Plaque to be unveiled in honour of Dorset's Tolpuddle Martyrs
The TUC has arranged it
A new illustrated plaque is being unveiled today (Friday 18th March) to commemorate the homecoming of four of the Tolpuddle Martyrs.
The Dorset agricultural labourers were convicted of setting up an illegal trade union in 1834, and sent to Australia.
They were pardoned in 1836 and returned to England in the following years.
A plaque to honour them will be displayed at Plymouth Quay from this morning - unveiled by TUC President, Sue Ferns.
The Tolpuddle Martyrs has joined together to resist wage cuts and are thought to be the forerunners of the trades union movement.
A campaign to free the group gathered 800,000 signatures, with a march on Parliament in support of their cause.
The TUC says their pardoning was 'a significant victory for collective bargaining rights, mass campaigns, and trade unionism as a whole'.