In 1779, Ludd is supposed to have broken two stocking frames in
a fit of rage. After this incident, attacks on the frames were
jokingly blamed on Ludd. When the "Luddites" emerged in the
1810s, his identity was appropriated to become the folkloric
character of Captain Ludd, also known as King Ludd or General
Ludd, the Luddites' alleged leader and founder. Supposedly, Ludd
was a weaver from Anstey, near Leicester. In 1779, either after
being whipped for idleness, or after being taunted by local
youths, he smashed two knitting frames in what was described as
a "fit of passion". This story is traceable to an article in The
Nottingham Review on 20 December 1811, but there is no
independent evidence of its truth. John Blackner's book History
of Nottingham, also published in 1811, provides a variant tale,
of a lad called "Ludnam" who was told by his father, a
framework-knitter, to "square his needles". Ludnam took a hammer
and "beat them into a heap". News of the incident spread, and
whenever frames were sabotaged,