Who was Captain Swing? What did the name symbolise or represent?

Captain Swing was a mythical person. During the riots to destroy threshing machines and farmhouses, the letters left by the rioters carried the signature of Captain Swing. The name symbolized the protest of poor against the rich farmers and against the new technology. 

Captain Swing was a mythical name used in the threatening letters written by the poor laborers in rural England to the rich farmers telling them to stop using threshing machines or face the consequences. The rich farmers had introduced threshing machines, due to which demand for labour decreased which caused the labourers to become agitated.  The name Captain Swing symbolised or represented the anger of the poor labourers in rural England who wanted return to the pre machine days when human labour was used.