Caroline's Chronicles

pentrich_revolution_272x272

In 2006 I graduated from Nottingham Trent University with a degree in History. I chose to research the so-called ‘Pentrich Revolution’ as it was local to me and I’d looked at it previously when I was at school.

As it’s the 200th anniversary of this event today I thought I’d tweak my dissertation introduction and publish it on my blog.

To give a bit of context – The years preceding 1817 were becoming increasingly tense. Nottingham had seen the beginnings of machine-breaking riots known as Luddite Riots in 1811. The Luddites were hosiery & textile workers who saw new factory machinery as being responsible for the drop in textile prices thereby reducing their income and putting some out of work altogether. Factories were attacked and machinery broken up with sledgehammers. The Government, already nervous about working class rebellion following the French revolution, responded by making machine breaking punishable by death. The movement spread to Yorkshire and Lancashire but was all but over by 1813 although the economic distress for the framework knitters continued.

A rise in political awareness can also be seen in this period. The Hampden Clubs, founded by Major John Cartwright as a base for petitioning for a fairer voting franchise, were becoming very popular amongst the working class and had developed into a countrywide network, causing more concern for the Government. A Club meeting at Spa Fields Clerkenwell ended in a riot in November 1816 which led to the Government clamping down further, suspending the Habeas Corpus Act, which mean that any person considered to be seditious could now be held indefinitely without trial. This forced the Clubs underground and the meetings continued. They spread the idea that working class distress was not purely down to new machinery, but was caused and could be alleviated by, the political process; a switch away from machine breaking to attacking the Government & its policies.

Food prices were also causing major hardship in both urban and rural areas. This had led to countrywide rioting in the two years preceding the Pentrich uprising and was exacerbated by the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia in 1815. This remains the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. It led to a cold, wet summer across Europe which had a catastrophic effect on crops, pushing prices up even further.

So the scene was set for an uprising……

The Pentrich Revolution

… to go a revolutioning …[1]

Friday, 7^th November 1817 saw Friar Gate, in Derby, crowded with up to six thousand people in anticipation of the execution of three men; Jeremiah Brandreth, Isaac Ludlam and William Turner.    Found guilty of High Treason, their sentence was to be hung, drawn and quartered; later reduced to hanging and beheading. The executions the Derby crowd witnessed that day were the result of the ‘Pentrich Revolution’ or uprising, of 9^th June 1817, which saw approximately three hundred men leave their homes in Pentrich, Derbyshire, with the intention of marching to London to overthrow the Government.[2]

The origin of the uprising can be found in the Hampden Club delegates, particularly Thomas Bacon; the founder of the Pentrich and Ripley branches. A Pentrich man, Bacon had been a well known local leader for some years, working as both a frame-work knitter and an iron-dresser at the local Butterley Iron Works. Known to many as “Old Tommy” or “the old man”[3], he was aged approximately sixty-five.[4]    He was well known by the authorities, having been: ‘at the head of a Luddite party in Pentrich and Swanwick which did considerable mischief in those places.’[5] As a delegate, Bacon travelled to the Hampden Club rally at the Crown and Anchor in London in January 1817. He was also a frequent visitor to club meetings in Nottingham, Leicester, Manchester, Sheffield and Wakefield.[6] By May 1817, he was chairing meetings at Asherfields Barn in Pentrich; organising the uprising and discussing how they would proceed.   Following a trip to Nottingham on the 5^th June, Bacon returned with the man he said would lead the march from Pentrich; Jeremiah Brandreth. Bacon himself did not take part in the march.

