Editing Captain Swing (section)

{{Short description|Pseudonym used in the 1830 Swing Riots in England}}
{{About|the threatening letters of the Swing Riots}}

[[File:Batteuse 1881.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Horse-powered [[threshing machine]]]]

"'''Captain Swing'''" was a name that was appended to several threatening letters during the rural [[Swing Riots]] of 1830, when labourers rioted over the introduction of new [[threshing machines]] and the loss of their livelihoods. The name was made-up and it came to symbolise the anger of the poor labourers in rural England who wanted a return to the pre-machine days when human labour was used.