136-590: British Government Various Groups Earl of Liverpool Thomas Bradford Henry Monteith Samuel Hunter Non-centralised leadership The Radical War , also known as the Scottish Insurrection of 1820, was a week of strikes and unrest in Scotland , a culmination of Radical demands for reform in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which had become prominent in
272-627: A Jacobite refugee family, to join forces with 50,000 French soldiers at Cathkin Braes under Kinloch, the fugitive "Radical laird" from Dundee. In Paisley the local reformers' committee met under command of their drill instructor, but scattered when Paisley was put under curfew. Government troops were ready in Glasgow, including the Rifle Brigade, the 83rd Regiment of Foot, the 7th and 10th Hussars and Samuel Hunter's Glasgow Sharpshooters. In
408-488: A ticket of leave , permitting some prescribed freedoms . This enabled some convicts to resume a more normal life, to marry and raise a family, and to contribute to the development of the colony. In England in the 17th and 18th centuries criminal justice was severe, later termed the Bloody Code . This was due to both the particularly large number of offences which were punishable by execution (usually by hanging), and to
544-538: A Provisional Government elected by delegates of local "unions" elected officers and decided to arrange military training for its supporters, giving some responsibility for the training programme to a Condorrat weaver with army experience, John Baird . On 18 March Mitchell of the Glasgow police notified the Home Secretary that "a meeting of the organising committee of the rabble.. . is due in this vicinity in
680-534: A Provisional Government, got those present to resolve to "act accordingly", then gave over a copy of a draft Proclamation to be delivered to a printer. Lees, King and Turner went round encouraging supporters to make pikes for the battles. On Saturday 1 April, Craig and Lees collected the prints which Lees had paid for the previous day. By the morning of Sunday 2 April copies of the Proclamation were displayed throughout Glasgow. The Proclamation, signed "By order of
816-512: A bill was proposed to the House of Commons to allow the transporting of felons, and was followed by another bill presented to the Lords to allow the transportation of criminals convicted of felony within clergy or petty larceny. These bills failed, but it was clear that change was needed. Transportation was not a sentence in itself, but could be arranged by indirect means. The reading test, crucial for
952-465: A business: merchants chose from among the prisoners on the basis of the demand for labour and their likely profits. They obtained a contract from the sheriffs, and after the voyage to the colonies they sold the convicts as indentured servants . The payment they received also covered the jail fees, the fees for granting the pardon, the clerk's fees, and everything necessary to authorise the transportation. These arrangements for transportation continued until
1088-521: A few days hence." On 21 March, the Committee met in a Glasgow tavern. The weaver John King left the meeting early, shortly before a raid in which the Committee was secretly arrested. Mitchell reported on 25 March that those arrested had "confessed their audacious plot to sever the Kingdom of Scotland from that of England and restore the ancient Scottish Parliament... If some plan were conceived by which
1224-724: A free settlement was established and this settlement later accepted some convict transportation. Until the massive influx of immigrants during the Australian gold rushes of the 1850s, free settlers had been outnumbered by penal convicts and their descendants. However, compared to the British American colonies , Australia received a larger number of convicts. Convicts were generally treated harshly, forced to work against their will, often doing hard physical labour and dangerous jobs. In some cases they were cuffed and chained in work gangs. The majority of convicts were men, although
1360-574: A greater or lesser degree (for instance Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster or Lord Privy Seal ). The government is sometimes referred to by the metonym " Westminster " or " Whitehall ", as many of its offices are situated there. These metonyms are used especially by members of the Scottish Government , Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive to differentiate their government from His Majesty's Government. The United Kingdom
1496-536: A group of convict ships departed from England to establish the first colonial settlement in Australia, as a penal colony . The First Fleet included boats containing food and animals from London. The ships and boats of the fleet would explore the coast of Australia by sailing all around it looking for suitable farming land and resources. The fleet arrived at Botany Bay , Sydney on 18 January 1788, then moved to Sydney Cove (modern-day Circular Quay ) and established
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#17327759118791632-550: A meeting on Glasgow Green to demand more representative government and an end to the Corn Laws which kept food prices high. The industrial revolution affected handloom weavers in particular, and unrest grew despite attempts by the authorities to employ the workless and to open relief centres to relieve hardship. Government agents brought conspiracy trials to court in 1816 and 1817. The Peterloo Massacre of August 1819 sparked protest demonstrations across Britain. In Scotland,
1768-413: A meeting on 22 March, the 15 to 20 people present included the weavers John King and John Craig, the tin-smith Duncan Turner, and "an Englishman" called Lees. John King told them that a rising was imminent and all present should hold themselves in enthusiastic readiness for the call to arms. The next day some of them met on Glasgow Green then moved on to Rutherglen where Turner revealed plans to establish
1904-482: A member of either House of Parliament. In practice, however, the convention is that ministers must be members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords to be accountable to Parliament. From time to time, prime ministers appoint non-parliamentarians as ministers. In recent years such ministers have been appointed to the House of Lords. The government is required by convention and for practical reasons to maintain
2040-584: A memorial rally in Paisley on 11 September led to a week of rioting and cavalry were used to control around 5,000 " Radicals ". Protest meetings were held in Stirling , Airdrie , Renfrewshire , Ayrshire and Fife , mainly in weaving areas. On 13 December, the "Radical Laird" Kinloch was arrested for addressing a mass meeting on Magdalen Green in Dundee , but he escaped and fled abroad. The gentry feared that
2176-412: A new House of Commons, unless the prime minister advises the monarch to dissolve Parliament , in which case an election may be held sooner. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most likely to command the confidence of the House of Commons, usually by possessing a majority of MPs. Under the uncodified British constitution , executive authority lies with
2312-527: A new-found Scottish national identity creating widespread enthusiasm for the tartan " plaided pageantry" that Sheriff Ranald MacDonald of Stirling was already enthusiastically engaged in as a Clan chieftain at Ulva and member of various "Highland societies". At the suggestion of Walter Scott, unemployed weavers from the west of Scotland were put to work on paving a track round Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park adjoining Arthur's Seat . The path
