Defiance and Destruction: Warblington 1830

Neil Spurgeon is taking the stage at the Portsmouth Guildhall on Tuesday 9 March, with his talk Defiance and Destruction: Warblington 1830 running from 7pm and finishing no later than 8.30pm. It's part of the Portsmouth Historical Association's 2026-27 programme, and Spurgeon comes to it from the Havant Local History Group.

The subject is the Swing Riots of 1830, a period of unrest that hit the English countryside hard. Spurgeon focuses on Warblington, where farm workers, driven to desperation by economic distress and harsh legislation, took to destroying threshing machines. It's a look at a moment when people felt they'd been pushed to the edge and decided to strike back at the machinery they blamed for their hardship.

If you're not familiar with the Swing Riots, the name comes from the letters the rioters sent to landowners and magistrates, often signed 'Captain Swing'. The threshing machines were the flashpoint: they did the work of many hands in a fraction of the time, and in a time of deep poverty, that meant fewer jobs and less food on the table. Spurgeon's talk brings that national story down to a local level, showing how it played out right here in Warblington.

It's held in Room 1.09 of the Park Building on King Henry I Street, PO1 2BZ. A single lecture is £4, or you can go for £20 for the whole series from October to May; students and HA members pay nothing. There's no booking required, so you just turn up and pay on arrival. The talk starts at 7pm and wraps up by 8.30pm, so you're out well before the night is over.