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The West End Job Animation Training Video
As part of our project Beautness animation have been working with local primary schools to animate key scenes from the Cato Street Conspiracy. Beautness is the alias for Tom Hillenbrand who planned a series of animation workshops. These sessions not only teach young people the story of the ‘West End Job’ but also allow them to learn traditional animation techniques in a fun and stimulating way, using both modern, user-friendly technology and came...
SONG: The World Turned Upside Down
The Cato Street Conspirators were followers of Thomas Spence, who believed in the common ownership of the land and votes for all. Spence’s views were greatly influenced by what he had read about the Levellers and Diggers of the English Civil War. The Diggers of St George’s Hill 1649 In April 1649 about 20 poor men assembled at St. George’s Hill, Surrey, and began to cultivate the common land. These Diggers held that the English Civil Wars had bee...
SONG: Scots Wha Hae (1793) By Robert Burns
William Davidson left Jamaica for Scotland in 1801. He arrived, aged just 15, just as the annual Burns night custom began in Scotland. His first few years were thus influenced by the works of this great radical poet. When he was captured by the Coldstream Guards and Bow Street Runners on the night of the 23rd January 1820, he sang a song in defiance of his captors, that he had learnt in those early years on these shores. Davidson could have come ...
SONG: The Slaves Lament (1792) by Robert Burns
William Davidson was born in Jamaica to a Scottish father. We know when he was captured by the Coldstream Guards, he was dragged away singing the Scottish rebel song by Robert Burns, Scots Wha Hae. Davidson was probably the most highly educated of the conspirators. He was proud of his Scottish roots and loved Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet. Burns work spoke to him of freedom, liberty and the common good of humankind. ‘The Slave’s Lament...
SONG: General Ludd
One thing that many of the conspirators had in common was that they were artisans, skilled men, whose earnings had been decimated by the Industrial Revolution and the end of the Napoleonic wars. The revolt against the machines that drove the industrial revolution was symbolised by the Luddite revolts of the early 19th century. To cut the cost of fighting the war the government had abolished the Statute of Artificers, which had protected the appre...
SONG: Askew Sisters Goose and Common
Goose and Common is a 17th Century folk poem, which forms one of the pithiest condemnations of the English enclosure movement—the process of fencing off common land and turning it into private property. The means by which the landed gentry stole the common land was one of the key factors that angered so many people in this country and created a violent reaction epitomised by the Cato Street Conspiracy. Peterloo was an outburst of anger at the lan...
David Benson's One Man Show to Mark the Bicentenary of the Cato Street Conspiracy
To mark the 200th anniversary of the Cato Street Plot of 1820, actor David Benson performed several performances of a one man show he had written on the subject. It was first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2019 and was performed at the Harrowby and District Resident’s Association Festival to mark the bicentenary on Sunday 23rd February 2020. Cato Street 1820 is David Benson’s account of the events of February 23rd 1820. Asa David put...
SONG: Whilst Happy in My Native Land (1713) The Last Words of James Ings
‘Give Me Death or Liberty!’ One thing that I was struck by the story of the Cato Street conspirators, was how quickly they had been forgotten. This seemed ironic when the conspirators had chosen to base themselves in Cato Street. Nobody has ever mentioned the uncanny appropriateness of the street name. The man who this street was named after, Cato was an individual who had become immortal by choosing to die in the cause of freedom. Cato had defie...
SONG: Vince Burke's Original Song for the Bicentenary: 'Give me Death or Liberty!'
In an attempt to bring the story of the Cato Street conspirators to a new audience, the Westminster Community Reminiscence and Archive Group (WCRAG) approached musician composer Vince Burke about composing an original piece of music that we could use with schools as part of our outreach programme. In the autumn of 2019 Vince was able to review much of the archive material we had gathered together to begin our project. He was particularly struck b...
Former Life Guard Conspirator John Harrison: Radicalised by the Regency Ton
How the Bridgerton like excess of Regency London radicalised Life Guard conspirator John Harrison Thanks to a grant from the Heritage Fund, Westminster Archives has been working to commemorate the bicentenary of The Cato Street Conspiracy. This was an attempt on February 23rd ,1820, to assassinate Prime Minister Lord Liverpool and his cabinet in Grosvenor Square and spark a British version of the French Revolution. George III died on 29th January...
