26th October 1816:Duke of Rutland's Belvoir Castle largely destroyed by fire - rumours of Luddite involvement

At around 2.00 a.m. on Saturday 26th October, a fire broke out at Belvoir Castle, the home of the Duke of Rutland (an occasional correspondent with the Home Office about the Luddites). The fire affected the older part of the castle and was devastating, not least to all the staff who were rendered homeless. But whilst many reports in the regional newspapers gave descriptive & sober reports about the fire and the damage caused, others rumours about the origins of the fire arose from the Morning Post newspaper in London, who gave a report on Monday 4th November which is worth quoting in full:

The LATE FIRE at BELVOIR CASTLE 

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM GRANTHAM, NOV. 1. 

The statement which has appeared in the newspapers, attributing the cause of the fire at Belvoir Castle to the carelessness of the carpenters, is incorrect. A strict investigation has been made at the Castle by Mr. BEAUMONT, of the County Fire office, and from the depositions taken on oath it appears, that the room used by the carpenters had been entered, and found to be safe some time after the fire had broke out. In this inquiry it was also discovered, that the fire was seen to burst from two different places, which had not practicable communication, nearly at one time. It was further given in evidence, that when the alarm was raised, the nearest inhabitants found as many as nine or ten strange men already in the Castle, and an outer gate open, which the domestics declare they had previously locked and had not opened. There is now no doubt that the fire was occasioned by a wilful act, and the prevailing opinion is that it has been done by the Luddites. These miscreants are now more than ever the terror of this part of the country. Threatening letters are daily received from them. This morning four men were detected in setting fire to some hay stacks belonging to Sir WILLIAM MANNERS; the fire was extinguished, but the incendiaries escaped. Now, just as I am sending this off, there is an alarm of another fire, which has broke out in the town.

Needless to say, there was no Luddite involvement, and the Morning Post does not seem to have made any more of the 'rumours' afterwards. but we shall see that the rumours had a life beyond the newspaper.

20th October 1816: The Duke of Rutland updates the Home Secretary about James Towle

By the 20th of October 1816, it had been reported in the press that were James Towle to succeed in his forthcoming appeal that the original indictment against him was incorrectly made, another correctly drafted one would be laid against him.

Extract

Private

Cheveley Park 20th Oct. 1816

My Dear Lord

I felt much indebted to your Lordship, for the Information communicated to me by your letter of the 10th Inst, on the interesting subject of our late correspondence. Your Lordship, with some accustomed ability, and zeal for the public Service, has placed the matter in the best track, & whatever may be the final Result, of the Proceedings which have been adopted, I am confident that the Importance of the subject, will ensure my excuse, in having brought it before you. Mr Pochin has no doubt informed your Lordship of the Interview which he has had with Towle, since he quitted London, and of the manner in which the Culprit received an Intimation, of the Intention to prefer another Indictment against him, in the event that the Validity of the Objection waged against the former one. Notwithstanding the Paroxysm of Passion into which Towle fell, or that on that occasion, Mr Pochin has still hopes that when his disappointment has subsided, & he has again become calm, it may be possible to bring him to the desired point.—

Your Lordship has I understand, been made acquainted with the Establishment of a “Hampden Club” at Leicester, to the Motives, the Objects, and possible results of which, the Magistrates of that place look with considerable apprehension. Such an Institution, will I fear be a rallying point, for the idle and the disaffected, and it would be very satisfactory to know that there is in existence any Act of Parliament by which its formation can be prohibited, and checked in the bud—At this particular Moment such an Establishment must be regarded with more than ordinary Jealousy for your Lordship is, I am confident, aware of the uneasy state of the Country, arising from the universal distress which pervades all classes, and from the stagnation of Employment among the lower orders. The latter Cause has been less active since the commencement of the Harvest, and indeed the accompanying document, which will shew your Lordship the amended Situation of very considerable Manufacturing Town, is satisfactory as far as it goes, but it is feared that the Improvement will be but temporary, and the winter months are expected with Apprehension by many, and with Anxiety by all. The Landed Interest is exerting itself to the utmost in various parts of the Country, for the Support and Employment of the Poor who are out of Work, and it is self Evident, that the Relief which is afforded by Employment, is far preferable to that which is derived from increased Poor Rates. But the depressed state of the Landed Interest must cripple and weaken its efforts, especially while the Poor Laws, which press almost exclusively upon the Land, continue to be a burden of such serious and increasing Magnitude. I have been asked by several Gentlemen, whether the Government have it not in contemplation to adopt some measures for the Relief of the Agriculturalists, but this is a point of so much delicacy, and so crowded with difficulties, that it would ill become one to do more than to mention the Circumstance. On the whole I am strongly induced to hope that those parts of the State Machine, whose action is at present impeded and disordered, will gradually [illegible] their tone but this desirable object may not, & probably will not