2448-573: A number of years. The American Revolution brought transportation to the North American mainland to an end. The remaining British colonies (in what is now Canada) were regarded as unsuitable for various reasons, including the possibility that transportation might increase dissatisfaction with British rule among settlers and/or the possibility of annexation by the United States – as well as the ease with which prisoners could escape across
2584-661: A proposal to release women who could not be transported, but this solution was considered absurd: this caused the Lords Justices to order that no distinction be made between men and women. Women were sent to the Leeward Islands , the only colony that accepted them, and the government had to pay to send them overseas. In 1696 Jamaica refused to welcome a group of prisoners because most of them were women; Barbados similarly accepted convicts but not "women, children nor other infirm persons". Thanks to transportation,
2720-420: A public exhibition of the king's mercy. It was a solution to a real problem in the domestic penal system. There was also the hope that transported convicts could be rehabilitated and reformed by starting a new life in the colonies. In 1615, in the reign of James I , a committee of the council had already obtained the power to choose from the prisoners those that deserved pardon and, consequently, transportation to
2856-605: A result of the act. The Transportation, etc. Act 1784 ( 24 Geo. 3. Sess. 2 . c. 56) and the Transportation, etc. Act 1785 ( 25 Geo. 3 . c. 46) also resulted to help alleviate overcrowding. Both acts empowered the Crown to appoint certain places within his dominions, or outside them, as the destination for transported criminals; the acts would move convicts around the country as needed for labour, or where they could be utilized and accommodated. The overcrowding situation and
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#17327759118792992-472: A set period of years. If imposed for a period of years, the offender was permitted to return home after serving their time, but had to make their own way back. Many offenders thus stayed in the colony as free persons, and might obtain employment as jailers or other servants of the penal colony. England transported an estimated 50,000 to 120,000 convicts and political prisoners, as well as prisoners of war from Scotland and Ireland , to its overseas colonies in
3128-590: A significant portion were women. Some were as young as 10 when convicted and transported to Australia. Most were guilty of relatively minor crimes like theft of food/clothes/small items, but some were convicted of serious crimes like rape or murder. Convict status was not inherited by children, and convicts were generally freed after serving their sentence, although many died during transportation or during their sentence. Convict assignment (sending convicts to work for private individuals) occurred in all penal colonies aside from Western Australia , and can be compared with
3264-543: A similar way to the United Scotsmen ("Unions" being area related, not Trade Unions ). The authorities were further alarmed and set up spies and informers to forestall any further reformist activity. Between then and 1815, Major John Cartwright made visits to establish radical Hampden Clubs across Scotland. The end of the Napoleonic Wars brought economic depression. In 1816, some 40,000 people attended
3400-483: A small group marched towards the Carron Company ironworks to seize weapons, but, while stopped at Bonnymuir , they were confronted by a detachment of hussars . Another small group from Strathaven marched to meet a rumoured larger force, but were warned of an ambush and dispersed. Militia taking prisoners to Greenock jail were attacked by local people and the prisoners released. James Wilson of Strathaven
3536-500: A special Royal commission Court of Oyer and Terminer was set up to prosecute. James Wilson was arrested and on 20 July was put on trial at Glasgow charged with four counts of treason. The jury found him Not Guilty on three counts, Guilty of "compassing to levy war against the King in order to compel him to change his measures" and recommended mercy, but he was sentenced to death. Five of his colleagues were found Not Guilty, and another
3672-567: A specific term. To provide confinement facilities, the general change in sentencing was passed in conjunction with the Convict Prisons Act 1853 ( 16 & 17 Vict. c. 121), long titled "An Act for providing Places of Confinement in England or Wales for Female Offenders under Sentence or Order of Transportation." The Penal Servitude Act 1857 ( 20 & 21 Vict. c. 3) ended the sentence of transportation in virtually all cases, with
3808-604: A substantial grant from the government, the Sovereign Support Grant , and Queen Elizabeth II's inheritance from her mother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother , was exempt from inheritance tax . In addition to legislative powers, His Majesty's Government has substantial influence over local authorities and other bodies set up by it, through financial powers and grants. Many functions carried out by local authorities, such as paying out housing benefits and council tax benefits, are funded or substantially part-funded by
3944-513: A very few minutes shall flow on this scaffold, will cry to heaven for vengeance, and may it be the means of our afflicted Countrymen’s speedy redemption." Hardie then spoke of "our blood [being] shed on this scaffold... for no other sin but seeking the legitimate rights of our ill used and down trodden beloved Countrymen", then when the Sheriff angrily intervened he concluded by asking those present to "go quietly home and read your Bibles, and remember
4080-493: A wide area of central Scotland including Stirlingshire , Dunbartonshire , Renfrewshire , Lanarkshire and Ayrshire , with an estimated total of around 60,000 stopping work. Reports came in that men were carrying out military drill at points round Glasgow, foundries and forges had been raided, and iron files and dyer's poles taken to make pikes. In Kilbarchan soldiers found men making pikes, in Stewarton around 60 strikers
4216-424: Is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch (that is, the king or queen who is the head of state at any given time) does not make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by the government and Parliament. This constitutional state of affairs is the result of a long history of constraining and reducing the political power of the monarch, beginning with Magna Carta in 1215. Since
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4352-551: Is not vital. A government is not required to resign even if it loses the confidence of the Lords and is defeated in key votes in that House. The House of Commons is thus the responsible house . The prime minister is held to account during Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) which provides an opportunity for MPs from all parties to question the PM on any subject. There are also departmental questions when ministers answer questions relating to their specific departmental brief. Unlike PMQs, both
4488-640: Is still known as the Radical Road . The cause of electoral reform continued, and with the Scottish Reform Act 1832 Glasgow was given its own Member of Parliament for the first time. The event was largely overshadowed by English Radical events and forgotten by school history, but in the 20th century the Scottish National Party historian J. Halliday brought the event back into the curriculum. At an anniversary debate in
