What is the history of egg and tomato throwing as a form of protest?
Is there a traditional name for the person(s) designated to throw eggs and tomatos?

Hello buttfoo

Thanks for a very interesting question which I enjoyed working on.

English medieval petty criminals who had been sentenced to a few hours
in the stocks were often pelted with rotten eggs, fruit and vegetables
by their fellow villagers or citizens. It was a well-established form
of insult or humiliation.

It continued to be an extra punishment for people in the stocks or the
pillory as the habit of protesting by throwing eggs etc. developed.
People in, say, the eighteenth century who protested against different
beliefs in this way would undoubtedly have been aware of the custom of
pelting offenders with a variety of rotten food, mud and worse.

The habit seems to have been strongly entrenched in Britain, although
of course throwing things at people you don't like is an ancient
custom! Before he became Roman emperor nearly two thousand years ago,
Vespasian had turnips hurled at him. But in Mediterranean countries
egg and tomato throwing often had a more festive tone, belonging to
carnival and harvest time. It seems to be the British tradition which
was exported to other parts of the English-speaking world, both as
punishment and protest. Rotten eggs were a very popular weapon;
tomatoes would have come into the picture more in parts of the world
where they grow plentifully and easily.

The earliest references I've found to throwing eggs at people to
protest against their views hinge on arguments about religion, but
politics and religion were of course intertwined in some cases.

Throwing eggs as a protest against bad acting is a special case. It's
often said this happened in the Elizabethan theatre, though I found
conflicting evidence on this. However, it certainly happened in
nineteenth century America.

I've gathered a list of examples from the net which I think give an
overall picture of the history of throwing eggs and other food at
people as a protest action. There really doesn't seem to be any
particular name for the people doing the throwing. Perhaps they
preferred semi-anonymity?



RELIGIOUS PROTEST

England - 17th century

" the then Bishop of Durham, Doctor Cosin, [...] was pelted with eggs
by the Puritan people of Berwick"
http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~nyoka/Documents/feature/holy_trinity.htm

Massachusetts - late 18th century	

"Murray had to sue the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to win the right
to be legally ordained and installed in Gloucester. He had eggs thrown
at him in one city, and in Gloucester, a large rock crashed through
the meetinghouse window, narrowly missing his head!"
http://www.follen.org/history/universalism.html

Isle of Man - late 18th century

"Mud, rotten eggs, stones, &c., were thrown at them without the least
mercy or regard"
http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/methdism/wesleyan.htm

Indiana - 1840s?

"Guerin wrote [...] of the rotten eggs thrown at her and her
companions by some anti-Catholic thugs in Madison, Ind."
http://208.62.120.191/ecp/religion/article/0,1626,ECP_782_1898990,00.html

London - 1870?

"Mission volunteers were often harassed and sometimes physically
assaulted as they marched through the streets with their signs and
musical instruments calling everyone to their outdoor tent meetings.
William would return home late each night with his clothes soaked from
the liquor, mud and rotten eggs thrown at him during his crusade.
During a strategy meeting in 1878, held at Catherine’s bedside, the
name of the Mission was officially changed to The Salvation Army."

http://www.historyswomen.com/CatherineBooth.html

Poor William Booth again:

"At Hastings, the town's leading grocer offered rotten eggs to all
comers as anti-Salvation ammunition."
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/coverstory/a0019345.html


POLITICAL PROTEST

Roman Empire - AD 63?

Vespasian "pelted with turnips"
http://www.roman-britain.org/people/vespasian.htm

England - 1830s?

George Eliot was obviously familiar with eggs being thrown at people
making election speeches. She describes this happening in chapter 51
of her novel "Middlemarch" which is set in the 1830s though written
around 1870:
"here an unpleasant egg broke on Mr. Brooke's shoulder [...] then came
a hail of eggs"

New Hampshire - 1830s

"Soon, after an anti-slavery lecture in Plymouth, NH, [Whittier] and
English abolitionist George Thompson, were attacked by a mob in
Concord, pelted with rotten [...] eggs and Whittier was wounded in the
leg by a flying stone."
http://www.seacoastnh.com/blackhistory/whittier.html

Canada - 1836

" Mackenzie's meetings were often broken up by loyalists armed with
whatever weapons proved handy. After a speech in Brampton he had to be
taken away by a Doctor Patullo, hurried on by a shower of rotten
eggs."
http://www.orangenet.org/canada/wallace.htm

Massachusetts  - 1839

"[A hall with] windows broken by stones and bad eggs, thrown to break
up antislavery meetings.."
http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/holland/holland.html

Seattle - 1903

"There was not a sign of riot in town until Humes appointed 18 scabs
as special policemen and armed them with guns and a little brief
authority. Every demonstration was wholly good natured. Nothing worse
than a few eggs thrown."
http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/laborpress/Black.htm

Ireland - 1906

"Mr. Stephen Gwynn was standing as a member of Parliament for Galway,
and fighting, in the face of rotten eggs and decayed fish"
http://www.pgil-eirdata.org/html/pgil_datasets/authors/g/Gwynn,S/life.htm

South Africa - 1919

"...the crowd threw rotten eggs and sang 'God Save The King'" (at
people leading the movement for South Africa's independence from
Britain)
http://www.anc.org.za/books/reich1.html



PUBLIC PUNISHMENT IN ENGLAND

Middle Ages

"Market Hill was the medieval centre of Cambridge. Here was the old
guildhall and the prison with stocks and pillory outside. Rotten fruit
and vegetables would be thrown at those being punished. "
http://www.cambridgelive.co.uk/views_centre/markethill.html