Brandreth, aged approximately thirty, was a married framework knitter, out of work due to his speciality, the Derby rib, being out of fashion. He and his family had been moved from Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire to Wilford, his birthplace, in Nottingham under the Poor Law Act in September 1812.[7]    Brandreth’s epithet, “The Nottingham Captain” may originate either from his previous military service[8] past Luddite connections.[9]

On the 8^th June, a meeting was held at The White Horse Inn, Pentrich,[10] in which: ‘there was a general conference as to what proceedings were to be taken for the over- turning of the Government.’[11] The marchers were to go to Nottingham first, which would already have been taken by the revolutionaries there; they would then march onto London to form a new Government. Brandreth produced a map, and his “battle song:”

Every man his skill must try,
He must turn out and not deny;
No bloody soldier must he dread,
He must turn out and fight for bread;
The time has come you plainly see,
The Government opposed must be.[12]

Present at the meeting were William Turner, Isaac Ludlam and George Weightman, who were also to face trial with Brandreth in October as leaders of the rising.[13]   Bacon was notable by his absence. Brandreth: ‘had heard there was a warrant out against Bacon on the account of the insurrection and that Bacon was aware of it.’[14] So Bacon had gone into hiding: ‘in James Booth’s hovel,’[15] to avoid arrest, and took no further part.

Also present at the meeting were Shirley Asbury and Anthony Martin, local men acting as special constables. The meeting was quite unguarded even after the constables were discovered to be there:

(Martin) was there listening to the discourse – they spoke openly. He told them to mind, there were constables in the room and they threatened to put him up the chimney. Nobody called him a spy, nor did they object to his company.[16]

But the authorities already knew about the planned insurrection thanks to a network of informers including Henry Sampson in Nottingham and Thomas Bradley in Sheffield.   Nottingham’s town clerk, Henry Enfield, already had local troops on alert after receiving reports from Sampson.[17] Constables Asbury and Martin were among over one hundred men sworn in as special constables in Ripley market place as the authorities responded to the information received from local informers.

The most notorious of the informers however, was William Oliver, who came to be known as “Oliver the Spy.”[18] He was recently out of debtors’ prison and had written to Lord Sidmouth, the Home Secretary, requesting work as an agent.[19] Once engaged, Oliver travelled the country, infiltrating various Hampden clubs and radical meetings.[20] Though he did not visit Pentrich itself, he did have contact with Bacon and possibly with Brandreth though this has not been ascertained with any certainty.

The March

On the night of 9^th June, the marchers, led by Brandreth gathered at Hunt’s Barn, near South Wingfield. A few were carrying pistols, but most were armed with homemade weapons such as: ‘old files or chisels sharpened and attached to handles of considerable length.’[21] The men went from house to house to gather more men and arms, with varying success. Some were keen to go, such as Samuel Hunt who; ‘brought out bread and cheese and told them to eat what they liked and he would dress and go with them,’[22] while others were much less so, such as Elijah Hall Jnr. whom Brandreth: ‘brought down (stairs) with him and forced him to accompany them. He went very unwillingly.’[23] By this time, Weightman had already left for Nottingham ahead of the others on a horse “borrowed” from William Booth, in order to check on the progress of any rising there.

Their visit to Mary Hepworth’s house saw the only fatality of the march, her servant, Robert Walters: ‘was sitting upon a chair opposite the window, apparently lacing his boots at the time of the firing: he was wounded in the neck.’[24] Brandreth was apparently responsible for the shooting, but was never charged.

As well as recruiting from local houses, it was also the intention to take possession of the Butterley Iron Works in Ripley, obtaining both men and arms. Already well behind schedule they arrived at the Butterley works at 3am, the time by which they were expected in Nottingham. George Goodwin, the Butterley manager, approached the men he knew and: ‘went out amongst them and expostulated with them and pushing them round by the shoulder bid them get home or they would all get hanged.’[25] Three of the younger marchers deserted, hiding in Goodwin’s office, upon which Brandreth gave the order to march and led his men away.[26]

The insurrectionists continued on to Codnor, calling at more houses on the way, with more threats of violence. Once at Codnor, they called at three pubs; The Glass House, The French Horn and the New Inn, running up a bill at each and refusing to pay. When faced with his bill at The Glass House, Brandreth said: ‘if we offer you a Bank of England bill it will be of no use now.’[27] Heading on to Langley Mill, in the now pouring rain many of the forced marchers were deserting. Those who had gathered at the very beginning of the march had already travelled around twelve miles. At this point Weightman reappeared and told Brandreth and the group to: ‘push on lads, they are all safe in Nottingham, the town’s taken and the soldiers dare not come out of the Barracks.’[28] The group, now diminished by two-thirds, stopped at The Junction Navigation Inn in Langley Mill, once again ordering beer and leaving without paying. After marching up to Eastwood, with yet more men deserting, there was a further stop at The Sun for more beer.

