Burston Rebellion

In 1911, Tom and Kitty Higdon arrived in the quiet Norfolk village of Burston with radical ideas about education and justice. As Christian Socialists committed to improving the lives of agricultural labourers and their children, they quickly clashed with the local landowners and clergy who had controlled the village for generations. When they championed striking workers and demanded better conditions for their pupils, their dismissal became inevitable. What happened next shocked the nation: the entire community walked out in solidarity, establishing a 'Riot School' that challenged the very foundations of rural English hierarchy. This is the story of two teachers who refused to be silenced, a village that dared to resist, and how one small act of defiance became a beacon for labour organizers across Britain in the years before the Great War.