Mid-sixteenth century

"The priest at the time was said to have sold his wife to a butcher,
for which he was pelted with rotten eggs."
www.london-freechurch.org.uk/building.html

1700

"To deter stealing at the fair, the stocks were placed in a prominent
place.  Anyone caught stealing was locked in the stocks day and night
without food or water.  They became the targets of jeers and rotten
eggs."
http://www.richinsonline.com/histories/richins/hawkesbury.htm

18th century

"The pillory turned so that crowds on all sides could get a good view,
and the crowd expressed their disapproval of the offence by pelting
the offender with rotten eggs and vegetables, blood and guts from
slaughterhouses, dead cats, mud and excrement, and even bricks and
stones. Some died from the abuse, despite increasing efforts by
constables to protect the convict, by forming a ring around the
pillory."
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/history/crime/punishment.html


PUNISHMENT IN NORTH AMERICA

Colonial America

"· Pillory - this framework had holes for the criminal's head and
hands to stick through while they stood up. Once locked in they might
get rotten fruit or other items thrown at them. The wrongdoer was
condemned to carry out his punishment in rain or shine or freezing
weather."
http://ohoh.essortment.com/colonialpunishm_rkzt.htm

Canada - 1800

Both pillory and stocks "carried the threat of your fellow citizens
throwing things at you."
http://www.edu.pe.ca/gray/pei/crime/pillory.html


19th CENTURY AMERICAN THEATRES

1846

"When Macready toured the colonies, American audiences greeted him
with jeers and rotten eggs."
http://www.theamericanenterprise.org/taejune02l.htm

"Antebellum Theaters"

"When they were displeased, they yelled and hissed and pelted actors
with rotten eggs, stones, and even chairs."
http://www.gliah.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=648



I found thinking about this very interesting and was tempted down
various side alleys like the difference between rotten eggs and eggs
used to celebrate marriage or Easter as symbols of growth and
fertility. I was also interested in the Italian and Spanish festivals
which have a "crowd on the rampage" flavor possibly echoed in some
modern political protests. However, I believe that the main tradition
of hurling eggs, fruit etc. as ideological protest grew up alongside
the well-established "extra punishment" habits in Britain.

Hope this answers your question, but feel free to ask for
clarification if you have a query about what I've written.

Regards - Leli



answer based on prior knowledge plus searches with:
"eggs thrown"
"rotten eggs"
"pelted with"
pillory
election
politics
religion
anti-slavery
19th century
Roman emperor
Middlemarch
Salvation army

---

Request for Answer Clarification by buttfoo-ga on 15 Jun 2003 09:34 PDT

Very nice review of the history of this practice.  In your research,
did you come across a name ot title given to the egg throwers.  The
best parallel I can think of is traditional funerals.  People
obviously cry at funerals, but in many cultures, there are designated
mourners who have no relation to the families, but are paid to show up
and mourn.  I was curious if there was ever such a "position" as "egg
thrower" and if such a position had a specific title.  Thanks.

---

Clarification of Answer by leli-ga on 15 Jun 2003 11:14 PDT

Hello again

An interesting idea - but I found no trace of such a name/title while
researching and have never heard of one.

I guess one difference between protesting egg-throwers and people in
more formal roles, like designated mourners, is the degree of ritual
involved. Funeral customs with official mourners have a more
ceremonial quality than the tradition of hurling rotten food at
people, even when the grief seems passionate and uncontrolled. I would
speculate that throwing eggs is a more anarchic kind of human behavior
and so less likely to have special titles for the participants.

There don't seem to be any particular names associated with carnival
egg-throwers or guests throwing eggs at weddings, either. Perhaps
twenty-first century activists will invent a name for the eggers,
hurlers, pelters . . .

Thanks for your nice message - sorry I couldn't say "yes" to the
name/title part of your query.

Leli

Nice job.  Thanks

Here are a few tidbits that may be of interest:

"There is a long and honourable tradition of throwing eggs at
politicians," said former Tory cabinet minister Sir Malcolm Rifkind.

"If egg throwing resulted in violence every time it happened that
would be something which was totally new to British politics and
hugely unfortunate," he said.

http://www.joecalzaghe.net/newsarchive.asp?ID=18

Throwing Eggs at Ministers is Good for Democracy... This, then, is the
age of the egg. When a party's agenda has been set elsewhere, there's
little point in seeking to reason with it. If you want to make a
splash in politics, make it on a politician's suit. Clare Short has
taken receipt of four custard pies, Nick Brown of a chocolate éclair,
Tony Blair of some overripe organic tomatoes. John Prescott was egged
into apoplexy. There's no other way they're going to listen. So say it
with food.

http://www.monbiot.com/dsp_article.cfm?article_id=432

The Edsel was born during the "Eisenhower" recession, which was a
major reason that sales were slow. And, of course, Eisenhower's
vice-president was Richard Nixon... Who rode in an Edsel convertible
in South America in 1958. But he was pelted with eggs and tomatoes and
later blamed it on the Edsel saying "They were throwing eggs at the
car, not me."

http://www.edsel.net/politics.html

Perhaps eggs and tomatoes are typically chosen for throwing because
they are messy, yet safe. I can't imagine tossing a huge vegetable
marrow at a politician. It might kill the poor fellow, and then I
would be in a great deal of trouble. No one ever dies from being
pelted with eggs or tomatoes. ;)

Thanks for the rating and comment, buttfoo. I'm glad you liked the
answer, despite the 'no' to part 2 of your question.

Leli