In the evening of Monday 6th April 1812, a secret meeting of weavers took place at Gatley Ford, near Stockport in Cheshire.
Present was the weaver and regular at workers' meetings in the North West, Thomas Whittaker. The meeting discussed the destruction of power looms and how it would be necessary to be armed. Whittaker took dues of 1 or 2 pence each from the local men that were present, and later administered illegal oaths or 'twisted-in' 20 of them.
One of the local weavers present was a man called John Parnell, an individual who would later prove to play a key part in Whittaker's fate.
This is taken from Glen (1984, p.176).
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