Arthur Thistlewood
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
conspirator
Conspiracy (political)
In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....
in the Cato Street Conspiracy
Cato Street Conspiracy
The Cato Street Conspiracy was an attempt to murder all the British cabinet ministers and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool in 1820. The name comes from the meeting place near Edgware Road in London. The Cato Street Conspiracy is notable due to dissenting public opinions regarding the punishment of the...
.
Early life
He was born in TupholmeTupholme
Tupholme is a village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is the site of the ruined Tupholme Abbey on the road between Horncastle and Bardney....
the extramarital son of a farmer and stockbreeder. He attended Horncastle Grammar School
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Horncastle
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Horncastle, is a selective, co-educational, foundation status Grammar School and Sixth Form College in the market town of Horncastle, Lincolnshire. In 2003, Queen Elizabeth's gained joint specialist status for science and mathematics inpartnership with Banovallum...
and was trained as a land surveyor. Unsatisfied with his job, he obtained a commission in the army at the age of 21. In January 1804 he married Jane Worsley but she died two years later giving birth to their first child. In 1808 he married Susan Wilkinson. He then quit his commission in the army and, with the help of his father, bought a farm. The farm was not a success and in 1811 he moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Beginning of revolutionary involvement
Travel in FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and the United States of America exposed Thistlewood to revolutionary ideas. Shortly after his return to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, he joined the Society of Spencean Philanthropists in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. By 1816, Thistlewood had become a leader in the organisation, and was labelled a "dangerous character" by police.
Spa Fields
On December 2, 1816, a mass meeting took place at Spa FieldsSpa Fields
Spa Fields is a park, and surrounding area, in the London Borough of Islington in London, bordering Finsbury and Clerkenwell. Historically it is known for the Spa Fields riots of 1816 and an Owenite community which existed there between 1821 and 1824...
. The Spenceans had planned to encourage rioting at this meeting and then seize control of the British government by taking the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
and the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
. Police learned of the plan and dispersed the meeting. Thistlewood and three other leaders were arrested and charged with high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
. When James Watson was acquitted, the authorities released Thistlewood and the others as well.
Lord Sidmouth
When police arrested Thistlewood after the Spa Fields meeting, he had already bought tickets to travel to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Thistlewood wrote to the Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
Lord Sidmouth in 1817 to demand reimbursement. When Sidmouth failed to respond, Thistlewood challenged him to a duel and was imprisoned in Horsham Jail for 12 months.
Cato Street Conspiracy
On February 22, 1820, Thistlewood was one of a small group of Spenceans who decided, at the prompting of George Edwards, to assassinate several members of the British government at a dinner the next day. The group gathered in a loft in the Marylebone area of London, where police officers apprehended the conspirators. Edwards, a police spy, had fabricated the story of the dinner. Thistlewood was convicted of treason for his part in the Cato Street ConspiracyCato Street Conspiracy
The Cato Street Conspiracy was an attempt to murder all the British cabinet ministers and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool in 1820. The name comes from the meeting place near Edgware Road in London. The Cato Street Conspiracy is notable due to dissenting public opinions regarding the punishment of the...
and, together with co-conspirators John Thomas Brunt, William Davidson
William Davidson (conspirator)
William Davidson was an African-Caribbean radical executed by the British government-Early years:Davidson was the illegitimate son of the Jamaican Attorney General and a local black woman. At age fourteen he travelled to Glasgow to study law. In Scotland he became involved in the movement for...
, John Ings and Richard Tidd, was publicly hanged and decapitated outside Newgate Prison on May 1, 1820.