Wednesday 18 April 2012

18th April 1812: Attempted assassination of William Cartwright

Having witnessed the court martial of the soldier who refused to fire on Luddites at Rawfolds Mill, William Cartwright began to make his way back home on his horse.

Between 4 and 5.00 p.m., he was a mile outside Huddersfield, on a country lane bordered by hedgerows. Suddenly, from behind the hedges two people emerged and fired off a shot each from guns they were carrying.

We don't know what happened next, but we can assume that Cartwright didn't give the would-be assassins time to reload and spurred his horse to gallop away. A new tactic was now being employed, and this incident would not be the last attempted assassination in the weeks and months to come.

As reported in the Leeds Mercury of 25th April 1812.

No comments:

Post a Comment