Gilbert Burrington Letter

• Place: Elsewhere
• Role:
• Occupation: Reverend

30/11/1819 Letter from Barrington to Sidmouth informing him that the slaughter at Manchester was committed by the Cavalry was published on a poster.

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HO 42 / 199 fols305-9. Revd G. Burrington, Chudleigh, Devon, 25 Nov. 1819, to Sidmouth, concerning a man whom he has committed for showing seditiously a picture of the Manchester Meeting on 16 Aug as dispersed by the Yeomanry.’

 

Chudleigh near Exeter

Nov. 30^th 1819

 

My Lord,

I think it is a duty I owe to the Publick to acquaint your Lordship that yesterday, the 24^th inst., a Gentleman informed me, that he had heard, that there was a man in Chudleigh with a show-box containing among other prints or pictures (which by the aid of a magnifying-glass made the persons depicted on them to appear as large as life) one, which purported to be a meeting of the Radical reformers, which lately took place at Manchester, and that the person exhibiting the print or picture in his description of it to the populace, made use of seditious expressions. In consequence of this information, I sent a Constable, with orders to see if there were any such person in Chudleigh, and if he were, to observe what he was doing. He soon returned and told me that the man was exhibiting his show at a short distance from my own house; but that he had reason to believe, if he went to see what the man was exhibiting, or hear what he said, the man would be apprized by some of the By-standers, that a Constable was near, and would desist from exhibiting or commenting upon the objectionable picture. I then ordered the Constable to get some respect person to attend to what the man was doing, & saying. This he accordingly did by desiring William Tuckett to undertake it. Soon after William Tuckett returned, & told me that (among other things) he heard the man say, that the slaughter at Manchester was committed by the Cavalry. This morning, William Tuckett made the deposition which I have the honour of enclosing marked No.1. At the same time, the man who exhibited the picture was brought before me and examined. It appears that his name is John Jenkins, was bound an apprentice to a weaver, & that his master dying, he work’d at his trade for some time, then entered into the 3^rd or Plymouth Division of Marines, after 5 years [illeg.] was discharged, since which time he has been travelling about the country. The consequence of his wandering abroad, & not being able to give a good account of himself, I committed him to the House of Correction at Exeter, as a Vagrant, till the Sessions. The constables who brought John Jenkins before me took from his showbox, by my orders, the print or picture herewith sent, marked No. 2, and endorsed by the said Constables on the back. When John Jenkins was before me, I asked him where he procured the print or picture and he said at a stationer’s shop at Plymouth, but did not know the person’s name that sold it to him. On my observing that the print or picture had no publisher’s name, he produced a piece of paper, herewith sent, marked No. 3, containing an explanation of the print or picture, and, which he said, he had cut off from it. On my observing to him the gross impropriety of exhibiting such prints or pictures in the manner he did, he observed that many others, to his knowledge, had pictures of the same kinds in their showboxes.

I have thus, my Lord, detailed to you the whole of this transaction; and request to know, if, under all the circumstances of it, it is your Lordship’s pleasure that further steps should be taken in this affair, and, if so, that your Lordship would have the goodness, through your Secretary, to point out to me the mode in which I should proceed.

I have the honour to subscribe myself, my Lord

Your Lordship’s

Most Obedient

Humble Servant

Gilbert Burrington

Magistrate for Devon

Prebendary of [obscured]

Vicar of Chudleigh, Devon.

 

P.S. I take this opportunity of inclosing a Copy of a Declaration made by myself and others, on the 15^th Inst.’

 

[Note added]. ‘Thank him for his Vigilance & his Communication. As Jenkins will have undergone 5 or 6 weeks Imprisonment before the Sessions Lord Sidmouth does not consider it proper to pursue the matter further.’

 

Devon, to wit: The information and deposition of William Tuckett of the Parish of Chudleigh in the said County cheesemonger taken on oath before me, Gilbert Burrington Clerk one of his Majesty’s Justices of the peace, in and for the said County, this twenty fifth day of November, in the sixtieth year of the reign of Our Sovereign Lord, George The Third, King, Defender of the Faith and in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Nineteen.

 

Who on his oath saith that about the hour of four in the afternoon of the twenty fourth day of this instant November a man calling himself John Jenkins was wandering abroad in the said Parish of Chudleigh and exhibiting publicly in the said Parish of Chudleigh, a certain print or painting giving a description of the cavalry rushing in upon a large assembly of people, and destroying the people. And this Deponent further saith that the above-named John Jenkins when he exhibited the said print or painting addressed the Bystanders stating to them that the said print or painting contained a true description of the slaughter at Manchester which he said was committed by the cavalry who he said destroyed more than an hundred people. And this Deponent further maketh oath and saith that the said print or painting so exhibited by him, the said John Jenkins as aforesaid and the expressions used by him, the said John Jenkins were both of them as the Deponent verily believes meant and intended to inflame the minds of his Majesty’s Subjects and to bring his Majesty’s Soldiery into hatred and contempt and further this Deponent saith not.

