The Ascott Martyrs: Why did the rural establishment imprison sixteen women and two babies in 1873?

A story of 19th century rural oppression in England when sixteen women and two babies were imprisoned in Oxfordshire, leading to a national scandal and a partial pardon by Queen Victoria.

This unusual history book, written by national academic leaders and local historians, puts the sixteen women who came to be known as the Ascott Martyrs at the centre of a story that until recently was largely lost to history.

The book examines the political, agricultural, religious, educational and social ...