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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Rebecca Riots
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A series of attacks on tollgates in southwest Wales between 1839 and 1844, carried out by men disguised in women's clothes. There were many reasons for unrest at this time of considerable economic distress (it was the period also of the *Chartists), but the tollgates provided not only a good target but also the biblical justification for the female attire. In Genesis 24 it says: 'And they blessed Rebecca and said unto her... let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. And Rebecca arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels.' The leader of each gang of rioters was known as Rebecca; but he and his damsels made do with horses for lack of Welsh camels.
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