 

[Signed] Wm. Tuckett

Sworn the day and year first above written, Before me Gilbert Burrington

 

[Note from the Public Record Office, 16 Dec. 1982. ‘A hand coloured engraving showing the forcible dispersal of the reform meeting in St Peter’s Fields, Manchester has been removed to the Museum, wall case VIII.’

 

[Enclosure: a printed declaration].

 

CHUDLEIGH, NOVEMBER 15th 1819

We, the undersigned Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, Freeholders and Residents of the Parish of CHUDLEIGH, deeply impressed with the dangers which threaten this Nation, from the dissemination of blasphemous and seditious publications, some of which have been distributed in this county, deem it expedient publicly to express our determination,

To use our utmost endeavours to prevent the propagation of all blasphemous and seditious publications;

To inculcate, in our respective neighbourhoods, due respect for our excellent constitution, and subordination to the laws of the land, of which the Christian Religion forms a most important part;

And to support, by every means in our power, the constituted authorities of the country, for the preservation of the public peace and tranquillity.

 

Gilbert Burrington Vicar of Chudleigh, and Magistrate

Clifford

Hugh Charles Clifford

Montague E. Parker

Francis Parker

John Templar, clerk

John Comyns, clerk

Joseph Cuming, clerk

Geo. Cocks, Cap. R.N.

Mark Batt

Christopher Hellyer

W.J. Speed, Cap, H. P. 90th Regiment

Geo. Dolling

Thomas Yarde

Charles Kendall

1. Webb, Lieut. R. N.

Wm. Bond

W.Y. Bond

Joseph Barnes

John Whiteway

John Hayes

James Leare

Richard Stamp

Wm. Wright

J. W. Buckland

Henry Salter

Wm. S. Adams

Thomas Collings

John Flood jun.

Richard Richards

William Honeywill

John Floud

Thomas Weeks, jun.

John Joll

Daniel Bickley

William Tuckett

John Pulling

Henry Heywood, Capt. Militia

Charles Bond

William Cleave

William Cleave, jun.

Joseph Cleave

John Weston

Lawrence Edwards

Thomas Yarde, jun.

Hanry Yarde, Major H.E.I.C.S.

Mostyn Jones, Lieut. Militia

Henry Strowbridge

Henry Mugg, clerk

William Tuckett [sic]

Joseph Collins

Francis Newcombe Day

James Davison

John Bundrock, R. N.

William Searle

John Petherick

George Pulling

George Davis

William Rolstone

Anthony Bowden

T. Arscott, Cap. R. N.

Walter Broad

Isaac Winsor

John Flood, Sen.

Richard Rose

John Badcock

Thomas Bailey

Elijah Jago

Francis Matthews

John Saunders

Richard Wills

Richard Truman

Francis Melluish

William Weeks, sen.

William Weeks, jun.

John Babb, jun.

William Roleston

James Efford

John Martin

John Tapper

William Lamble

Thomas Hex

James Pitts, jun.

John Pidsley

Jonas Adams

John Prowse

William Bailey

John Wotton

Jonathan Bowden

Thomas Prideaux

John Wright

Jonas Adams, jun.

George Bailey

William Wright, jun.

James McGhee, Lieut, R. N.

G Dyer, Lieut. R. N.

John Tuckett, sen.

William Job

Edward Searle

John Pridham

W. Heywood, M. C.

S. P. Bamford

John Cox

Thomas Archer

Thomas Archer, jun.

Robert Cleave, sen.

Robert Cleave, jun.

William Cleave

James Cleave

Walter Cleave

Samuel Cleave

Joel Orchard

William Beer

John Goodridge

John Goodridge, jun.

Thomas Pike

William Pike

Thomas Pike, jun

James Edwards

Joseph Edwards, jun.

James Edwards

Richard Widdicombe

John Widdicombe

John Cornish

William Cornish

John Wright

George Wills

George Wills, jun.

Jos, Widdicombe, jun.

Thomas Vooght

William Vooght

Edward Shave

John Tapper

John Jones

William Jones, Lieut. R. N.

Thomas Leare

George Cornish

George Cornish, jun.

James Cornish

James Moore

John Rogers

Josias Shamler

 

EFFORD, PRINTER, CHUDLEIGH

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