Ned Ludd

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Ned Ludd or Ned Lud is the person from whom the Luddites took their name. His actions were the inspiration for the folkloric character of "Captain Ludd" (also known as King or General) who became the Luddites' imagined leader and founder.

Although no actual proof of his existence has been found, it is believed that he came from the village of Anstey, just outside Leicester.

The incident that inspired his transformation from 1700s common man to 1800s hero to the proletariat, was when he broke two stocking frames in a fit of rage. This incident is identified as being in 1779, rather than at the time of the Luddites in the 1810s.

[edit] Popular culture

The character of Ned Ludd has been commemorated in the folk ballad "General Ludd's Triumph".

Later Chumbawamba recorded a version of this song on their 1985 release, English Rebel Songs: 1381–1985.

In the same year Robert Calvert wrote and recorded another song "Ned Ludd", appearing on his 1985 album Freq; which includes lyrics such as: They said Ned Ludd was an idiot boy/That all he could do was wreck and destroy, and/He turned to his workmates and said: Death to Machines/They tread on our future and they stamp on our dreams.

The album Bloody Men (2006) by the folk-rock band Steeleye Span has a 5-part section on the subject of Ned Ludd.

In "A Land Without Magic", the machine-hating gremlin is called Luddite.