15th April 1816: The death of Sir Simon Le Blanc

Sir Simon Le Blanc, as depicted by John Opie

At 2.00 a.m. on Monday 15th April 1816, the King's Bench Judge Sir Simon Le Blanc died at his house in Bedford Square, London after a short illness. He was 68 years of age.

Le Blanc had played an important part in trials during the Luddite disturbances. He was the judge at the 1812 York Lent Assizes, and acquitted the first person tried for Luddism anywhere.

In May of 1812, he presided over the Lancaster Special Commission with Baron Thomson, sentencing 8 people to death and 13 to transportation.

Most notoriously, in January 1813 he presided over the York Special Commission, sentencing 18 people to death and 6 to transportation. He denied the condemned any mercy from their death sentences.

Articles on this website concerning Le Blanc can be found here.

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The details of Le Blanc's death are from the Oxford University & City Herald of 20th April 1816.