Six English farmworkers who were charged in 1834 with taking illegal oaths, while establishing a local trade union branch of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers in the Dorset village of Tolpuddle with the aim of obtaining an increase in their wages (then seven shillings a week). The six were found guilty and condemned to seven years’ transportation to Australia. The severity of the sentence provoked a storm of protest and mass demonstrations were held in London. After two years, in the face of continuing public hostility, the government was obliged to pardon the men.