The march ended just outside Kimberley on the outskirts of Nottingham by the Gilt Brook, where the remaining marchers fled at the sight of the local magistrates accompanied by Captain Frederick Philipson and his 15^th Regiment of Light Dragoons. There were only eighteen mounted soldiers, but it was enough to cause panic amongst the marchers and they fled, throwing down their arms.

The Aftermath

Approximately forty of the insurrectionists were captured in the following twenty-four hours, with more following in later days, filling both Derby and Nottingham gaols. The ringleaders including Bacon were apprehended later; Brandreth after a reward was offered for his capture.[29] Imprisoned in Derby gaol, they were charged with High Treason, and the trial date was set for October.

Responsible for the prosecution of the prisoners was the Derby solicitor William Jeffrey Lockett, while the two lawyers for the defence were John Cross and Thomas Denman. The trial was arranged so Brandreth was tried alone first, followed by Turner, Ludlam and Weightman. Denman intended to prove that the uprising was merely a riot, but when Brandreth was found guilty, Denman’s defence of the others placed more emphasis on the influence of Brandreth on the mob.

There was no mention of Oliver at the trial other than veiled references to him by the defence.[30] His tour of the northern Hampden Clubs had brought him into contact with many of those discussing a general rising, most notably Thomas Bacon. By the time of the trial Oliver’s role as an informer had been exposed in the Leeds Mercury by Edward Baines, in an article that not only revealed his role as an informer but also denounced him as an agent provocateur. This caused widespread condemnation, a debate in the House of Commons and subsequently led to the collapse of two trials[31] as the jury were reluctant to convict on the evidence of informers. Anxious to avoid a similar collapse in Derby, the prosecution made no reference to Oliver, concentrating on events after the 8^th June, when Oliver was already back in London.

Brandreth, Ludlam, Turner and Weightman were all found guilty and sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered.   However, the sentence was later commuted to hanging until dead and then beheading, and for Weightman it was commuted to transportation for life. A further nineteen prisoners, including Bacon, changed their pleas to guilty and were sentenced to either transportation or imprisonment. The remaining twelve, including Ludlam’s sons, Isaac and William, were released, as the prosecution declined to offer any evidence against them. [32]

On the day of execution, each prisoner was dragged around the prison yard on a hurdle, and then taken to the scaffold. As was custom, the men were permitted to speak. Brandreth exclaimed; ‘God be with you all and Lord Castlereagh,’ though some witnesses suggest he said: ‘and all but Lord Castlereagh,’ which is more probable. Ludlam added; ‘I pray God bless you all – and the King upon his throne.’ But Turner cried: ‘this is all Oliver and the Government, the Lord have mercy on my soul.’[33] There is some suggestion that the chaplain Reverend Pickering prevented any further controversial remarks by moving in front of Turner. Following the executions they were buried in an unmarked corner of St. Werburgh’s churchyard, Derby.

