Illustration showing the Tolpuddle Martyrs deported to Australia 1834. The Tolpuddle Martyrs were a group of 19th-century Dorset agricultural labourers who were arrested for and convicted of swearing a secret oath as members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. The rules of the society show it was clearly structured as a friendly society and operated as a trade-specific benefit society. At the time, friendly societies had strong elements of what are now considered to be the predominant role of trade unions. On 18 March 1834,[1] the Tolpuddle Martyrs were sentenced to penal transportation to Australia.