Ben o' Bill's, the Luddite: A Yorkshire Tale

First published in 1898, this fiction deals with surprisingly contemporary issues of the period and is the social history of the time it stands out. What makes this work different from the existing literature of that period is the use of the local dialect and the expertise with which the characters and their lives have been portrayed at a period of such unrest in the Colne Valley. The Luddites were not unreasonable machine destroyers but desperate men, suffering in destitution, sorrow, and despair, fighting for a voice to be heard against cruel mill owners and a crooked government. The authors of this work were transparent in their compassion for the cause of these workers and the background and reasoning behind these events The book was originally credited to D. F. E. Sykes and G. H. Walker, G. H., but Walker's name.