[The rest of the letter is missing]

26th September 1816: The Duke of Rutland tells the Home Secretary that James Towle has confessed and implicated others

Cheveley Park 26th September 1816

Private & Confidential

My Dear Lord

I am sure that no apology will be required by your Lordship, when I mention that the Subject on which I [take] permission to address you, is one, actually of great Local, but possibly of considerable National Importance—Your Lordship is aware of the conviction of Towle, the Frame breaker, at the last Leicester Assizes, and of the objection taken to the Indictment, the validity of which remains to be decided by the opinion of the Twelve Judges—Since the Trial, Towle has, on several visits made to him by the Sheriff of the County, disclosed to the latter, some very important Confessions; having detailed the whole of the transaction of Loughbro’, and the mode by which the plot was prepared and brought to maturity; specifying seventeen persons who came from Nottingham & its neighbourhood, as Leaders in the affair; & making several other Statements concerning it, which correspond so exactly with the accounts which the Magistrates near Loughbro’ had previously collected, that there can be very little doubt of the possibility of making him a most effectual and important Evidence against the remainder of the Gang.—The Point which your Lordship will care to determine, is the policy of sparing this Man's life, provided it should appear that the Information which he can give, and may be disposed to give, is sufficiently interesting, to render it is a measure of greater public benefit, than merely inflicting the Vengeance of the Law, upon an Individual, who, though a distinguished Luddite, & conspicuous from having stood a former Trial for Framebreaking, is not, we have reason to think, held in very high Estimation among his Associates.—

I beg to apprize your Lordship, that Towle has not made the Confessions to which I have alluded, under the most remote Expectation of Pardon, nor has he I believe expressed as yet any willingness to give Evidence against his late Associates, but there is good reason to presume that he would be glad to do it, if there was a Prospect of his being enabled to live, out of the reach of the future vengeance of their Friends—It will also be evident to Your Lordship, that if you think is adviseable to act upon this Information, it cannot be too soon done; since Towle, who is now perhaps in the mood for confession, might materially alter in his disposition, if the Objection to the Indictment, should be held by the Judges, to be fatal, and his life should be safe from that cause—

Possessing a Knowledge of the Circumstances I should have thought myself, mainly deficient in my public Duty, if I had not hastened to communicate them to Your Lordship; who I am well convinced, will afford them, the consideration, to which their Importance justly entitled them. I am quite convinced, that a well organised league, and an extensive system of union, still exists among the Luddites & Frame Breakers, and it is the opinion of well Informed Magistrates in the County of Leicester (residing in the suspicious District) that further Mischief is intended, when the long nights of winter commence. It really appears to me, subject to the superior Judgement of Your Lordship, that the present occasion affords a chance, of giving a decided check, perhaps of putting a total end, to the disgraceful practice of Framebreaking, and to the dangerous Combination, under which that practice has been so long, and so successfully carried on—Should you think the subject deserving of further Investigation, I would suggest the Propriety of an Interview with Mr Pochin, the Sheriff for Leicestershire, to whom Towle has made the confessions, to which I have alluded, and I would in the event of your coincidence with this idea, request Mr Pochin to attend you, at your Office.—At all Events I am confident that Your Lordship will have the goodness to pardon the length of which I have been obliged to trouble you, and that you will allow me the honour of subscribing myself, with sincere Regard

My Dear lord
Your Most Faithful
& Obedient Servant

Rutland

[To] Viscount Sidmouth
&c &c &c