4624-740: The American Revolution and the French Revolution , and be influenced by Thomas Paine 's The Rights of Man . The Scottish Society of the Friends of the People held a series of "Conventions" in 1792 and 1793. The government reacted harshly, sentencing successive leaders to penal transportation , and, in 1793 , Dundee Unitarian minister Thomas Fysshe Palmer was also given 7 years transportation for helping to prepare and distribute reform tracts. Dissent went underground with
4760-668: The Dreyfus Affair , and Dreyfus was fully exonerated in 1906. Unlike normal penal transportation, many Soviet people were transported as criminals in forms of deportation being proclaimed as enemies of people in a form of collective punishment . During the Second World War , the Soviet Union transported up to 1.9 million people from its western republics to Siberia and the Central Asian republics of
4896-483: The Greater London Authority disputed. Similarly, the monarch is immune from criminal prosecution and may only be sued with his permission (this is known as sovereign immunity ). The sovereign, by law, is not required to pay income tax, but Queen Elizabeth II voluntarily paid it from 1993 until the end of her reign in 2022, and also paid local rates voluntarily. However, the monarchy also received
5032-583: The Home Counties . The "Felons' Act" (as the Transportation Act was called) was printed and distributed in 1718, and in April twenty-seven men and women were sentenced to transportation. The Act led to significant changes: both petty and grand larceny were punished by transportation (seven years), and the sentence for any non-capital offence was at the judge's discretion. In 1723 an Act
5168-624: The Indian Rebellion of 1857 . As the Indian independence movement swelled, so did the number of prisoners who were penally transported. The Cellular Jail in Port Blair , South Andaman Island , also called Kālā Pānī or Kalapani (Hindi for black waters), was constructed between 1896 and 1906 as a high-security prison with 698 individual cells for solitary confinement . Surviving prisoners were repatriated in 1937. The penal settlement
5304-650: The Myall Creek Massacre . In the Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars , a group of Irish convicts joined the Aboriginal coalition of Eora , Gandangara , Dharug and Tharawal nations in their fight against the colonists. Norfolk Island , east of the Australian mainland, was a convict penal settlement from 1788 to 1794, and again from 1824 to 1847. In 1803, Van Diemen's Land (modern-day Tasmania)
5440-668: The Nine Years' War ) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) adversely affected merchant shipping and hence transportation. In the post-war period there was more crime and hence potentially more executions, and something needed to be done. In the reigns of Queen Anne (1702–14) and George I (1714–27), transportation was not easily arranged, but imprisonment was not considered enough to punish hardened criminals or those who had committed capital offences, so transportation
5576-522: The Restoration , the penal transportation system and the number of people subjected to it, started to change inexorably between 1660 and 1720, with transportation replacing the simple discharge of clergyable felons after branding the thumb . Alternatively, under the second act dealing with Moss-trooper brigands on the Scottish border, offenders had their benefit of clergy taken away, or otherwise at
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5712-634: The Scottish Parliament members of the various parties each found lessons for their different causes in the "Radical War". A large memorial stone to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bonnymuir was unveiled in 2021. James Kelman 's play, Hardie and Baird: The Last Days , was produced at the Traverse Theatre , Edinburgh , under the direction of Ian Brown , between 30 June and 22 July 1990. There are discrepancies between
5848-490: The United Scotsmen whose activities were curbed with the trial of George Mealmaker in 1798. Between 1800 and 1808, the earnings of weavers were halved, and, in 1812, they petitioned for an increase which was granted by the magistrates. However, the employers refused to pay so the weavers called a strike which lasted for nine weeks with the support of a " National Committee of Scottish Union Societies ", organised in
5984-483: The benefit of clergy , was a fundamental feature of the penal system, but to prevent its abuse, this pardoning process was used more strictly. Prisoners were carefully selected for transportation based on information about their character and previous criminal record. It was arranged that they fail the reading test, but they were then reprieved and held in jail, without bail, to allow time for a royal pardon (subject to transportation) to be organised. Transportation became
6120-474: The rule of law , it was equally unreasonable for them to escape punishment entirely. With the development of colonies, transportation was introduced as an alternative punishment, although legally it was considered a condition of a pardon, rather than a sentence in itself. Convicts who represented a menace to the community were sent away to distant lands. A secondary aim was to discourage crime for fear of being transported. Transportation continued to be described as
6256-479: The 15-year-old Alexander Johnstone were in due course transported to the penal colonies in New South Wales or Tasmania . Peter Mackenzie, a Glasgow journalist, campaigned unsuccessfully to have them pardoned, and published a small book: The Spy System, including the exploits of Mr Alex. Richmond, the notorious Government Spy of Sidmouth and Castlereagh. Eventually, on 10 August 1835, an absolute pardon
6392-658: The 1820s until the 1860s, convicts were sent to the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda (part of British North America ) to work on the construction of the Royal Naval Dockyard and other defence works, including at the East End of the archipelago, where they were accommodated aboard the hulk of HMS Thames at an area still known as " Convict Bay ", at St. George's town. In 1787, the First Fleet ,
6528-620: The Americas from the 1610s until early in the American Revolution in 1776, when transportation to America was temporarily suspended by the Criminal Law Act 1776 ( 16 Geo. 3 . c. 43). The practice was mandated in Scotland by an act of 1785, but was less used there than in England. Transportation on a large scale resumed with the departure of the First Fleet to Australia in 1787, and continued there until 1868 . Transportation
6664-503: The Australian population (about 7 million) had Irish ancestry – the highest percentage outside of Ireland – thanks partially to historical convict transportation. In British India – including the province of Burma (now Myanmar ) and the port of Karachi (now part of Pakistan ) – Indian independence activists were penally transported to the Andaman Islands . A penal colony was established there in 1857 with prisoners from
6800-649: The Bonnymuir fighting got out, "the Englishman" Lees sent a message asking the radicals of Strathaven to meet up with the "Radical laird" Kinloch's large force at Cathkin , and next morning a small force of 25 men followed the instructions and left at 7 a.m. to march there. The experienced elderly Radical James Wilson is claimed to have had a banner reading "Scotland Free or a Desart" [sic]. At East Kilbride they were warned of an army ambush, and Wilson, suspecting treachery, returned to Strathaven. The others bypassed
