Extracts from a pamphlet dated 25 May, 1716 written by Richard Gascoigne and addressed to the sheriffs of London in which he denies being involved in a plot to put James Francis Edward Stuart (James III of Scotland) on the English throne. He says the evidence presented at his trial was false. The pamphlet was printed after the court case. (SP 35/5  f.48B).

Transcript

A True Copy OF THE PAPER

Delivered to the SHERIFFS of LONDON
BY Richard Gascoigne

I take it to be my Duty, to leave this Paper behind me, to refute [deny] those False Accusations and Calumnies [lies] that have been designedly spread [spread on purpose] by People, who I am afraid took Pains [took steps] to procure [get] unhappy Wretches to confirm them [back them up].

In the first Place I declare I dye [die] an unworthy Member of the Holy Catholick Apostolick Roman Church, and do acknowledge my self to be the greatest of Sinners; but Blessed be my GOD, I have a firm Confidence in the Sufferings of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by whose Merits [goodness] I hope I shall be saved.

I, from the Bottom of my Heart, forgive all those that [were] my Enemies and Persecutors, and hope Almighty GOD in his Great Goodness (and I beseech him to do it as heartily as I beg pardon for my own Sins) will pardon them, and give them Grace to Repent.

And I earnestly beg Pardon of all those whom I have any ways offended or injured, and lament that it is not in my Power to make them Reparation [make it up to them]: but as they expect to be forgiven, I hope they will do so to me. I also beg Pardon of all those whom I have disedified [let down] by my Life or Conversation.

That I have had an uncommon Ardour [passion] or Zeal [enthusiasm] in my Duty and Loyalty for my most Injur’d and Royal Sovereign King James the Third [Charles Francis Edward Stuart], I own at my Death, as I did to every one that knew me whilst I lived; and I affirm, that it was not only on the Account of his being a Roman Catholick, or any wordly Views; but from a true Sense of my Duty, as I took my self to be bound by the Laws of GOD and my Country, and as his Succeeding to the Throne of his Ancestors could only make these Three Kingdoms happy, and from impartial Accounts of his Royal Person and Qualities; which make him one of the most meriting [deserving] Princes in the World.

My Loyalty descended to me from my Ancestors, my Father and Grandfather having had the Honour to be Sacrificed in doing their Duty to their Kings, Charles I. and James II.

Nor was I ever Agent, or employ’d by any Person in my Life (as was suggested at my Trial) in any Politick Design [plot], nor did I ever carry a Letter, or was intrusted by one great Man to another; nor did I ever know of any concerted [planned] Measure to restore my Royal Master in my Life, more than what was talk’d in publick, and in the Papers; nor, as I expect Mercy, did I directly or indirectly know anything of the Arms that was seized at Bath directed to R.G as was said at my Trial.

And as to Mr. Calderwood’s Evidence against me, of my being in the Market-place a Saturday in the Afternoon, and that he saw me there; to my Knowledge I had not been there until 7 a-clock at Night, when he could not see me; and if he did, not with my Sword drawn, his Evidence was intirely false: And he sent me Word two Days before my Trial, That he could not [swear] anything against me whatever. And he said I was in the Council of War: I never (so far from being in it) knew the House was held in, nor did I know there was one held.

The Evidence of the Footman Walmsly was as false, he swearing me drinking of Brandy with Excise-Men Six times a Saturday, in the same Market place.

These are the two Men that swore me out of my Life; I forgive them with all my Heart, and recommend to them to Repent.

And as I have upon the Word of dying Man declar’d all these Truths, in order to caution People not to believe Reports, and to do all the Justice I am capable of doing; so now let me recommend to all People to think of their Duties to GOD and their Country, and to heal all Divisions; and exhort [call] them to think of the Means of Uniting and Reconciling all their Interests, and unite in the only Measure that can render them Happy; which that they may do, I beg of Almighty GOD to direct them, and that they may compass it.

I bless my GOD, who has given me the grace to submit patiently to all the Injuries that has been done me, as also for enabling me to resist the many Temptations I have had frequently in relation to a Gentleman, upon whose Account I presume they have taken my Life; because I would not concur to take his Life: But God forgive them; I do heartily.

And I humbly beg the Prayers of all good Christians.

[Richard] Gascoigne.

The 25th of May, 1716.

