. He was caught red-handed leading an attack to demolish a toll gate and tollhouse. Headline news across the Western world reported his trial, which resulted in transportation to Van Diemen’s Land. (publisher blurb)