History of Brighthelmston; or, Brighton as I View it and Others Knew It: With a Chronological Table of Local EventsErredge, John Ackerson
History
History of Brighthelmston; or, Brighton as I View it and Others Knew It: With a Chronological Table of Local Events
Erredge, John Ackerson
Brighton (England) -- History
Dear Brother,—This comes with my kind Love to you, and I hope you be
well. I am brought very low and weak by long confinement and been in
great trouble. Dear Brother,—I am sentenced Death, and must Die on
Saturday, the 13th of June; and I hope God Almighty will forgive me
my Sins. I never was no body’s foe but my own, and that was in
Drinking and breaking the Sabbath, and that is a great Sin. I have
prayed night and Day to the Almighty God to forgive me and take me to
Heaven, and I hope my prayers be not in vain. I am going to die for
what the Redgment done; I am not afraid to meet Death, for I have
done no harm to no person, and that is a great comfort to me: there
is a just God in heaven that knows I am going to suffer innocently.
Dear Brother,—I should be very glad to see you before I Depart this
Life. I hope God Almighty will be a Guardian over you and all my
relations, and I hope we shall meet in heaven, where we shall be ever
happy without End. So no more from the hand of your ever loving and
Dying Brother,
EDWARD COOKE.
A print extant of the execution of these misguided men, is in the
possession of Mr. Benjamin Kent, the landlord of the Good Intent Inn,
Russell Street. It is thus inscribed:—
“The Awful Scene or Ceremony of the Two Soldiers belonging to the
Oxfordshire Militia, which were shot on June 13th, 1795, in a Vale,
while in Camp at Brighton, by a party of the Oxfordshire Militia
which were very Active in the late riots, the men appeared very
composed and resigned, the party which shot them were much affected,
Infantry, and Artillery, were drawn up in lines on the occasion.”
The engraving, which is about 18 inches by 15 inches, represents the men
kneeling on their coffins, the figure signifying Cooke being in the
attitude of prayer, with clasped hands and a firm countenance; while
Parish, though with his hands clasped denoting his devotion, is dejected
in his general position and has downcast looks. Three lines of four men
each are at “present,” the front rank kneeling, while at each side of the
men to be executed is a man at “ready.” The Rev. Mr. Dring, who is in
his clerical robes, is departing from the scene towards the rising ground
to the right, at the foot of which is an infantry regiment at
“attention,” with the 10th Regiment of Light Dragoons at then rear. On
the crown of the hill are the civilians, male and female; in front of
whom, to the right, are soldiers formed in a circle, within which, at a
triangle, is a man undergoing the punishment of the lash, an officer,
evidently the surgeon, superintending the proceedings. Immediately in
the rear are the tents of the encampment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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