Following the trial, many of those involved in the march, despite being reprieved, found themselves evicted by the Duke of Devonshire’s agent, or their rents increased to a level they could no longer afford. Ann Weightman lost her licence and was evicted from the White Horse, which was then demolished. The 1821 Census return notes: ‘The population has decreased by one-third in the Township of Pentrich since 1811; which is said to be owing to the insurrection which took place there in 1817, in consequence of which the Duke of Devonshire’s agents destroyed many of the houses.’[34]

[1] The National Archive (hereafter TNA) TS/11/132 Collated Evidence

[2] Unless otherwise stated, the narrative account is derived from the following:

Garner. ‘Rising at Pentrich’ in Hanged For Three Pennies – The Story of Capital Punishment in Derbyshire E. Garner (Derby: Breedon Books Ltd, 2000)

Sinar. Pentrich Revolution (Derby: Publisher Unknown, c1967)

Stevens. England’s Last Revolution Pentrich 1817 (Buxton: Moorland Publishing Company, 1977)

[3] TNA TS/11/132 Collated Evidence

[4] S Bamford. Passages in the Life of a Radical (London: Macgibbon & Kee Ltd, 1967) p117 Bacon is described by Bamford as: ‘an aged grey-headed man, stooping beneath probably seventy years; his venerable locks hanging to his shoulders.’

[5] TNA TS/11/132 Trial Brief

[6] M. Thomis. ‘The Guilt of Thomas Bacon of Pentrich’ in The Derbyshire Archaeological Journal (Vol. XCIV 1974)

[7] Removal order of Jeremiah Brandreth. ‘ These are therefore in his Majesty’s Name to will and require you, the Church wardens and overseers of the Poor of the said Parish of Sutton-in-Ashfield in the said county of Nottingham, forthwith to remove and convey the said Jeremiah Brandreth, Ann his wife and Elizabeth and Timothy their children from and out of your said Parish unto the said Parish of Wilford in the County of Nottingham aforesaid, and deliver them unto the Church wardens and Overseers of the Poor there.’ Derbyshire Record Office (hereafter DRO) D1667/Z/21

On his arrival in Pentrich, Ormond Booth, a local stockinger, noted that; ‘(Brandreth) appeared rather ill-looking, a person having a large nose with a thin face and yellowish complexion.’ Howell’s State Trials Vol. 32 (1824) cited in Stevens, England’s Last Revolution 1977. p23

[8] DRO D1667/Z/74 Execution Broadside

[9] Stevens, Op Cit. p103

[10] The Licensee of The White Horse was Ann Weightman, mother of George and

sister of Thomas Bacon. It was said at the time that Weightman’s mother was a: ‘bitch who deserves hanging more than most.’ See HO/42/171 Anonymous character assessment. Cited in Stevens. Op. Cit p97

[11] DRO D487/Z/21 The Courier Trial Report October 25^th 1817

[12] Howell’s State Trials Vol 32 . Cited in Stevens. Op. Cit. p23

[13] Turner was forty-six, a stonemason and former soldier from South Wingfield. Ludlam, at fifty-two one of the oldest of the marchers, was the part owner of a quarry near Pentrich and a Methodist preacher. Weightman was twenty-six, a sawyer who also worked behind the bar at The White Horse.

[14] TNA HO/42/166 Henry Sampson’s letter to Henry Enfield. June 5^th 1817

[15] TNA TS/11/132 Collated Evidence

[16] DRO D487/Z/21 The Courier Trial Report October 25^th 1817 When asked at the trial why he did not go to the authorities with information following the meeting, Martin said he: ‘durst not; they were talking about shooting any man that would say anything against them.’

[17] ‘Henry Enfield’s Accounts’ in Records of the Borough of Nottingham Vol VIII 1800-1835 (Nottingham: Corporation of Nottingham. 1952) p223

June 7^th: Engaged all day with magistrates concerting means for preventing and suppressing an expected insurrection of the populace in this town and neighbourhood.

June 8^th: Engaged in like manner this day and all night.

