A Servant of the Governor : Y Lolfa : 9781784611453 : 178461145X : 03 Sep 2015 : A historical novel based on the actual events surrounding the Swing Riots in Hampshire England in 1830 when a wave of rural protest, fuelled by grinding poverty and falling wages among agricultural workers, swept across southern England. Known as the Swing Riots after the mythical Captain Swing, author of the protesters' threatening letters, the disturbances escalate from angry meetings to breaking of new machines, arson attacks on property, and face-to-face violence. When one of those confrontations with a local landowner leads to a trial for attempted murder, one man pays the ultimate price while brothers Joseph and Robert Mason find themselves sentenced to transportation to Australia for life. One leaves behind a wife and infant daughter. Loss and pain haunt him as he attempts to create a new life in another land.