 The matter related to gleaners' rights and arose from a disagreement about gleaning during the 1785 harvest.After the barley crop had been cut and cleared, a Timworth shoemaker, Benjamin Manning, had gone onto the land of John Worlledge, the richest farmer, in the adjoining parish of Ingham, Suffolk to glean and had carried away a quantity of barley.Worlledge disputed his right to do so and brought an action for trespass in the Court of Common Pleas.