June 9^th: The like this day and night

[18] Also known as W.J. Richards, Hollis and W.O. Jones, he was described by Bacon as: ‘a well-dressed and a tall good-looking fellow of good address.’ NA M 1002/3 Thomas Bacon’s statement

[19] TNA HO/40/10 Oliver’s letter to Lord Sidmouth March 28^th 1817 Cited in Stevens. Op.Cit. p35

[20] For details of Oliver’s two tours taking in Birmingham, Sheffield, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham and others see J.L. Hammond & B. Hammond, The Skilled Labourer (London: Longman Group Ltd. 1979) pp288-289

[21] DRO D1667/Z/40 Letter from Robert Leeson to Duke of Newcastle June 10^th 1817

[22] DRO D487/Z/21 The Courier Trial Report October 25^th 1817

[23] Idem.

[24] Idem.

[25] HO/42/167 Goodwin’s letter to Josias Jessop his employer’s brother. 16/6/1817

[26] Idem.

[27] TS/11/132 Collated Evidence

[28] Idem. Weightman later explained that he had not been to Nottingham, but met a man part way there who told him that Nottingham was taken.

[29] Turner was caught almost immediately in Codnor; Ludlam was found in Uttoxeter weeks later; Weightman was caught in Eccleston, near Sheffield after five weeks, (hidden by the Wolstenhulme family, relatives of Hugh Wolstenhulme – the curate of Pentrich) and Bacon was arrested, with his brother John, at St. Ives in Huntingdonshire. Brandreth firstly went to his sister’s house in Brighton, then twice tried to board ships to America from Bristol, but was recognised. Eventually, he went back to Nottingham, to hide with Sampson, who, acting as the magistrate Enfield’s agent, turned him in.

[30] DRO D1667/Z/55 Thomas Denman’s Closing Speech at the Trial October 1817. ‘It is clear that this leader (Brandreth) was himself deceived, and that he was also in other hands; why are those hands kept invisible? Why is a veil still spread before the mysterious machinery which set the lower agents in motion.’

[31] The trial of Watson, Hooper, Thistlewood & Preston in June, and the Folly Hall trial in July, which attempted a prosecution of the small number in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, who also attempted to rise on the 9^th June 1817.