6936-550: The Committee of Organisation for forming a Provisional Government. Glasgow April 1st. 1820.", included references to the English Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights . "Friends and Countrymen! Rouse from that torpid state in which we have sunk for so many years, we are at length compelled from the extremity of our sufferings, and the contempt heaped upon our petitions for redress, to assert our rights at
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#17327759118797072-479: The Crown to merchants contracted to take the convicts to America. The Transportation Act made returning from transportation a capital offence . The number of convicts transported to North America is not verified: John Dunmore Lang has estimated 50,000, and Thomas Keneally has proposed 120,000. Maryland received a larger felon quota than any other province. Many prisoners were taken in battle from Ireland or Scotland and sold into indentured servitude , usually for
7208-408: The Crown, who may use them without having to obtain the consent of Parliament. The prime minister also has weekly meetings with the monarch. What is said in these meetings is strictly private; however, they generally involve government and political matters which the monarch has a "right and a duty" to comment on. Such comments are non-binding however and the King must ultimately abide by decisions of
7344-669: The European Parliament are immune from prosecution in EU states under any circumstance. As a consequence, neither EU bodies nor diplomats have to pay taxes, since it would not be possible to prosecute them for tax evasion. When the UK was a member of the EU, this caused a dispute when the US ambassador to the UK claimed that London's congestion charge was a tax, and not a charge (despite the name), and therefore he did not have to pay it—a claim
7480-475: The Old Bailey and the man who gave important information about capital offenders to the cabinet. One reason for the success of this Act was that transportation was financially costly. The system of sponsorship by merchants had to be improved. Initially the government rejected Thomson's proposal to pay merchants to transport convicts, but three months after the first transportation sentences were pronounced at
7616-469: The Old Bailey, his suggestion was proposed again, and the Treasury contracted Jonathan Forward , a London merchant, for the transportation to the colonies. The business was entrusted to Forward in 1718: for each prisoner transported overseas, he was paid £3 (equivalent to £590 in 2023), rising to £5 in 1727 (equivalent to £940 in 2023). The Treasury also paid for the transportation of prisoners from
7752-458: The Union. Most were persons accused of treasonous collaboration with Nazi Germany, or of Anti-Soviet rebellion. Following death of Joseph Stalin , most of them were rehabilitated. Populations targeted included Volga Germans , Chechens , and Caucasian Turkic populations. The transportations had a twofold objective: to remove potential liabilities from the warfront, and to provide human capital for
7888-517: The United Kingdom , officially His Majesty's Government , abbreviated to HM Government , is the central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . The government is led by the prime minister (currently Keir Starmer since 5 July 2024) who selects all the other ministers . The country has had a Labour government since 2024. The prime minister Keir Starmer and his most senior ministers belong to
8024-443: The ambush and reached Cathkin, but as there was no sign of the promised army they dispersed. Ten of them were identified and caught, and by nightfall on 7 April they were jailed at Hamilton . Other Radical disturbances occurred at weaver villages around the central lowlands and the west central Scotland, with less obvious activity in some east coast towns. Large numbers of suspected ringleaders were imprisoned at various jails around
8160-588: The border. After the termination of transportation to North America, British prisons became overcrowded, and dilapidated ships moored in various ports were pressed into service as floating gaols known as "hulks". Following an 18th-century experiment in transporting convicted prisoners to Cape Coast Castle (modern Ghana) and the Gorée (Senegal) in West Africa, British authorities turned their attention to New South Wales (in what would become Australia). From
8296-440: The cabinet ministers for the department and junior ministers within the department may answer on behalf of the government, depending on the topic of the question. During debates on legislation proposed by the government, ministers—usually with departmental responsibility for the bill —will lead the debate for the government and respond to points made by MPs or Lords. Committees of both the House of Commons and House of Lords hold
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#17327759118798432-434: The central government. Penal transportation Penal transportation (or simply transportation ) was the relocation of convicted criminals, or other persons regarded as undesirable, to a distant place, often a colony , for a specified term; later, specifically established penal colonies became their destination. While the prisoners may have been released once the sentences were served, they generally did not have
8568-411: The charity commissions) are legally more or less independent of the government, and government powers are legally limited to those retained by the Crown under common law or granted and limited by act of Parliament. Both substantive and procedural limitations are enforceable in the courts by judicial review . Nevertheless, magistrates and mayors can still be arrested and put on trial for corruption, and
8704-693: The colonies. Convicts were chosen carefully: the Acts of the Privy Council showed that prisoners "for strength of bodie or other abilities shall be thought fit to be employed in foreign discoveries or other services beyond the Seas". During the Commonwealth , Oliver Cromwell overcame the popular prejudice against subjecting Christians to slavery or selling them into foreign parts, and initiated group transportation of military and civilian prisoners. With
8840-504: The community, and who, by proper care and correction, might be reclaimed from their evil course"; they then passed the Criminal Law Act 1776 ( 16 Geo. 3 . c. 43) "An act to authorize ... the punishment by hard labour of offenders who, for certain crimes, are or shall become liable to be transported to any of his Majesty's colonies and plantations." For the ensuing decade, men were instead sentenced to hard labour and women were imprisoned. Finding alternative locations to send convicts
8976-523: The conditions of convicts in the colonies were inhumane. Although a concerted programme of prison building ensued, the Short Titles Act 1896 lists seven other laws relating to penal transportation in the first half of the 19th century. The system of criminal punishment by transportation, as it had developed over nearly 150 years, was officially ended in Britain in the 1850s, when that sentence
9112-436: The confidence of the House of Commons. It requires the support of the House of Commons for the maintenance of supply (by voting through the government's budgets) and to pass primary legislation . By convention, if a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons it must either resign or a general election is held. The support of the Lords, while useful to the government in getting its legislation passed without delay,