A letter written by James Stanhope at Whitehall to the Commanding Officer of his Majesty’s Forces in Liverpool. It gives orders for the transportation of Jacobite prisoners in Liverpool Castle to plantations in America and provides instructions for the care of sick prisoners, 29 February 1716 (SP 35/5/13).

Transcript

Whitehall February 29th 1715

I am commanded to signify [show] his Majesty’s pleasure to you that you should deliver to Sir Thomas Johnson, or Mr. Richard Gildart & Son: Trafford Merchants in Liverpoole such of the Prisoners in the Castle of Liverpoole , in order to their being transported to some of his Majesty’s Plantations in America, as have subscribed [signed] the Petition inclosed and are in a fair state of health- taking care that all the Prisoners so to be transported, do in the [presence] of the Mayor, or other Cheife Magistrate of the Sea Port Town, where they shall be embarked [taken on board], execute Judicature [hold trials] in due form; thereby obliging themselves to serve in the Plantations for the term of Seven years from the time of their Arrivall there. You will likewise give such assurance to the magistrates & the Persons concerned in the receiving the said prisoners, as shall be judged necessary for putting them on board the severall ships to which they shall be consign’d with the greatest case of safety.

As such of them as are not in a condition to be transported in regard to their health, you are to take care that they be as soon as possible taken out of their places of confinement in order to have the benefit of the air, with these restrictions that it be within the castle walls & at proper times, and with proper Guards, so as to prevent their making Escapes. It is likewise his Majesty’s Pleasure, that the Places of their Confinement [prison cells] should be cleaned & proper medicines be administered [given] by the Physicians [doctors]and apothecarys [chemists] of the Town to such of them, whose cases shall require it, so as to prevent any contagious Distemper [disease] getting amongst them the charge where of shall be reimbursed [paid] by his Majesty’s order and as such Prisoners shall recover their health, you are to Deliver them in the same manner as is above mentioned in order to their being likewise Transported.

After the Prisoners are embarked you are to transmit [send] back to me this originall Petition.

It is His Majesty’s Pleasure [wish], that Charles King one of the Prisoners at Liverpoole, who has sign’d the Petition, should not be delivered with the rest to be Transported, but that he should be taken out of Prison, & quartered in a private Lodging under a Guard.
I am

Sr.
Your most humble Servant,

James Stanhope
Commanding officer of his Majesty’s fortress in Liverpoole

Extract from document left to a publisher by Mr Burnet of Carlops [village in Scottish borders area of Scotland] on ‘The Present State of Britain’, with respect to ‘the Peace, Trade, & Liberty’ before he was executed for having fought with the Jacobites at Preston. The author does not think he will be pardoned because the present king holds his throne illegally, so there is no chance for real justice. (SP 35/5 f3).

Transcript

My Dear Comerad                                                        January 10th 1716

I find your friendship, & good wishes have not Abandoned me in my Distress, but I am afraid the method you kindely, Advise me to follow, in Order, to a pardon, will neither Answere your Expectations, nor my, Labour: You say, The Government will finde it’s Interest in Makeing friends by Clemency [mercy]; no doubt you judge Right in the Main, but perhaps you Mistake the peculiar complexion [nature] of this Government. Powers founded in Justice may flourish in Clemency. But these Acquired by Force, or fraud are commonly Maintained by Violence: In the case of a Rightful Sovereign, He comes into the world the Common Father of his whole people, he has no conquest to Make of their Affections; his breath, and their own interest Entitles Him to it. Natural Right is secured by Regular & Gentle Means: But in the case of Usurpation [where the throne has been stolen from the rightful claimant], a sovereign is no other as the head of a faction forced upon the Whole. The faction alone which made him are his people: The Unnatural Means of his Accession give him but a very remote prospect of the peoples affections, And therefore must Drive him into Irregular Arts [unfair means] to secure by violence what he has got by Injustice, And (as all the World may observe in the present state of these unhappy Nations) a factious handful of Men [a group divided by arguments] governs the whole as faculties of the Soverainty [the king] both in Cabinet, and Parliament without the least regards to the body of the Nation [state of the country].

For these Reasons, My Dear Friend, I have laid aside all thoughts of pardon in this World. And that I may not by my silence at this time, seem to Acknowledge the Charge laid against me & my friend, as being Engaged in an Unnatural Rebellion (as some please to Call it) with a Design against the protestant Religion, I have sent you the Inclosed containing the Motives which Governed me in this affair, earnestly, begging as the last favour you will publish it with your best Conveniency [convenience]

A Man who is goeing to make his Account to God ought to be allowed to make his Vindication [defence] to men.