[32] See Appendix – List of Prisoners p66

[33] DRO D1667/Z/77 Execution Broadside

[34] DRO D1667/Z/65 Abstract of Census Returns for Pentrich 1821

Appendix

THE PENTRICH INSURRECTIONISTS OF 1817

THE EXECUTED

Name          Age          Occupation          Resides at

Jeremiah Brandreth 27yrs FWK Labourer Sutton-in-Ashfield

Isaac Ludlam the Elder 52yrs, Stonegetter South Wingfield

William Turner 46yrs, Stonemason South Wingfield

THE TRANSPORTED FOR LIFE

Name          Age          Occupation          Resides at

Thomas Bacon 64yrs, FWK Labourer Pentrich

John Bacon 54yrs, FWK Labourer Pentrich

George Brassington 33yrs Miner Labourer Pentrich/Ripley

German Buxton 31yrs Miner Labourer Alfreton / Swanwick

John Hill 29yrs FWK Labourer South Wingfield

Samuel Hunt 22yrs Farmer Labourer of the Lodge, South Wingfield

John McKesswick alias the Scotchman 37yrs FWK Labourer Heanor

John Onion Snr. 49yrs Iron Worker Labourer Pentrich

Edward Turner 31yrs Stonemason Farmer South Wingfield

Joseph “Manchester” Turner 18yrs Clerk South Wingfield

George Weightman 25yrs Sawyer Labourer Pentrich

FOR 14 YEARS

Name          Age          Occupation          Resides at

Thomas Bettison 35yrs Miner Labourer Alfreton/Swanwick

Josiah Godber 53yrs Labourer Collier Pentrich

Joseph Rawson/ alias Joseph Thorpe 30yrs FWK Labourer Alfreton/Swanwick

THE JAILED

2 YEARS

Name          Age          Occupation          Resides at

John Moore 49yrs FWK Labourer Pentrich

1 YEAR

Edward Moore 27yrs Shoemaker Labourer Pentrich/Ripley

William Weightman 27yrs Labourer Farmer Pentrich

6 MONTHS

William Hardwick 24yrs Collier Labourer Pentrich/Newhall nr Burton on Trent

Alexander Johnson 24yrs Labourer F.W.K. Pentrich

Charles Swaine 33yrs FWK Labourer South Wingfield Park

THE INSURGENTS

TRIED & FREED

Name          Age          Occupation          Resides at

William Adams 20yrs Collier Labourer – Pentrich /Newark, worked Ripley

Thomas Ensor Jnr Engine Man Labourer – Pentrich/Ripley

Isaac Ludlam Jnr. 20yrs Labourer South Wingfield Park

Samuel Ludlam 32yrs F.W.K. Labourer – South Wingfield

William Ludlam 23yrs Labourer – South Wingfield

Joseph Savage 41yrs Foundry Man Labourer – Pentrich/Butterley

Joseph Topham 20yrs Blacksmith Pentrich

Robert Turner 17yrs F.W.K. Labourer Pentrich Lane/South Wingfield

James Weightman 18yrs Labourer – Pentrich

Joseph Weightman Jnr. 15yrs Labourer – Pentrich

Thomas Weightman 18yrs Labourer – Pentrich

John Wright 21yrs Collier Labourer Pentrich/Ripley

CHARGED BUT NEVER TRIED

Name          Age          Occupation          Resides at

William Barker Labourer – South Wingfield

James Barnes F.W.K. Labourer – Swanwick/Alfreton

Samuel Briddon Labourer – South Wingfield

William Elliott Labourer – Swanwick/Alfreton

Edward Haslem F.W.K. Labourer – Swanwick/Alfreton

John Horsley Tailor – Alfreton

Benjamin Taylor Labourer – South Wingfield

James Taylor F.W.K. Labourer – South Wingfield

Joseph Taylor Labourer – South Wingfield

Samuel Walters/ alias Dudley Labourer – Pentrich

Joseph Weightman Snr. Labourer – Pentrich

APPREHENDED, RELEASED

Name          Age          Occupation          Resides at

Henry Alkin 16yrs Foundry Man Ripley

George Bacon Alfreton

Amos Ball 20yrs FWK Loscoe

George Bryan 19yrs FWK – Swanwick

George Burrows 44yrs Stockinger Ripley

Anthony Elliott 20yrs Collier – Swanwick

Jonathan Elliott Swanwick

John Fletcher 32yrs

William Flint – 57yrs Collier

Francis Grooby 32yrs FWK – Langley Mill

Joseph Hall 24yrs Swanwick Cordwainer

Joseph Harris 23yrs FWK Ripley

Daniel Hunt

Nathaniel Jennings 22yrs FWK South Wingfield

George Jepson – 24yrs Labourer Greenwich

Isaac Moore 40yrs Pentrich Lane End Stonemason

Robert Moore 22yrs Carpenter Ripley (

Benjamin Onions 30yrs Foundry Man/ Moulder Butterley

George Rhodes Loscoe FWK

Edward Robinson 21yrs Stonemason Swanwick

James Robinson 34yrs – Cordwainer Swanwick

Francis Rawson 24yrs FWK – Swanwick

Thomas Turner 22yrs F.W.K. South Wingfield

MARCHED, INCLUDING THOSE WHO WERE FORCED

The following men are all recorded in the depositions

John Alkin Ripley

George Alton Labourer Ripley

Thomas Alton Wingfield

William Alton Labourer Ripley

