13th June 1812: The execution of 8 prisoners at Lancaster Castle

On Saturday 13th June 1812, eight prisoners convicted and sentenced to death at the Lancaster Special Commission were executed at Lancaster Castle.

The account of the execution is from the Lancaster Gazette of 20th June 1812. When reading accounts of executions in this period, the context and the intended message and all important. Accounts generally paint a portrait of individuals expressing remorse, often admonishing others not do as they have done. For the authorities and the media, this was an important part of the legal and judicial process - punishment as an awful spectacle and as a warning. The accounts of 'lamentations' of the prisoners in this account are scarcely credible to the modern reader.

Execution of the Lancashire Rioters.

On Saturday last, at noon, and eight malefactors under sentence of death, in our Castle, suffered the dreadful sentence of the law, viz Hannah Smith (54) for rioting and highway robbery, at Manchester; Abraham Charlson (16) Job Fletcher (34) Thomas Kerfoot (26) and James Smith (31) for rioting and burning the mill, at West Houghton; John Howarth (30) John Lee (46) and Thomas Hoyle (27) for rioting and breaking into a house, and stealing provisions, at Manchester—A vast concourse of people assembled to see the awful end of these deluded wretches, who felt the bitter consequence of listening to the artful insinuations of men, whose principles are at enmity with all law, human and divine. We are told, on the authority of those to whom the unhappy wretches opened their minds, and told their griefs, that there are men in this county, whose days, though lengthened for a short duration, will always be imbittered by the corroding reflection, that their revolutionary ideas have brought their more ignorant neighbours to an untimely end. The general lamentations of the prisoners were, “Oh, that we had not listened to the seditious suggestions of our neighbours!” “God forgive them!” “They have betrayed us into the gulf of misery” “Oh, that our example may be a warning to all who hear of our unhappy fate!”—The morning of their exit was spent in most earnest prayer, commending their souls to the Divine Being, through the meditation our Saviour. Perhaps there were never were heard more deplorable supplications, nor a more awful scene than the departure of these wretched beings from the Chapel, in the Castle, to the room adjoining the platform. During the short interval between condemnation and execution, they deeply felt the awful effects of drunkenness, blasphemy, and the neglect of divine ordinances. Tho’ their sins were great, yet there is some hope that their repentance was sincere. The morning after the execution, their bodies were decently interred.

A paragraph having appeared in many of the papers, stating the above unfortunate persons had behaved with the greatest indifference and unconcern, after their condemnation, we have the authority of the Rev. Mr Rowley, Chaplain to the Castle, for assuring our readers, that during the whole time after receiving sentence they behaved with the utmost decorum, appearing truly penitent, and repeatedly wishing that their untimely fate will prove a warning to those who had broken the laws, and cause them to refrain from their evil ways.

A troop of the Blues attended at the place of execution, and four companies of the Berkshire Militia were under arms, during the awful scene; but we are happy to add, but not the least symptoms of tumult appeared.

Abraham Charlson's age is often put at lower than that attributed to him in all the contemporary accounts. Whilst all the primary sources have him as 16 years of age, here and there one reads he was actually 12 years of age (although not, it must be noted, in any of the standard secondary sources). It's possible that an account from a contemporary of Charlson has been embroidered: Prentice (1851, p.57) quotes Dr Robert Taylor, a bitter opponent of Colonel Ralph Fletcher, stating that Charlson "was a boy so young and childish that he called on his mother for help at the time of his execution, thinking she had the power to save him" (a not uncommon response of grown men facing certain death, let alone 16 year-olds).

By 1883, William Axon's 'Lancashire Gleanings' stated that "it has been said that [Charlson] was in reality only 12 years old". In his account, Axon also says 'local tradition' said Charlson was 'a cripple' who perched on someone's shoulders and used his crutch to smash the window of  the Westhoughton Mill (possibly confusing Charlson with another of those executed, James Smith, who was disabled and walked with crutches). Axon has Charlson in the hands of the hangman crying out "Oh, mammy, mammy!".

There is no evidence that I am aware of that Charlson was 12 years of age - in any case, his execution at age 16 was bad enough as it is.