9248-438: The continent, would differentiate it from America, where the use of convicts was only a minor adjunct to its overall policy. In 1787, when transportation resumed to the chosen Australian colonies, the far greater distance added to the terrible experience of exile, and it was considered more severe than the methods of imprisonment employed for the previous decade. The Transportation Act 1790 ( 30 Geo. 3 . c. 47) officially enacted
9384-406: The crowd. A List of Killed and Wounded was "collected from the several Medical Practitioners in Greenock, 11th April 1820", describing the wounds sustained and the condition of the survivors. It listed 18 casualties, including an 8 year old boy, and a 65 year old woman. At this time 6 were noted as dead, others died later from their wounds, and a report published on 15 July said there were "nine of
9520-420: The crowd. The mob pursued the Volunteers into Crawfurdsdyke, then returned to break open the jail. A magistrate urged the crowd to desist, but with no forces to resist them, agreed to release the prisoners who then escaped. A large group set off to burn down Port Glasgow, but were halted at that town's boundary by armed townsfolk who had barricaded the Devol's Glen Bridge. Greenock magistrates arrived, and dispersed
9656-477: The disaffected could be lured out of their lairs - being made to think that the day of "liberty" had come - we could catch them abroad and undefended... few know of the apprehension of the leaders. . . so no suspicion would attach itself to the plan at all. Our informants have infiltrated the disaffected's committees and organisation, and in a few days you shall judge the results." King, Craig, Turner and Lees would now be repeatedly involved in organising agitation. At
9792-699: The early 1600s until the American Revolution of 1776, the British colonies in North America received transported British criminals. Destinations were the island colonies of the West Indies and the mainland colonies that became the United States of America. In the 17th century transportation was carried out at the expense of the convicts or the shipowners. The Transportation Act 1717 allowed courts to sentence convicts to seven years' transportation to America. In 1720, an extension authorized payments by
9928-496: The early years of the French Revolution , but had then been repressed during the long Napoleonic Wars . An economic downturn after the wars ended brought increasing unrest, but the root cause was the Industrial Revolution. Artisan workers, particularly weavers in Scotland , sought action to force the government to enact Luddite protective restrictions. Gentry fearing revolutionary horrors recruited militia and
10064-423: The end of the 17th century and beyond, but they diminished in 1670 due to certain complications. The colonial opposition was one of the main obstacles: colonies were unwilling to collaborate in accepting prisoners: the convicts represented a danger to the colony and were unwelcome. Maryland and Virginia enacted laws to prohibit transportation in 1670, and the king was persuaded to respect these. The penal system
10200-461: The evening 300 radicals briefly skirmished with a party "of cavalry", but no one came to harm that day. In Glasgow, John Craig led around 30 men to make for the Carron Company ironworks in Falkirk , Stirlingshire , telling them that weapons would be there for the taking, but the group scattered when intercepted by a police patrol. By coincidence a detachment of Hussars was waiting in ambush with
10336-510: The exception of those years, the Transportation Act led to a decrease in whipping of convicts, thus avoiding potentially inflammatory public displays. Clergyable discharge continued to be used when the accused could not be transported for reasons of age or infirmity. Penal transportation was not limited to men or even to adults. Men, women, and children were sentenced to transportation, but its implementation varied by sex and age. From 1660 to 1670, highway robbery, burglary , and horse theft were
10472-409: The exchequer to be a member of the House of Lords was Lord Denman , who served for one month in 1834. The British monarch is the head of state and the sovereign , but not the head of government . The monarch takes little direct part in governing the country and remains neutral in political affairs. However, the authority of the state that is vested in the sovereign, known as the Crown , remains
10608-441: The executioner "Did you ever see such a crowd, Thomas?". On 8 September, Hardie and Baird were executed outside Stirling Tolbooth, watched by a crowd of 2,000. The Sheriff of Stirling, Ranald MacDonald, required that they make no political speech from the gallows, but agreed that they could speak upon the bible. Baird concluded his brief speech by saying "Although this day we die an ignominious death by unjust laws our blood, which in
10744-578: The fate of Hardie and Baird." They were hanged and then beheaded, in what was the last beheading in the UK, a few months after the Cato Street Plot. Thomas McCulloch, John Barr, William Smith, Benjamin Moir, Allan Murchie, Alexander Latimer, Andrew White, David Thomson, James Wright, William Clackson / William Clarkson, Thomas Pike/Thomas Pink, Robert Gray, James Clelland, Alexander Hart, Thomas McFarlane, John Anderson, Andrew Dawson, John McMillan and
10880-605: The first permanent European settlement in Australia. This marked the beginning of the European colonisation of Australia . Violent conflict on the Australian frontier between indigenous Australians and the colonists began only months after the First Fleet landed, lasting over a century. Convicts forced to work in the bush on the frontier were sometimes the victims of indigenous attacks, while convicts and ex-convicts also attacked indigenous people in some instances, such as
11016-399: The government deployed an apparatus of spies, informers and agents provocateurs to stamp out the movement. A Committee of Organisation for Forming a Provisional Government put placards around the streets of Glasgow late on Saturday 1 April, calling for an immediate national strike. On Monday, 3 April, work stopped in a wide area of central Scotland and, in a swirl of disorderly events,
11152-532: The government has powers to insert commissioners into a local authority to oversee its work, and to issue directives that must be obeyed by the local authority if the local authority is not abiding by its statutory obligations. By contrast, as in European Union (EU) member states, EU officials cannot be prosecuted for any actions carried out in pursuit of their official duties, and foreign country diplomats (though not their employees) and foreign members of
11288-766: The government on the statement. When the government instead chooses to make announcements first outside Parliament, it is often the subject of significant criticism from MPs and the speaker of the House of Commons . The prime minister is based at 10 Downing Street in Westminster , London. Cabinet meetings also take place here. Most government departments have their headquarters nearby in Whitehall . The government's powers include general executive and statutory powers , delegated legislation , and numerous powers of appointment and patronage. However, some powerful officials and bodies, (e.g. HM judges, local authorities , and
11424-485: The government to account, scrutinise its work and examine in detail proposals for legislation. Ministers appear before committees to give evidence and answer questions. Government ministers are also required by convention and the Ministerial Code , when Parliament is sitting, to make major statements regarding government policy or issues of national importance to Parliament. This allows MPs or Lords to question