George Anthony Ripley

William Anthony Ripley

Jeremiah Bacon Pentrich

Miles Bacon

Joseph Bailey Ripley

Barratt of Swanwick Labourer/Hawker

Samuel Barratt Pentrich

Jesse Birkhamshaw Ilkeston

William Blount F.W.K. Ripley

William Blount Greenwich, Ripley

John Boler F.W.K. Wingfield

Charles Booth

George Booth Mosley

John Booth Ripley

John Bradley Pentrich

James Bramley Pentrich

George Bramley Wingley

Richard Bramley South Wingfield

William Bramley Swanwick

George Breedon Collier – Swanwick

Frances Briddon Wingfield

Edward Briggs

Robert Briggs

Thomas Brown Pentrich

William Brown

John Carter Aldercar

Edmund Cocker Pentrich

John Cope

James Daykin Collier Swanwick

John Dexter Servant Buckland, Heage

David Elliott Pentrich

Henry Elliott Swanwick

John Elliott Swanwick

Thomas Elliott Swanwick

George Frost Butterley

Thomas Gaunt Wingfield

Robert Godber Labourer Ripley

Edward Hall Swanwick

Edward Hall Jnr Swanwick

John Hall Swanwick

William Hall Swanwick

William Hardy Aldercar

James Hill F.W.K. South Wingfield

Henry Hole

James Hopkinson

John Howitt Heanor

Gregory Isaac Blacksmith Ripley

Abraham James

Joseph James

Samuel James

Thomas Masland Wingfield

Joseph Mather Swanwick

John Moore Jnr.

Thomas Moore – Ripley

John Onion Jnr. – Iron Moulder Butterley

William Peach Swanwick

Thomas Rawson

Samuel Rawson F.W.K Swanwick

James Saint F.W.K. Ripley

John Sellars F.W.K. Pentrich

Samuel Sellars Alfreton

William Smith

John Spencer

John Storer Farmer Pentrich

Joseph Swaine Wingfield

Alfreton Taylor

John Taylor Wingfield

James Turner Pentrich Lane End

Joseph Turner (not Manchester) Wingfield

Robert Turner F.W.K. – South Wingfield

Samuel Turner Wingfield

William Turner Pentrich Lane End

Joseph Turton Ripley

Job Thompson Pentrich

John Walker F.W.K. South Wingfield

William Walker F.W.K. South Wingfield

Charles Walters

Enoch Walters Pentrich

Jeremiah Walters Pentrich

Samuel Walters Collier – Pentrich

Tristram Walters

William Walters Pentrich

William Walters Collier Pentrich

Joel Waters Collier Pentrich

John Waters Collier Pentrich

Ned White Codnor

Joseph Wilkinson Labourer South Wingfield

William Williams Swanwick

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[1] The National Archive (hereafter TNA) TS/11/132 Collated Evidence

[2] Unless otherwise stated, the narrative account is derived from the following:

Garner. ‘Rising at Pentrich’ in Hanged For Three Pennies – The Story of Capital Punishment in Derbyshire E. Garner (Derby: Breedon Books Ltd, 2000)

Sinar. Pentrich Revolution (Derby: Publisher Unknown, c1967)

Stevens. England’s Last Revolution Pentrich 1817 (Buxton: Moorland Publishing Company, 1977)

[3] TNA TS/11/132 Collated Evidence

[4] S Bamford. Passages in the Life of a Radical (London: Macgibbon & Kee Ltd, 1967) p117 Bacon is described by Bamford as: ‘an aged grey-headed man, stooping beneath probably seventy years; his venerable locks hanging to his shoulders.’

[5] TNA TS/11/132 Trial Brief

[6] M. Thomis. ‘The Guilt of Thomas Bacon of Pentrich’ in The Derbyshire Archaeological Journal (Vol. XCIV 1974)

On his arrival in Pentrich, Ormond Booth, a local stockinger, noted that; ‘(Brandreth) appeared rather ill-looking, a person having a large nose with a thin face and yellowish complexion.’ Howell’s State Trials Vol. 32 (1824) cited in Stevens, England’s Last Revolution 1977. p23

[8] DRO D1667/Z/74 Execution Broadside

[9] Stevens, Op Cit. p103

[10] The Licensee of The White Horse was Ann Weightman, mother of George and

sister of Thomas Bacon. It was said at the time that Weightman’s mother was a: ‘bitch who deserves hanging more than most.’ See HO/42/171 Anonymous character assessment. Cited in Stevens. Op. Cit p97

[11] DRO D487/Z/21 The Courier Trial Report October 25th 1817

[12] Howell’s State Trials Vol 32 . Cited in Stevens. Op. Cit. p23

[13] Turner was forty-six, a stonemason and former soldier from South Wingfield. Ludlam, at fifty-two one of the oldest of the marchers, was the part owner of a quarry near Pentrich and a Methodist preacher. Weightman was twenty-six, a sawyer who also worked behind the bar at The White Horse.

