William Skirving
Encyclopedia
William Skirving was one of the five Scottish Martyrs for Liberty. Active in the cause of universal franchise and other reforms inspired by the French Revolution
, they were convicted of sedition
in 1793-94, and sentenced to transportation
to New South Wales
.
(a branch of Presbyterianism). On graduation he studied divinity for a short time before changing direction and taking up a position as a tutor in a private household, and then leasing land to farm at Damhead.
In 1775 he married Rachel Abercrombie (b. 1848) the only child of Andrew Abercrombie, who had been a farmer and merchant in Fife. William set about farming in Strathruddy, Fife, on land Rachel had inherited from her father. In the same year, William’s father passed on to him some of his tacks (leased lands), and in the following year William senior died. William and Rachel had two sons William (b. 1779) and Alexander (b. 1782).
In 1792 he moved to Edinburgh and published a manual of husbandry. He had hopes of obtaining the Chair in Agriculture at Edinburgh University but was unsuccessful.
an organisation of Radical Whigs
and other reformers inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution. In December 1792, when the Edinburgh Society held its first political convention, he was appointed general secretary to the convention. At that time, the only precedents for such conventions were in the French and American Revolutions. The Friends of the People called for universal suffrage, annual elections and were seeking to make contact with like-minded groups such as the United Irishmen. Although the Society made a point of saying that they were not advocating riot, revolution or republicanism, but wanted to work for Parliamentary change, their ideas were nonetheless highly threatening to the British Government, which had managed to resist much more moderate changes supported by the Whigs. Thomas Muir, a young lawyer who was Vice President to the Convention, and the voice of the radical faction, was charged with sedition, partly on the grounds of reading aloud an address from a representative of the United Irishmen. When the next convention was held, the Reverend Thomas Fyshe Palmer
who had taken on Muir’s role, was arrested. The charge against him was preparing for publication and circulating a pamphlet written by George Mealmaker
. William Skirving remained as secretary through these arrests and arranged for the publication an account of the trial of Thomas Fyshe Palmer.
By the third convention, Whig members of Parliament, lawyers and other upper middle class supporters had abandoned the Societies in fear, in both Edinburgh and London. The third convention was made a national convention and attended by representatives from the English societies for Friends of the People, as well as members of the Corresponding societies
. This created a more radical atmosphere, with the representatives adopting the title Citizen, and so on. Despite the rhetoric, it was clear that the Government was successfully crushing the Friends of the People and at the same time forestalling once again any of the much more moderate reforms to entrenched privilege which had been advocated by the Whigs (and which would benefit Whigs electorally). At this convention, Frenchman Maurice Margarot
, the President of the London Corresponding Society, Englishman Joseph Gerrald
, and Skirving were arrested. Skirving was charged with circulating the seditious pamphlet that Fyshe Palmer had prepared for publication and with organising seditious associations and meetings (through his role as secretary). After a trial on 6–7 January he was sentenced to fourteen years transportation.
and in February was sent on board the convict transport Surprize with Fyshe Palmer, Margarot and Muir. (Gerrald remained in prison and was sent out on a later ship). They remained waiting on board the Surprize until it sailed in May. They were all allowed to purchase cabin space and other amenities for the voyage. Margarot’s wife accompanied him to New South Wales, at the government’s expense. Some associates of Fyshe Palmer travelled on the ship as free settlers.
During the voyage, the vessel’s master Captain Campbell claimed that he had detected a plot for murder and mutiny with the aim of sailing to France and that Fyshe Palmer and Skirving were ringleaders. In contrast, he praised Margarot, and Fyshe Palmer claimed that Margarot had been influenced to give false testimony. Campbell ordered Fyshe Palmer and Skirving to be confined together in a small cabin without any of the amenities they had paid for and minus their personal effects. Ordinary convicts accused of being part of this conspiracy were flogged and kept in chains.
Skirving and Fyshe Palmer wrote to the Governor of New South Wales protesting their innocence and accusing Captain Campbell of conspiring against them. The whole matter was dropped on arrival: no charges were laid against Fyshe Palmer and Skirving, or against Campbell. Fyshe Palmer wrote an account of the voyage which was taken back to England by the colony’s surgeon John White and prepared for publication by Palmer’s friend Jeremiah Joyce.
Skirving acquired pieces of land from various people to put together a holding of about 100 acre (0.404686 km²) at Petershem where he applied himself with vigor to farming. According to Collins, he was disappointed that expected remittances from supporters in Britain did not arrive, leaving him with some debts, and he was unsuccessful in his farming efforts. He became homesick for wife and family, and his health declined. He suffered a bout of yellow fever around January 1796 and died of dysentery in March.
