This
revolution started at Pentrich, near Ripley in Derbyshire, on the 9th. June
1817, and was
in protest
at unemployment, poor working conditions, and low
wages,
with many
men working a 14 hour day, and hardly earning enough to feed their
families.
Four men, Isaac Ludlam, Thomas Bacon, William
Turner,
and William
Oliver, were the ringleaders, and they recruited Jeremiah
Brandreth
to lead
them. Unbeknown to the others, William Oliver was a
government
spy, and
was acting as an agent provocateur, travelling around the country and
inciting the uprisings, telling the reformers that 70,000 radicals in
London were also planning a revolution on June 9th.
The Pentrich men first planned to march on
Nottingham, and then continue
on to
London, hoping to meet up with, and recruit others on the
way. About 50 men set off from South Wingfield, they
travelled through Ripley,
Codnor,
Langley Mill, and Eastwood, calling at, and drinking in,
various
pubs along
the way, (including the Sun Inn at Eastwood, pictured below).
The Sun Inn :
Eastwood
Brandreth
demanded weapons and men as they passed through the villages, in order to
help fight the revolution. He had also shot and killed a servant, Robert
Walters, at the farm of a Mr. Hepworth, for not complying with his
requests, and later used this killing to intimidate others who
disobeyed his orders, or refused to join the
revolution.
On reaching
Giltbrook, they were now over 300 strong, but they were then confronted by a
troop of the 15th. Hussars Cavalry, who had been despatched from Nottingham,
after being informed of the impending revolution by a magistrate, Lancelot
Rolleston, who had himself ridden to Nottingham, ahead of the rowdy
mob.
The now
drunken rabble, were no match for the Hussars, and were quickly dispersed.
Some fled, and others were arrested. 35 men including Brandreth, Turner, and
Ludlam, were later charged with high
treason.
Brandreth,
Turner, and Ludlam, were sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered, after
being convicted of high treason. The sentence was carried out on the 7th.
November 1817, at Derby. The men were first hung for half an hour, and then
beheaded, the drawing and quartering part of the sentence was not carried
out. 14 others were transported for life to
Australia.
Brandreth loses his
head.
Brandreth, looking remarkably like Dennis, from Eastwood.
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