[14] TNA HO/42/166 Henry Sampson’s letter to Henry Enfield. June 5th 1817

[15] TNA TS/11/132 Collated Evidence

[16] DRO D487/Z/21 The Courier Trial Report October 25th 1817 When asked at the trial why he did not go to the authorities with information following the meeting, Martin said he: ‘durst not; they were talking about shooting any man that would say anything against them.’

[17] ‘Henry Enfield’s Accounts’ in Records of the Borough of Nottingham Vol VIII 1800-1835 (Nottingham: Corporation of Nottingham. 1952) p223

June 7th: Engaged all day with magistrates concerting means for preventing and suppressing an expected insurrection of the populace in this town and neighbourhood.

June 8th: Engaged in like manner this day and all night.

June 9th: The like this day and night

[18] Also known as W.J. Richards, Hollis and W.O. Jones, he was described by Bacon as: ‘a well-dressed and a tall good-looking fellow of good address.’ NA M 1002/3 Thomas Bacon’s statement

[19] TNA HO/40/10 Oliver’s letter to Lord Sidmouth March 28th 1817 Cited in Stevens. Op.Cit. p35

[20] For details of Oliver’s two tours taking in Birmingham, Sheffield, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham and others see J.L. Hammond & B. Hammond, The Skilled Labourer (London: Longman Group Ltd. 1979) pp288-289

[21] DRO D1667/Z/40 Letter from Robert Leeson to Duke of Newcastle June 10th 1817

[22] DRO D487/Z/21 The Courier Trial Report October 25th 1817

[23] Idem.

[24] Idem.

[25] HO/42/167 Goodwin’s letter to Josias Jessop his employer’s brother. 16/6/1817

[26] Idem.

[27] TS/11/132 Collated Evidence

[28] Idem. Weightman later explained that he had not been to Nottingham, but met a man part way there who told him that Nottingham was taken.

[31] The trial of Watson, Hooper, Thistlewood & Preston in June, and the Folly Hall trial in July, which attempted a prosecution of the small number in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, who also attempted to rise on the 9th June 1817.

[32] See Appendix – List of Prisoners p66

[33] DRO D1667/Z/77 Execution Broadside

[34] DRO D1667/Z/65 Abstract of Census Returns for Pentrich 1821

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[11] DRO D487/Z/21 The Courier Trial Report October 25^th 1817

[14] TNA HO/42/166 Henry Sampson’s letter to Henry Enfield. June 5^th 1817

[16] DRO D487/Z/21 The Courier Trial Report October 25^th 1817 When asked at the trial why he did not go to the authorities with information following the meeting, Martin said he: ‘durst not; they were talking about shooting any man that would say anything against them.’

June 7^th: Engaged all day with magistrates concerting means for preventing and suppressing an expected insurrection of the populace in this town and neighbourhood.

June 8^th: Engaged in like manner this day and all night.

June 9^th: The like this day and night

[19] TNA HO/40/10 Oliver’s letter to Lord Sidmouth March 28^th 1817 Cited in Stevens. Op.Cit. p35

[21] DRO D1667/Z/40 Letter from Robert Leeson to Duke of Newcastle June 10^th 1817

[22] DRO D487/Z/21 The Courier Trial Report October 25^th 1817

[31] The trial of Watson, Hooper, Thistlewood & Preston in June, and the Folly Hall trial in July, which attempted a prosecution of the small number in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, who also attempted to rise on the 9^th June 1817.