Few references to early contact.

Few references to early contact.

In many North of England towns, like Manchester and Oldham, violence was never far below the surface during the disturbed times of the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century, with cotton mill owners pitted against their operatives and worker against worker. Sam Johnson was a 17-year- old cotton spinner apprenticed to his father at Greenbank Mill when three over-zealous Oldham constables raided a union meeting and arrested two union men. The end result was a huge riot involving thousands of Oldham workers and a partly successful attempt to demolish the Bankside Mill on Manchester Street and adjacent workers' homes. One onlooker was shot dead. The subsequent random arrests when the militia arrived and regained control resulted in five of the rioters, including Sam Johnson, being sentenced to death by hanging at the Lancaster Assizes of 1834. These sentences were commuted to transportation for life. This thoroughly researched true story describes the life of Sam Johnson, convict no. 13841, from the Chatham hulks to the transport ship, to Botany Bay, the Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney, his later assignment to his Scottish master Archibald Macleod, his travels over the Australian Alps with his sheep and cattle to pioneer in Gippsland in 1844. It traces his emancipation, marriage and life in Gippsland following a successful petition and Queen's Pardon after he served his 20-year sentence. The book includes previously unpublished material from the handwritten notes of an Oldham reporter present at the riot reproduced by kind permission of Oldham Local Studies and Archives.

Shows the degradation of prison life and the triumph of the human spirit over overwhelming odds.

Imperial Boredom offers a radical reconsideration of the British Empire during its heyday in the nineteenth century. Challenging the long-established view that the empire was about adventure and excitement, with heroic men and intrepid women eagerly spreading commerce and civilization around the globe, this thoroughly researched, engagingly written, and lavishly illustrated account suggests instead that boredom was central to the experience of empire. Combining individual stories of pain and perseverance with broader analysis, Professor Auerbach considers what it was actually like to sail to Australia, to serve as a soldier in South Africa, or to accompany a colonial official to the hill stations of India. He reveals that for numerous men and women, from explorers to governors, tourists to settlers, the Victorian Empire was dull and disappointing. Drawing on diaries, letters, memoirs, and travelogues, Imperial Boredom demonstrates that all across the empire, men and women found the landscapes monotonous, the physical and psychological distance from home debilitating, the routines of everyday life wearisome, and their work tedious and unfulfilling. The empires early years may have been about wonder and marvel, but the Victorian Empire was a far less exciting project. Many books about the British Empire focus on what happened; this book concentrates on how people felt.