Neither my parts, nor Education can Qualify me to say anything of this Nature, which can be of use to persuade others, And too many men of this Age have so far plunged Themselves in Impious [ungodly] pride, & Luxury, that they have bidd Defiance to Conviction [belief]: But I hope the Words of a dying man will Vindicate [prove] my own Sincerity, which is all I intended by it, And will obtain the Charitable Opinion of Good Men, That they, who have left or ventured their Lives in assisting the Rights of their own Lawful, Innocent Prince [Charles Francis Edward Stuart], and Injured Constitution have been Engaged in an Honourable Cause, and not in an Unnatural [unlawful] Rebellion .

I recommend you, My Dear Friend, and all my Countrey-men to the Protection of that God whose Justice will Reach the Obstinate [stubborn], and whose Mercy accepts of the penitent [those who express sorrow for wrongdoing].

A royal command that the authorities must draw lots to decide which prisoners will face trial. This is because there were so many Jacobite prisoners taken following the rebellion in Lancashire and the government wishes to make an example of them. (TS 20/44).

Transcript

At the Court of St. James’s 13th day of December 1715
Present

The Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council

His Majesty this day in Council taking into consideration the great numbers of Prisoners detained in Custody [put in prison] on Account of the late Rebellion in Lancashire, and how much it Imports [effects] the Publick Peace of the Kingdom that a speedy Example be made of some of them, Has thought fit to Order, And It is Ordered by his Majesty with the Advice of His Privy Council that the several Officers who are principally intrusted with the custody of the said Prisoners concerned in the late Rebellion shall cause the said Prisoners (not being Gentlemen or Men of Estates or such as shall appear to have distinguished themselves by any extraordinary Degree of Guilt) to draw Lotts, to the intent that every Twentieth Man on whom the Lott shall fall, shall be appointed for Tryal [trial] in Order to due punishment; And if any of the said Prisoners shall refuse to Draw, the Lott is to be drawn for them in their presence, and the residue on whom the said Lott shall not fall, are to be respited [spared] from Tryal in, Order to receive His Majesty’s Mercy, on such conditions as He shall be graciously pleased to think fitt.

A true copy
W.Sharpe

1911 Census return (RG 14/227)

1861 Census return for Blackrod, Lancashire (RG 9/2769)

1851 Census return (HO 107/1478)

Entry from the 1851 census.

The census is a count of all the people in the United Kingdom on one particular day and is taken every ten years. However, collecting information about a country’s population is not a new idea. The Egyptians, for example, used census information to help them build the pyramids and to give out land following the annual flooding of the Nile. The Domesday Book of 1086 was an early attempt to collect information about who held land in England, but it also provided details about the size of the population.

The first government census in Britain was taken in 1801. It may have been prompted by a book called An Essay on the Principle of Population, written by Thomas Malthus in 1798. Malthus wrote that the population was growing so quickly that the country would soon not be able to feed itself. It would be important therefore for the government to find out how many people it did have to feed.

There has been a census every ten years since, apart from in 1941 due to our involvement in the Second World War. Between 1801 and 1831 the census contained only general information about numbers of people. The 1841 census was the first to list the names of every individual in a household.

After 1851 it recorded the age of each person, their relationship within the family (such as wife, son or daughter) occupation (job) and place of birth. As everybody in the country was asked the same questions we can also use it to compare different areas at the same time or over a period of time. Use this lesson to see what different census records from 1851, 1861 and 1911 reveal about the past.

The country [England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man – Scotland and Ireland were enumerated separately, and are not included amongst our records] was divided into a number of districts, each with its own enumerator (the person who collected the information). Each household was given a form to fill in. On the day after the census night, the enumerator collected these forms. If the form had not been filled in properly, or if the householder could not write, the enumerator filled it in. Prior to 1911, the information on the forms was then copied into an enumerator’s book, which was then sent to the Census Office in London. From 1911, the individual schedules for households and institutions were collected and returned to the Census Office, where the information was extracted directly from this. From 1921, this process increasingly used machines to assist in the compilation of the data.