11560-519: The government. Royal prerogative powers include, but are not limited to, the following: While no formal documents set out the prerogatives, the government published the above list in October 2003 to increase transparency, as some of the powers exercised in the name of the monarch are part of the royal prerogative . However, the complete extent of the royal prerogative powers has never been fully set out, as many of them originated in ancient custom and
11696-492: The hazard of our lives." by "taking up arms for the redress of our common grievances". "Equality of rights (not of property)... Liberty or Death is our motto, and we have sworn to return home in triumph - or return no more.... we earnestly request all to desist from their labour from and after this day, the first of April [until] in possession of those rights..." It called for a rising "To show the world that we are not that lawless, sanguinary rabble which our oppressors would persuade
11832-456: The higher circles we are but a brave and generous people determined to be free." A footnote added: "Britons – God – Justice – the wish of all good men, are with us. Join together and make it one good cause, and the nations of the earth shall hail the day when the Standard of Liberty shall be raised on its native soil." On Monday 3 April, work stopped, particularly in weaving communities, over
11968-431: The intention of catching men marching off from Glasgow to Carron, but was disappointed. Craig was caught, brought before a magistrate and fined, but the magistrate paid his fine for him. On the next day, Tuesday 4 April, Duncan Turner assembled around 60 men to march to Carron, while he carried out organising work elsewhere. Half the group dropped out, the rest accepted his assurances that they would pick up supporters along
12104-457: The judge's discretion, were to be transported to America, "there to remaine and not to returne". There were various influential agents of change: judges' discretionary powers influenced the law significantly, but the king's and Privy Council's opinions were decisive in granting a royal pardon from execution. The system changed one step at a time: in February 1663, after that first experiment,
12240-561: The kind of revolutionary turmoil that had been seen in France and Ireland could take place in Britain, and there was a great recruiting of volunteer regiments through the Scottish lowlands and Scottish Borders . Walter Scott urged his Borders neighbours to "appeal at this crisis to the good sense and loyalty of the lower orders... All you have to do is sound the men, and mark down those who seem zealous. They will perhaps have to fight with
12376-468: The limited choice of sentences available to judges for convicted criminals. With modifications to the traditional benefit of clergy , which originally exempted only clergymen from the general criminal law, it developed into a legal fiction by which many common offenders of "clergyable" offences were extended the privilege to avoid execution. Many offenders were pardoned as it was considered unreasonable to execute them for relatively minor offences, but under
12512-427: The men named Kean went with him, and Baird and Hardie set off with a total of 30 men. On the way, they twice came across travellers, but let them go. The travellers passed the information on to authorities at Kilsyth and Stirling Castle . King arrived again, though Kean was not with him. and told them that he had instructions that he had to go quickly to find supporters at Camelon , while Baird and Hardie were to leave
12648-660: The military. Some shots were then fired by the soldiers in return, and after some time the cavalry got through an opening in the wall and attacked the party who resisted till overpowered by the troops who succeeded in taking nineteen of them prisoners, who are lodged in Stirling Castle. Four of the radicals were wounded". The Glasgow Herald sniggered at the small number of radicals encountered, but worried that "the conspiracy appears to be more extensive than almost anyone imagined... radical principles are too widely spread and too deeply rooted to vanish without some explosion and
12784-496: The mob dead, and nine more dangerously wounded, there are two of the volunteers also wounded." In April 1820, hundreds of young Radicals fled by ship to Canada from Greenock, escaping persecution from Lord Sidmouth's spy network. Among them was William Lyon Mackenzie who was a leader in the Canada Rebellions of 1837–1838 . In various towns a total of 88 men were charged with treason. At both Glasgow and Stirling
12920-464: The novel Papillon , a semi-autobiographical novel of his incarceration in and escape from a penal colony in French Guiana . The most significant individual transported prisoner is probably French army officer Alfred Dreyfus , wrongly convicted of treason in a trial in 1894, held in an atmosphere of antisemitism . He was sent to Devil's Island. The case became a cause célèbre known as
13056-526: The number of men whipped and released diminished, but whipping and discharge were chosen more often for women. The reverse was true when women were sentenced for a capital offence, but actually served a lesser sentence due to a manipulation of the penal system: one advantage of this sentence was that they could be discharged thanks to benefit of clergy while men were whipped. Women with young children were also supported since transportation unavoidably separated them. The facts and numbers revealed how transportation
13192-473: The offences most often punishable with transportation for men. In those years, five of the nine women who were transported after being sentenced to death were guilty of simple larceny, an offence for which benefit of clergy was not available for women until 1692. Also, merchants preferred young and able-bodied men for whom there was a demand in the colonies. All these factors meant that most women and children were simply left in jail. Some magistrates supported
13328-573: The open. The insurrection was largely forgotten as attention focused on better publicised Radical events in England. Two years later, enthusiasm for the visit of King George IV to Scotland successfully boosted loyalist sentiment, ushering in a new-found Scottish national identity . In the 18th century, artisans such as handloom weavers, shoemakers, smiths and wrights worked to commission and so could set their own hours of work, which often left them time to read and debate with friends what they had read. The national Presbyterian Church of Scotland
13464-433: The period of absolute monarchy , or were modified by later constitutional practice. As of 2019, there are around 120 government ministers supported by 560,000 civil servants and other staff working in the 24 ministerial departments and their executive agencies . There are also an additional 20 non-ministerial departments with a range of further responsibilities. In theory, a government minister does not have to be
13600-452: The pitmen and colliers of Northumbria for defence of their firesides, for those literal blackguards are got beyond the management of their own people." As 1820 began, the government, frightened by the " Cato Street Conspiracy " in London, acted to suppress reform agitation and drew on its apparatus of spies and agents provocateurs in Scotland. A 28-man Radical Committee for organising
13736-554: The practice of convict leasing in the United States. Transportation from Great Britain and Ireland ended at different times in different colonies, with the last being in 1868, although it had become uncommon several years earlier thanks to the loosening of laws in Britain, changing sentiment in Australia, and groups such as the Anti-Transportation League . In 2015, an estimated 20% of the Australian population had convict ancestry. In 2013, an estimated 30% of