Joseph Hume
suggested that twin memorials be built for the Scottish Martyrs in Edinburgh and London, and subscriptions began to be collected. He laid the first stone of the Edinburgh monument in 1844 and of the British monument in 1852. Hume was at the time the main Parliamentary supporter of universal suffrage. The plaque on the Edinburgh memorial reads that the monument was erected 'by the Friends of Parliamentary Reform'. The Edinburgh memorial is a tall obelisk in the Old Calton Cemetery
while the London memorial is a 33 ft (10.1 m) high obelisk in Nungate cemetery.
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, they were convicted of sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
in 1793-94, and sentenced to transportation
Penal transportation
Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...
to New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
.
Early life and farming
William Skirving was born about 1745 in Liberton, near Edinburgh to William Skirving, a farmer, and his wife (probably Margaret, née Bryden). He was educated at Haddington grammar school and at Edinburgh University, originally with a view to the ministry in the Burgher Secession ChurchUnited Secession Church
The United Secession Church was a Scottish Presbyterian denomination. It was founded in 1820 by a union of various churches which had seceded from the established Church of Scotland and existed until 1847....
(a branch of Presbyterianism). On graduation he studied divinity for a short time before changing direction and taking up a position as a tutor in a private household, and then leasing land to farm at Damhead.
In 1775 he married Rachel Abercrombie (b. 1848) the only child of Andrew Abercrombie, who had been a farmer and merchant in Fife. William set about farming in Strathruddy, Fife, on land Rachel had inherited from her father. In the same year, William’s father passed on to him some of his tacks (leased lands), and in the following year William senior died. William and Rachel had two sons William (b. 1779) and Alexander (b. 1782).
In 1792 he moved to Edinburgh and published a manual of husbandry. He had hopes of obtaining the Chair in Agriculture at Edinburgh University but was unsuccessful.
A Friend of the People
In 1792 he also became active in setting up the Edinburgh Society of Friends of the PeopleFriends of the People Society
The Society of the Friends of the People was formed in Great Britain by Whigs at the end of the 18th century as part of a movement seeking radical political reform that would widen electoral enfranchisement at a time when only a wealthy minority had the vote...
an organisation of Radical Whigs
Radical Whigs
The Radical Whigs were "a group of British political commentators" associated with the British Whig faction who were at the forefront of Radicalism...
and other reformers inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution. In December 1792, when the Edinburgh Society held its first political convention, he was appointed general secretary to the convention. At that time, the only precedents for such conventions were in the French and American Revolutions. The Friends of the People called for universal suffrage, annual elections and were seeking to make contact with like-minded groups such as the United Irishmen. Although the Society made a point of saying that they were not advocating riot, revolution or republicanism, but wanted to work for Parliamentary change, their ideas were nonetheless highly threatening to the British Government, which had managed to resist much more moderate changes supported by the Whigs. Thomas Muir, a young lawyer who was Vice President to the Convention, and the voice of the radical faction, was charged with sedition, partly on the grounds of reading aloud an address from a representative of the United Irishmen. When the next convention was held, the Reverend Thomas Fyshe Palmer
Thomas Fyshe Palmer
Thomas Fyshe Palmer was an English-born Unitarian minister, political reformer and political exile.-Early life:Palmer was born in Ickwell, Bedfordshire, England, the son of Henry Fyshe who assumed the added name of Palmer because of an inheritance, and Elizabeth, daughter of James Ingram of...
who had taken on Muir’s role, was arrested. The charge against him was preparing for publication and circulating a pamphlet written by George Mealmaker
George Mealmaker
George Mealmaker was a Scottish radical organiser and writer, born in Dundee, Scotland. Like his father before him he was a weaver by trade....
. William Skirving remained as secretary through these arrests and arranged for the publication an account of the trial of Thomas Fyshe Palmer.
By the third convention, Whig members of Parliament, lawyers and other upper middle class supporters had abandoned the Societies in fear, in both Edinburgh and London. The third convention was made a national convention and attended by representatives from the English societies for Friends of the People, as well as members of the Corresponding societies
London Corresponding Society
London Corresponding Society was a moderate-radical body concentrating on reform of the Parliament of Great Britain, founded on 25 January 1792. The creators of the group were John Frost , an attorney, and Thomas Hardy, a shoemaker and metropolitan Radical...
. This created a more radical atmosphere, with the representatives adopting the title Citizen, and so on. Despite the rhetoric, it was clear that the Government was successfully crushing the Friends of the People and at the same time forestalling once again any of the much more moderate reforms to entrenched privilege which had been advocated by the Whigs (and which would benefit Whigs electorally). At this convention, Frenchman Maurice Margarot
Maurice Margarot
Maurice Margarot is most notable for being one of the founding members of the London Corresponding Society, a radical society demanding parliamentary reform in the late eighteenth century.-Early life:...
