Thomas
Spence
a schoolteacher from Newcastle-upon-Tyne
arrived in London in December 1792. Soon
after arriving he was arrested for selling Rights
of Man by Tom Paine. For the
next twenty years of his life Spence spent long periods in prison
for selling Radical books, pamphlets, newspapers and broadsheets.
By
the early 1800s Thomas Spence had established
himself as the unofficial leader of those Radicals who advocated revolution.
Spence did not believe in a centralized radical body and instead encouraged
the formation of small groups that could meet in local public houses.
At these meetings Spence argued that "if all the land in Britain
was shared out equally, there would be enough to give every man, woman
and child seven acres each". At night the men walked the streets
and chalked on the walls slogans such as "Spence's Plan and Full
Bellies" and "The Land is the People's Farm". In 1800
and 1801 the authorities believed that Spence and his followers were
responsible for bread riots in London.
However, they did not have enough evidence to arrest them.
Thomas Spence died in September 1814. He was buried by "forty
disciples" who pledged that they would keep his ideas alive.
They did this by forming the Society of Spencean
Philanthropists. The men met in small groups all over London.
These meetings mainly took place in public houses and they discussed
the best way of achieving an equal society. Places used included the
Mulberry Tree in Moorfields, the
Carlisle in Shoreditch, the Cock
in Soho, the Pineapple in Lambeth,
the White Lion in Camden, the
Horse and Groom in Marylebone and the Nag's
Head in Carnaby Market.
The government became very concerned about this group that they employed
a spy, John Castle, to join the Spenceans
and report on their activities. In October 1816 Castle reported to
John Stafford, supervisor of Home Office
spies, that the Spenceans were planning to overthrow the British government.
On 2nd December 1816, the Spencean group organised a mass meeting
at Spa Fields, Islington. The speakers at
the meeting included Henry 'Orator' Hunt
and James Watson. The magistrates decided
to disperse the meeting and while Stafford and eighty police officers
were doing this, one of the men, Joseph Rhodes was stabbed. The four
leaders of the Spenceans, James
Watson, Arthur Thistlewood, Thomas
Preston and John Hopper were arrested and charged with high treason.
James Watson was the first to be tried.
However, the main prosecution witness was the government spy, John
Castle. The defence council was able to show that Castle had a
criminal record and that his testimony was unreliable. The jury concluded
that Castle was an agent provocateur (a person employed to
incite suspected people to some open action that will make them liable
to punishment) and refused to convict Watson. As the case against
Watson had failed, it was decided to release the other three men who
were due to be tried for the same offence.
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