At the Census Office, the information in the books was checked to ensure it had been filled in properly. Afterwards, clerks went through the books gathering information on age, jobs and birthplace. This information was recorded in tables for a final Census Report.

Yet, ever since census information has been collected, not everybody has been keen to give their details. Census enumerators sometimes found it difficult to collect their forms! Even as late as the 1950s, it was believed that some people were giving false information. However, the rate of compliance is very high.

To encourage people to provide accurate details, the government has promised that the information will be kept confidential. Since 1920, census records have been closed for 100 years. This means that the only census returns that can be seen at the moment are those up to 1911. The 1921 Census will be released in early 2022.

Report from John Blackwell, Constable of the Ward of Cheapside in London, to the authorities, 20 June 1715 (SP 41/5 f24).

This report describes how a London constable found out about a plan in May 1715 to put the ‘Old Pretender’, Charles Francis Edward on the throne. Key judges were to be murdered and the Bank of England seized. There were also plans to spread the disruption outside the city. The report says that Constable John Blackwell used his own money to pay for additional men to stop the London mobs from joining together and the spread of the riot.

Transcript

The Information of John Blackwell Constable of the Ward of Cheapside in the City of
London

Sheweth

That he this Informant had certain Inteligence on the 29th May 1715, that there was a design laid to raise three Mobbs in the City of London that Night; one in Cheapside, one in White Chapple, and another in Smithfields. That the Mobb in Cheapside was to join that in White Chapple and both to come back and join that in Smithfield, and there to proclaim the Pretender and that there Persons of distinction were to appear at the Head of them to direct them what they should further do (which since that day be this Informant hath had certain Inteligence, was to secure, or sieze on the Bank of England or set it on Fire: Also to Assassinate & Murder such Magistrates of this City as had appeared Zealous for his Majesty King George, or to set their Houses and Habitations on Fire, particularly The Right Honorable Sir William Humfrey K, Lord Mayor, Sir Gilbert Heathcote and Sir Charles Peers. That [there] were Men and Horses planted in all parts round this City to go immediately into the Country to give Notice that the Pretender was [proclaimed] in the City of London; and to raise Mobbs in all places in the Country to [?] Same as was designed to have been done in the City of London in Order a General Insurection, to pave the way for an open Rebellion, and to give an opportunity and Encouragement to the Pretender and his Adherents, [to] land with a Foreigne Force who was said) Lay ready, for that Purpose. This Informant, further saith, That upon [that] former Inteligence, be this Informant did conclude from the Short Notice he had, that privacy would be one step towards the suppressing of it, and that the Trained Bands (four Companys of which were out on Guard) were not to be depended upon, and that if he could suppress it, in its rise, and prevent the Mobb in Cheapside of joining that in White chapple, it would be the most likely way to prevent their designs, and the greatest Service he was capable of doing in this Affair. And therefore be this Informant did at his own charge and expense hire or procure Twenty men to his assistance, whom he knew were Person Zealous for his Majesties Service & Government, and gave them such Directions, and put his Intentions into such a Method, as by the Blessing of God, wholly frustrated their Wicked Design- For when the Mobb in Cheapside was raised and armed with Clubbs and Sticks, crying out High Chase

[document damaged]… And that by their Leaders they were directed to go for White Chapple. That then this Informant did appear in Cheapside with his Constable Staff, attended by his foresaid Assistants, and Commanded the Peace in His Majesties Name, and that everyone should immediately depart peaceably to their own Habitations upon Pain of Imprisonment which being refused, and the Mobb pressing forward, towards him this Informant, he this Informant Ordered two of his assistants to lay hold on and secure a Person that appeared as their Leader (or Captain), but the Mobb making Resistance and assaulting those, this Informant was obliged in his Majesty’s Name to assist him, to secure such of them as appeared armed as a force at the head of the Mobb.

This Informant  further saith that this Mobb did Resist, Rally, and Assault him this informant and those he had for his Assistance, nine or ten times that Night: And that he this Informant did take, and Secure about Twenty eight of them in the Poultry Compter, [district] and at last Wholly dispersed the said Mobb or Riot. Further this Informant saith, that he this Informant maintained a presentation against many of them at the Sessions House in the Old Bailey, as will appear by a paper signed by the Honorable Sir William Humpreys Kt then Lord Mayor and the Honourable Sir Charles Peers Kt [Knight] and Alderman.

Further, this Informant saith not.

21 June 1715.