13872-495: The previous orders in council into law, stating "his Majesty hath declared and appointed... that the eastern coast of New South Wales, and the islands thereunto adjacent, should be the place or places beyond the seas to which certain felons, and other offenders, should be conveyed and transported ... or other places". The act also gave "authority to remit or shorten the time or term" of the sentence "in cases where it shall appear that such felons, or other offenders, are proper objects of
14008-504: The prisoners had to shelter from stones thrown from higher ground to the south of the jail. A hostile crowd gathered, and shots fired in the air failed to calm the situation. As the Volunteers returned along Cathcart Street, the "mob continued to increase, throwing stones, bottles, &c. from windows and closes." The Volunteers suffered bruising, and as they approached Rue-end Street opened sporadic fire, killing and wounding several of
14144-411: The realm. Initially based on the royal prerogative of mercy , and later under English law , transportation was an alternative sentence imposed for a felony . It was typically imposed for offences for which death was deemed too severe. By 1670, as new felonies were defined, the option of being sentenced to transportation was allowed. Depending on the crime, the sentence was imposed for life or for
14280-501: The region. The Port Glasgow Volunteers served in Paisley during the strike, and when returning home on Saturday 8 April escorted five prisoners to be taken on to Greenock jail in a cart. On the way through Port Glasgow, their commanders responded to rumours by increasing the escort from 30 to 80 men, and they met with minor hostility while marching through the town of Crawfurdsdyke . They reached Greenock jail, and while handing over
14416-557: The resources to return home. Banishment or forced exile from a polity or society has been used as a punishment since at least the 5th century BCE in Ancient Greece . The practice of penal transportation reached its height in the British Empire during the 18th and 19th centuries. Transportation removed the offender from society, mostly permanently, but was seen as more merciful than capital punishment . This method
14552-469: The resumption of transportation would be initially resolved by Orders in Council on 6 December 1786, by the decision to establish a penal colony in New South Wales , on land previously claimed for Britain in 1770, but as yet not settled by Britain or any other European power. The British policy toward Australia, specifically for use as a penal colony , within their overall plans to populate and colonise
14688-400: The road and wait at Bonnymuir . Sixteen Hussars and sixteen Yeomanry troopers had been ordered on 4 April to leave Perth and go to protect Carron. They left the road at Bonnybridge early on 5 April and made straight for the slopes of Bonnymuir. As the newspapers subsequently reported, "On observing this force the radicals cheered and advanced to a wall over which they commenced firing at
14824-410: The royal mercy" At the beginning of the 19th century, transportation for life became the maximum penalty for several offences which had previously been punishable by death. With complaints starting in the 1830s, sentences of transportation became less common in 1840 since the system was perceived to be a failure: crime continued at high levels, people were not dissuaded from committing felonies, and
14960-485: The settlement and industrialization of the largely underpopulated eastern regions. The policy continued until February 1956, when Nikita Khrushchev in his speech, " On the Personality Cult and Its Consequences ", condemned the transportation as a violation of Leninist principles. Whilst the policy itself was rescinded, the transported populations did not begin to return to their original metropoles until after
15096-411: The sooner it takes place the better." During 5 April, more regiments arrived in Glasgow, causing considerable excitement. Some signs of resistance being organised were reported and the army stood on the alert well into the night, but no radical attack materialised. In Duntocher , Paisley and Camelon people thought to be drilling or making pikes were arrested. On the afternoon of 5 April, before news of
15232-433: The source of executive power exercised by the government. In addition to explicit statutory authority , the Crown also possesses a body of powers in certain matters collectively known as the royal prerogative . These powers range from the authority to issue or withdraw passports to declarations of war. By long-standing convention, most of these powers are delegated from the sovereign to various ministers or other officers of
15368-603: The sovereign, although this authority is exercised only after receiving the advice of the Privy Council . The prime minister, the House of Lords, the Leader of the Opposition, and the police and military high command serve as members and advisers of the monarch on the Privy Council. In most cases the cabinet exercise power directly as leaders of the government departments , though some Cabinet positions are sinecures to
15504-400: The start of Edward VII 's reign in 1901, by convention, the prime minister has been an elected member of Parliament (MP) and thus answerable to the House of Commons, although there were two weeks in 1963 when Alec Douglas-Home was first a member of the House of Lords and then of neither house. A similar convention applies to the position of chancellor of the exchequer . The last chancellor of
15640-530: The supreme decision-making committee, known as the Cabinet . Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House in which they sit; they make statements in that House and take questions from members of that House. For most senior ministers this is usually the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords . The government is dependent on Parliament to make primary legislation , and general elections are held every five years (at most) to elect
15776-541: The terms of sentence initially being of the same duration as transportation. While transport was greatly reduced following enactment of the 1857 act, the last convicts sentenced to transportation arrived in Western Australia in 1868. During the 80 years of its use to Australia, the number of transported convicts totalled about 162,000 men and women. Over time the alternative terms of imprisonment would be somewhat reduced from their terms of transportation. From
15912-604: The various accounts. Dates above are taken from Halliday, but others show different dates. British Government King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee The government of
16048-505: The way. Their leader Andrew Hardie was given a torn half card to be matched with the other half in the possession of a supporter in Condorrat , on the way to Carron. There, John Baird was visited around 11 p.m. by John King, who gave him the other half card. At around 5 a.m. on 5 April Hardie arrived with 25 men, soaked through. Baird had expected a small army, but King urged them on, saying he would go on ahead to rally supporters. One of
16184-403: Was also influenced by economics: the profits obtained from convicts' labour boosted the economy of the colonies and, consequently, of England. Nevertheless, it could be argued that transportation was economically deleterious because the aim was to enlarge population, not diminish it; but the character of an individual convict was likely to harm the economy. King William's War (1688–1697) (part of