1st June 1812: The convicted prisoners are sentenced at Lancaster Special Commission

On Monday 1st June 1812, following the last trial at the Lancaster Special Commission, the convicted prisoners received their sentences from the Senior Judge at the trials, Baron Thompson:

“John Hurst, Christopher Medcalfe, James Brierley, Henry Thwaite, Joseph Greenhalgh, Samuel Radliffe, Thomas Pickup, John Burney, James Knowles, John Fisher, and Thomas Holden.—The country has been engaged in a most serious enquiry into the causes and into the consequences of the most outrageous disturbances that have ever been observed, and the consequence of that enquiry has been the conviction of several who were concerned in them; some of you who now stand at the bar been found guilty in administering, or aiding and consenting thereto, and others of taking, unlawful oaths, not to discover or reveal certain persons who were engaged in such practices, and binding itself to be associates with them. It is but too probable that many of the offences which have disgraced this county have been committed in consequence of the administering of such oath. We have heard repeated a part of the terms used in it, and they are such as to make one shudder. You have been engaged deeply in these transactions, you have assembled with others in a large body, and have enrolled all those who were willing or desirous to join you. The greater part of you stand convicted of having administered the oath to an innocent person, not willing to take it, and whom you apprehended to be a spy; I mean those in the case of Holland Bowden. You had been attending that unlawful assembly upon the moor, and upon your road from it, it was the misfortune of this man to meet with you; under the threat and terror of being shot, you compelled him to take the oath. It is extremely probable, that at this time, on the 17th April you had planned the destruction of the West Houghton mill and warehouse, for it was in evidence upon your trial, that conversation about the mill had been held, the delegates were sent to see in what state it then was, and how it was guarded; it was also mentioned, in the course of that conversation, that a feint would be made, to endeavour to deceive the military; and too well did these intentions succeed, for upon the 24th that mill was destroyed, which appeared to have been the object of your lawless vengeance for some time. This is the nature of the crime which you, the seven first prisoners, and now at the bar. You, John Burney, are not charged with being present at that time, but with having been present and consenting to the administration of unlawful oath to one Isaac Clayton, who was a soldier in the militia, the purport of which was similar to the other. Though it was not actually administered by you, yet it was in your hearing, and with your consent; for so the Jury have very wisely determined, by their verdict. The effect intended by the administration of this oath was of the most alarming nature; no less than the overthrow of Government. You, John Fisher, James Knowles, and Thomas Holden, have been found guilty of taking the like unlawful oath. It was urged in your behalf that you went to this meeting merely out of curiosity, and to see what was to be done. But when you went, you could not but that it was met for an unlawful purpose; the watch-word was given, and it was hoped that none were there who did not know the object of the meeting; and after the full knowledge you had of it, you, the three prisoners, did actually, without hesitation, take the oath which was required of you. You, James Knowles, too well observed the nature and purport of the oath, for you were one of those present, when Holland Bowden was compelled to take it, and you were indicted for assisting in that act. The offence for which you and the other prisoners are now at the bar has been provided against by an Act passed eleven years ago, and unhappily there is now occasion free to be called into force. The wisdom of the Legislature has decreed, and the judgment of the Court is, that you be severally transported to some part beyond the seas for the term of seven years.

James Smith, Thomas Kerfoot, Job Fletcher, Abraham Charlson, John Howarth, John Lee, Thomas Hoyle, and Hannah Smith.—The awful moment has now arrived in which you are to receive that sentence which the laws of your country and awarded against those atrocities of which you have been guilty, and for the which your lives are forfeited. The result of the investigation into the several charges against you is, that you have all been guilty of these acts of violence and outrage, riotously and tumultuously assembling together, and committing depredations against the property of those who have been the object of your unlicensed attacks. Four of you have been convicted of burning the mill at West Houghton, and destroying machinery the most useful. At that scene of despair you were seen conducting yourselves with circumstances productive of the utmost terror, and particularly active in forwarding its destruction; and you must atone for it with your lives. Three others of you have been convicted of breaking and entering the house and shop of a man, who was in it, together with his family, at the time, and of stealing bread, potatoes, and several other articles, in short, plundering him of nearly the whole contents of the shop. It was beset with great numbers, and became the object of your fury, because the owner had refused to accede to your exorbitant demands. It is highly necessary that this should be punished severely. You, Hannah Smith, have been found guilty of a robbery on the highway of a large quantity of butter, seizing the prosecutor’s cart, and assisting in carrying away nearly the whole of the contents, without him having been paid any price for it; you have also been convicted of stealing a quantity of potatoes. This circumstance seems to prove that you were one of the most determined enemies to good order, and it is fit to be understood, that sex is not entitled to any mitigation of punishment, when the crime is of such a nature as to deserve it. In the awful state in which you stand, who are now before me, and who must shortly leave this will for another, I feel it my bounden duty to exhort you to consider your situation, to make yourself sensible of your crimes, to confess your sins before God, and to implore his mercy; and may all within these walls, and without, wherever these tidings may reach, take warning from your example, and observe, that they cannot, with impunity, conspire to disturb the public tranquillity; for whatever they may think, though they may suppose themselves to be beyond the reach of the law, justice may overtake them; and though you may not have intended to go the lengths you have, yet who can say, “thus far will I go and no further?”—Suffer me to exhort you to set about the great work of repentance, that you may obtain that mercy hereafter, which cannot be shewn you here. It now only remains for me to pronounce that sentence which the law has adjudged. Hear that sentence. This Court does adjudge, that you, the several prisoners at the bar, be taken to the place from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution, and there to be hung by the neck until you are dead; and may the Lord have mercy upon your souls!”

