The Brotherhood Of The Beard was founded in 1535 when Henry VIII decreed the wearing of a beard a taxable offence (hypocritically he wore one all the way to his grave).
The Brotherhood started life as a small band of men determined not to allow political pressure or taxation deprive them of there much loved facial hair.
The Brotherhood continued gaining members and support when Queen Elizabeth continued to tax beards, because she didn't much care for them.
In 1642 at the start of the English civil war The Brotherhood fought alongside parliaments New Model Army against the king.
Towards the end of the civil war The Brotherhood aligned themselves with John Lilburne’s Levellers, fighting for freeborn rights and calling for the abolition of corruption within the Parliamentary and judicial process.
The early 19th century saw The Brotherhood join together with a movement known as The Luddites. The Luddites were a social movement of British textile workers who protested — often by destroying mechanized looms - against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which threatened their livelihoods.
During the mid-19th century between 1838 and 1848 Most of the brotherhoods activity was in support of the Chartist movement calling for universal suffrage for all men over the age of 21, equal-sized electoral districts, voting by secret ballot and an end to the need for a property qualification for Parliament.
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