Chronicles of Newgate, Vol. 1: From the twelfth to the eighteenth centuryGriffiths, Arthur
History
Chronicles of Newgate, Vol. 1: From the twelfth to the eighteenth century
Griffiths, Arthur
Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England); Prisons -- England; Punishment -- Great Britain
The news of an amnesty was joyfully received in the press-yard. One
of the first acts of the prisoners so soon to be set free was to get
in a poor fiddler, "whom they set to play tunes adapted to their
treasonable ballads; . . . but this was so shocking to the keepers that
they turned the fiddler out." Next the prisoners had a badger brought
in, and baited him with dogs. Other already pardoned rebels came and
paid ceremonious visits, such as Mr. Townley, who appeared with much
pomp and splendour after his discharge from the Marshalsea. Several
clergymen also visited, and a noted common council man, whose friends
stood a bowl of punch that night in Captain Silk's room. The State
prisoners were soon "very busy in getting new rigging, and sending
away their boxes and trunks; so that they looked like so many people
removing from their lodgings and houses on quarter-day."
On July 4th a member of Parliament came to assure Mr. Grierson that
the Act of Indemnity would surely pass in a few days. This occasioned
great joy. A fortnight later the pardon was promulgated, and all the
prisoners remaining were taken to Westminster to plead the Act, "where
many were so very ungrateful that they refused to kneel or speak out in
asking the king's pardon till they were forced to it."
According to this last-quoted writer, the rebels in Newgate were not
of exemplary character. Their daily practice in prison was profane
swearing, drunkenness, gluttony, gaming, and lasciviousness. That such
was permitted speaks volumes as to the shameful negligence of prison
rule in those unsettled times.
There were other rebel prisoners, who do not seem to have benefited
by this Act of Grace, and who remained much longer in prison. It is
recorded in the _Weekly Journal_, of January 24th, 1727, that George
I had pardoned another batch of Jacobites, who had been capitally
convicted in the first year of his reign for levying war against
him. The pardoned traitors were Robert Stuart, of Appin; Alexander
Macdonald, of Glencoe; Grant, of Glenmorrison; Maclimmin, of that
Ilk; Mackenzie, of Fairburn; Mackenzie, of Dachmalnack; Chisholm, of
Shatglass; Mackenzie, of Ballumakie; MacDougal, of Lorne; and two
others, more notable than all the rest, "James, commonly called Lord,
Ogilvie," and "Robert Campbell, _alias_ Macgregor, commonly called Rob
Roy." They had been under durance in London, for it is added that "on
Tuesday last they were carried from Newgate to Gravesend, to be put on
shipboard for transportation to Barbadoes." Rob Roy marching handcuffed
to Lord Ogilvie through the London streets from Newgate to the prison
barge at Blackfriars, and thence to Gravesend, is an incident that has
escaped the notice of Walter Scott, and all of Rob's biographers. The
barge-load of Highland chiefs, and of some thieves, seems, however, to
have been pardoned, and allowed to return home.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account