Of the foregoing eleven prisoners, sentenced to be transported, Holden, Knowles, and Fisher, were for taking an unlawful oath, at Bolton; and the remainder for aiding and assisting in the administering of all unlawful oaths, at Bolton.

Of the eight prisoners condemned, Hannah Smith, was for rioting and highway robbery, at Manchester; Charlson, Fletcher, Kerfoot, and Smith, for rioting and burning the mill, at West Houghton; and Howarth, Lee, and Hoyle, for rioting and breaking into a house, and stealing provisions, at Manchester.

NB: Although a Charles Clark appeared amongst the list of the prisoners in the 23rd May 1812 edition of the Lancaster Gazette, charged with setting fire to the Rope Walk at Bolton on  21st April 1812, neither an account of his trial nor a result appears in any subsequent editions.

26th May 1812: The trial of the Westhoughton Luddites at Lancaster Special Commission

At 8.00 a.m. on Tuesday 26th May 1812, the prisoners accused of the taking part in the destruction of Westhoughton Mill stood trial at the Lancaster Special Commission.

Fourteen prisoners stood trial for arson: 10 men, 2 boys of 15 & 16, one 15 year-old girl & one 19 year-old woman. All of the accused were identified by those who worked at the Mill.

Job Fletcher (aged 34) was seen amongst the group that had marched from Chowbent to Westhoughton - it was alleged by a witness that he said to them about Westhoughton Mill "take notice, that yonder devil is not on fire before three hours are over". James Smith (aged 31), walking on crutches, was seen heading up the mob. Later, Smith was said to be active in inciting those gathered to destroy the mill, and was also seen throwing stones at the windows.

Abraham Charlson, (aged 16), was said to be armed with a scythe, which he used to attack the window frames. He was also accused of fetching straw from a nearby public house which was used to eventually set light to the Mill.

Another boy, 15 year-old John Bromilow, was participating in the destruction of the Mill, but was pulled away by his mother.

Thomas Kerfoot (aged 26) was said to be amongst the mob, shouting and breaking windows - it was alleged that it was he that first cried out "set fire to it".

Two sisters, Lydia & Mary Molyneux, 15 & 19 respectively, were said to be extremely active, one using a muck hook and another a coal pick to break the windows. They were alleged to have cursed the souls of those who worked at the factory, with Mary crying out "set fire to it". When the rioters gained entry, both of them were observed clapping encouragement and shouting "now lads!".

The defence argued that the indictment was flawed: they suggested that the description of the building as a mill was in error, since that description should apply to a place where corn or similar was ground. Similar arguments were advanced about the other description offered - warehouse and loom shop - but the Judges over-ruled the objection.

Alibis were offered for several prisoners, alongside attestations as to good character. The trial lasted 12 hours.

The Jury deliberated for an hour before returning their verdict at 9.00 p.m.: Thomas Kerfoot, Job Fletcher, Abraham Charlson & James Smith were found guilty. John Bromilow, William Kay, Bold Haworth, John Shuttleworth, John Charlson, Mary Molyneux, Lydia Molyneux, Samuel Radcliffe, Robert Woodward and Adam Bullough were acquitted.