, the President of the London Corresponding Society, Englishman Joseph Gerrald
Joseph Gerrald
Joseph Gerrald was a political reformer, one of the "Scottish Martyrs".-Early life:Gerrald was born on Saint Kitts, in the West Indies, the only son of an Irish planter. Gerrald was brought to England whilst still a child and educated at Stanmore school, under Dr. Samuel Parr, where he showed...
, and Skirving were arrested. Skirving was charged with circulating the seditious pamphlet that Fyshe Palmer had prepared for publication and with organising seditious associations and meetings (through his role as secretary). After a trial on 6–7 January he was sentenced to fourteen years transportation.
On board the convict transport
William Skirving spend about a month in Newgate PrisonNewgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished in 1777...
and in February was sent on board the convict transport Surprize with Fyshe Palmer, Margarot and Muir. (Gerrald remained in prison and was sent out on a later ship). They remained waiting on board the Surprize until it sailed in May. They were all allowed to purchase cabin space and other amenities for the voyage. Margarot’s wife accompanied him to New South Wales, at the government’s expense. Some associates of Fyshe Palmer travelled on the ship as free settlers.
During the voyage, the vessel’s master Captain Campbell claimed that he had detected a plot for murder and mutiny with the aim of sailing to France and that Fyshe Palmer and Skirving were ringleaders. In contrast, he praised Margarot, and Fyshe Palmer claimed that Margarot had been influenced to give false testimony. Campbell ordered Fyshe Palmer and Skirving to be confined together in a small cabin without any of the amenities they had paid for and minus their personal effects. Ordinary convicts accused of being part of this conspiracy were flogged and kept in chains.
Skirving and Fyshe Palmer wrote to the Governor of New South Wales protesting their innocence and accusing Captain Campbell of conspiring against them. The whole matter was dropped on arrival: no charges were laid against Fyshe Palmer and Skirving, or against Campbell. Fyshe Palmer wrote an account of the voyage which was taken back to England by the colony’s surgeon John White and prepared for publication by Palmer’s friend Jeremiah Joyce.
Life and death in New South Wales
In New South Wales the men were treated as gentlemen convicts and political exiles and each given their own cottage. Skirving’s was close to the eastern bank of the Tank Stream and adjoined Fyshe Palmer's and Muir's. Funds supplied by supporters to make them independent had made this possible, as anybody who drew on Government stores was liable to provide labour. The Governor had been instructed to give the Martyrs a fairly free rein and specifically asked to avoid discovering ‘seditious’ books which they were not supposed to take with them. A biographer of surgeon George Bass suggests that the Martyrs would have been in close company and held many discussions about their cause, probably with interested or sympathetic others, such as Bass, present. However, Judge-Advocate David Collins stated that 'in this settlement his [Skirving's] political principles never evinced themselves, but all his solicitude seemed to be to evince himself the friend of human nature' which suggests that he kept his own council, at least with those outside his circle.Skirving acquired pieces of land from various people to put together a holding of about 100 acre (0.404686 km²) at Petershem where he applied himself with vigor to farming. According to Collins, he was disappointed that expected remittances from supporters in Britain did not arrive, leaving him with some debts, and he was unsuccessful in his farming efforts. He became homesick for wife and family, and his health declined. He suffered a bout of yellow fever around January 1796 and died of dysentery in March.
Monuments
The cause of Parliamentary Reform in the sense of elimination of 'rotten boroughs' (with very small number of electors) and introducing new electorates to cover the new, large cities, was ultimately successful after pro-reform Whigs won a majority in the elections of 1831. In the more liberal atmosphere memories of the Scottish Martyrs were revived. In 1837 the Scottish Radical MPRadicals (UK)
The Radicals were a parliamentary political grouping in the United Kingdom in the early to mid 19th century, who drew on earlier ideas of radicalism and helped to transform the Whigs into the Liberal Party.-Background:...
Joseph Hume
Joseph Hume
Joseph Hume FRS was a Scottish doctor and Radical MP, born in Montrose, Angus.-Medical career:He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and moved to India in 1797...
suggested that twin memorials be built for the Scottish Martyrs in Edinburgh and London, and subscriptions began to be collected. He laid the first stone of the Edinburgh monument in 1844 and of the British monument in 1852. Hume was at the time the main Parliamentary supporter of universal suffrage. The plaque on the Edinburgh memorial reads that the monument was erected 'by the Friends of Parliamentary Reform'. The Edinburgh memorial is a tall obelisk in the Old Calton Cemetery
Old Calton Cemetery
Old Calton Cemetery is a graveyard in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located on Calton Hill, to the north-east of the city centre. The burial ground was opened in 1718, and is the resting place of several notable Edinburgh persons, including philosopher David Hume, publisher William Blackwood and...
while the London memorial is a 33 ft (10.1 m) high obelisk in Nungate cemetery.