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Events on Thursday 20 February 1812 1
1812Frame Breaking Act passed amid Luddite unrestParliament makes machine-breaking a capital offence as Luddite attacks peakIn February 1812, at the height of Luddite attacks on textile machinery across the English Midlands and north, Parliament passed the Frame Breaking Act making the destruction of mechanized looms a capital crime. The unrest stemmed from weavers' fears that new machinery would destroy their livelihoods. Dozens of Luddites were later tried, and several executed, under the new law.