16320-709: Was also settled as a penal colony, followed by the Moreton Bay Settlement (modern Brisbane , Queensland ) in 1824. The other Australian colonies were established as "free settlements", as non-convict colonies were known. However, the Swan River Colony (Western Australia) accepted transportation from England and Ireland in 1851, to resolve a long-standing labour shortage . Two penal settlements were established near modern-day Melbourne in Victoria but both were abandoned shortly after. Later,
16456-417: Was discharged. On 1 August, a jury ignored the abrasive judge and refused to convict two weavers. At Stirling Tolbooth on 4 August, the judge advised "To you Andrew Hardie and John Baird I can hold out little or no hope of mercy" since "as you were the leaders, I am afraid that example must be given by you." James Wilson was hanged and beheaded on 30 August, watched by some 20,000 people, first remarking to
16592-453: Was dispersed, in Balfron around 200 men had assembled for some sort of action. Pikes, gunpowder and weapons called "wasps" (a sort of javelin) and "clegs" (a barbed shuttlecock to throw at horses) were offered for sale. Rumours spread that England was in arms for the cause of reform and that an army was mustering at Campsie commanded by Marshal MacDonald , a Marshal of France and son of
16728-484: Was founded on egalitarian attitudes and rights of the individual to make principled judgements, and so encouraged disputatious habits and preoccupation with "rights", as well as continuing the Scottish education tradition which achieved more widespread literacy at that time than other countries. In Scotland, only 1 in 250 people had the right to vote and these artisans were ready to join the Radical movement in welcoming
16864-529: Was granted. The effect of the crushing of this staged insurrection was to effectively discourage serious Radical unrest in Scotland for some time. Lord Melville , the right hand man in Scotland of Lord Liverpool 's government, saw the suggested Visit of King George IV to Scotland as a political need, to engage the feelings of the common people and weaken the Radical movement. The event, largely organised by Sir Walter Scott , succeeded brilliantly and brought
17000-524: Was imposed on prisoners guilty of capital offences pardoned by the king. Returning from the colonies before the stated period was a capital offence. The bill was introduced by William Thomson , the Solicitor General , who was "the architect of the transportation policy". Thomson, a supporter of the Whigs, was Recorder of London and became a judge in 1729. He was a prominent sentencing officer at
17136-541: Was introduced into the House of Commons in 1717 under the Whig government. It legitimised transportation as a direct sentence, thus simplifying the penal process. Non-capital convicts (clergyable felons usually destined for branding on the thumb, and petty larceny convicts usually destined for public whipping) were directly sentenced to transportation to the American colonies for seven years. A sentence of fourteen years
17272-655: Was less frequently applied to women and children because they were usually guilty of minor crimes and they were considered a minimal threat to the community. The outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) halted transportation to America. Parliament claimed that "the transportation of convicts to his Majesty's colonies and plantations in America ;... is found to be attended with various inconveniences, particularly by depriving this kingdom of many subjects whose labour might be useful to
17408-544: Was not easy, and the act was extended twice by the Criminal Law Act 1778 ( 18 Geo. 3 . c. 62) and the Criminal Law Act 1779 ( 19 Geo. 3 . c. 54). This resulted in a 1779 inquiry by a parliamentary committee on the entire subject of transportation and punishment; initially the Penitentiary Act 1779 was passed, introducing a policy of state prisons as a measure to reform the system of overcrowded prison hulks that had developed, but no prisons were ever built as
17544-627: Was not used by Scotland before the Act of Union 1707 ; following union, the Transportation Act 1717 specifically excluded its use in Scotland. Under the Transportation, etc. Act 1785 ( 25 Geo. 3 . c. 46) the Parliament of Great Britain specifically extended the usage of transportation to Scotland. It remained little used under Scots Law until the early 19th century. In Australia, a convict who had served part of his time might apply for
17680-498: Was presented in Virginia to discourage transportation by establishing complex rules for the reception of prisoners, but the reluctance of colonies did not stop transportation. In a few cases before 1734, the court changed sentences of transportation to sentences of branding on the thumb or whipping, by convicting the accused for lesser crimes than those of which they were accused. This manipulation phase came to an end in 1734. With
17816-520: Was shut down in 1945. An estimated 80,000 political prisoners were transported to the Cellular Jail which became known for its harsh conditions, including forced labor; prisoners who went on hunger strikes were frequently force-fed . France transported convicts to Devil's Island and New Caledonia in the 19th and early-to-mid 20th centuries. Devil's Island, a French penal colony in Guiana ,
17952-430: Was singled out as a leader of the march there, and was executed by hanging at Glasgow, then decapitated. Of those arrested by government troops at Bonnymuir, John Baird and Andrew Hardie were similarly executed at Stirling after making short defiant speeches. Twenty other Radicals were sentenced to penal transportation . It was suspected that government agents had actively fomented the unrest to bring radicals into
18088-453: Was substituted by imprisonment with penal servitude , and intended to punish. The Penal Servitude Act 1853 ( 16 & 17 Vict. c. 99), long titled "An Act to substitute, in certain Cases, other Punishment in lieu of Transportation," enacted that with judicial discretion, lesser felonies, those subject to transportation for less than 14 years, could be sentenced to imprisonment with labour for
18224-420: Was the preferred punishment. There were several obstacles to the use of transportation. In 1706 the reading test for claiming benefit of clergy was abolished ( 6 Ann. c. 9). This allowed judges to sentence "clergyable" offenders to a workhouse or a house of correction . But the punishments that then applied were not enough of a disincentive to commit crime: another solution was needed. The Transportation Act
18360-406: Was used for criminals, debtors, military prisoners, and political prisoners. Penal transportation was also used as a method of colonization . For example, from the earliest days of English colonial schemes, new settlements beyond the seas were seen as a way to alleviate domestic social problems of criminals and the poor as well as to increase the colonial labour force, for the overall benefit of
18496-473: Was used for transportation from 1852 to 1953. New Caledonia became a French penal colony from the 1860s until the end of the transportations in 1897; about 22,000 criminals and political prisoners (most notably Communards ) were sent to New Caledonia. Henri Charrière (16 November 1906 – 29 July 1973) was a French writer, convicted in 1931 as a murderer by the French courts and pardoned in 1970. He wrote
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