Who were the Ely and Littleport Rioters?
Ely and Littleport are two towns in part of modern Cambridgeshire known as ‘The Fens’. In 1816, the Fens were still stretches of flat marsh or, instead, marshland that had been pumped dry of water by engineers. The majority of fen people were poor, although great landowners and some local farmers had grown rich from the crops grown on the drained farmland. The Ely and Littleport Rioters were mostly poor labourers who were hired to work on the farms at times of the year such as harvest. However, there were other types of men among the rioters such as a potter, a tailor, a blacksmith and a pub landlord. One of the leaders of the Rioters in Ely was Aaron Layton, a 24 year old master bricklayer. Layton was described later as “20 years of age, 5ft 7in high, dark hair, hazel eyes, much freckled and pockpetten (pock-marked), remarkably wide mouth, wears a fustian jacket and breeches, blue stocks and high-low shoes”. Why did the Ely and Littleport men riot? The labourers were poor men with man
