A new plaque commemorating the return home of four of the six Tolpuddle Martyrs will be unveiled in Plymouth today (Friday).

In conjunction with trade unions and trades union councils from the South West, as well as Plymouth City Council, a new plaque has been commissioned with the artist Clifford Harper.

The new illustrated plaque will be unveiled by Sue Ferns, Trades Union Congress (TUC) president and senior deputy general secretary of Prospect, at the Mayflower Steps, Plymouth Quay, close to where they arrived back in England.

The Tolpuddle Martyrs were six agricultural workers who were sentenced to seven years' penal transportation in Australia for having sworn secret oaths to form a trade union in 1834. The workers were joining together to resist further cuts to their wages.

A campaign to free the martyrs collected an astonishing 800,000 signatures and a huge march was held to parliament to support their cause.

The campaign won and they were pardoned and given the fare to return home - a significant victory for collective bargaining rights, mass campaigns and trade unionism as a whole.

Large numbers of workers in Plymouth met the four on their arrival on March 18, 1838, and a public meeting was held in the town before they headed for a celebration event in London.

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