The Cato Street Conspiracy: A Real Life Drama set in Grosvenor Square Part Five
Does Bridgerton do justice to the period of the Cato Street Conspiracy? 2021 has seen Bridgerton, a period drama set in Grosvenor Square, become the biggest tv phenomenon of lockdown. This article brings to a conclusion our comparison of the Netflix series, Bridgerton, with the Cato Street Conspiracy. There is no doubt that Bridgerton makes brilliant tv. Sixty two million people cannot be wrong. Shonda Rimes didn’t seek to recreate an historical ...
The Cato Street Conspiracy: A Real Life Drama set in Grosvenor Square Part Four
Land-ownership:the Barrier to Equality in Regency Britain 2021 has seen Bridgerton, a period drama set in Grosvenor Square, become the biggest tv phenomenon of lockdown. This article seeks to look at what provoked the Cato Street Conspirators. It considers how the aristocrats portrayed in the Netflix series, Bridgerton, used their ownership of the land to maintain power in parliament and maintain the status quo. As part of our ‘West End Job’ educ...
Household Cavalry Barracks, Horse Guards,1820
Rob Nutter of RH Viz worked with WCRAG volunteers to help us step back in time to when the Cato Street conspiracy took place in 1820. Here you can see a virtual reality tour of the headquarters of Horse Guards in Whitehall.***horseguards-VR*** About the VR The Household Cavalry barracks was reproduced by RH VIz using V-Ray for Cinema 4D from resources provided by Alice Pearson, Director of the Household Cavalry Museum: https://www.householdcavalry...
Lord Harrowby's House, 39, Grosvenor Square (Night time) VR
Rob Nutter of RH Viz worked with WCRAG volunteers to help us step back in time to when the Cato Street conspiracy took place in 1820. Here you can see the house in Grosvenor Square as it might have appeared on the evening of the attempted assasination.***grosvenor-nighttime-vr*** About the VR Lord Harrowby’s House at 39 (44) Grosvenor Square was reproduced using V-Ray for Cinema 4D from period resources on the British History Online website: http...
Lord Harrowby's House, 39, Grosvenor Square (Daylight)VR
Rob Nutter of RH Viz worked with WCRAG volunteers to help us step back in time to when the Cato Street conspiracy took place in 1820. Here you can have a virtual reality tour of Grosvenor House, where the Cato Street Conspirators aimed to kill Lord Liverpool and his cabinet on the night of the 23rd February 1820.***grosvenor-daylight-vr*** About the VR Lord Harrowby’s House at 39 (44) Grosvenor Square was reproduced using V-Ray for Cinema 4D from...
The Cato Street Conspiracy: A Real Life Drama set like Bridgerton in Grosvenor Square Part Three
Wine Women and Gambling: The Wild Life of the Aristocratic Ton 2021 has seen Bridgerton, a period drama set in Grosvenor Square, become the biggest tv phenomenon of lockdown. This article seeks to compare how the real lives of the Cato Street conspirators compared to the excesses of the Regency as portrayed in the Netflix series, Bridgerton Family honour was often threatened by extra-marital affairs. Although frowned upon publicly, adultery was r...
Georgian Delights: The Cato Street Conspiracy by Richard Gaunt Nottingham University
Dr Richard Gaunt, Associate Professor in History (School of Humanities) and Manuscripts and Special Collections at The University of Nottingham, has curated an exhibition, Georgian Delights that has explored in depth the period that led to the Cato Street conspiracy. George IV became King of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover on 29 January 1820. His long apprenticeship for the throne, as Prince of Wales and (after 1811) Prince Regent, made him a ...
The Cato Street Conspiracy: A Real Life Drama set like Bridgerton in Grosvenor Square Part Two
The Marriage Mart of the Ton 2021 has seen Bridgerton, a period drama set in Grosvenor Square, become the biggest tv phenomenon of lockdown. As it is set in the same era, in the same place, that the Cato Street Conspirators targeted, it has given us an opportunity to reach out with our story to a new audience. This article seeks to compare Bridgerton’s imagined world and its characters, with the real historical Regency drama brought to the street...
William Davidson and the West End Job: Part 6
May Day Execution and Aftermath: John Cam Hobhouse MP for Westminster The final part gives John Cam Hobhouse’s eyewitness account of the execution of the Cato Street conspirators. The public execution of Arthur Thistlewood, Richard Tidd, James Ings, William Davidson, and John Brunt was held on 1 May 1820. There were concerns that these men would be turned into martyrs and revolution would be sparked anyway, so the Lifeguard was out in full force ...
William Davidson and the West End Job: Part 5
Imprisoned in the Tower/Newgate and Tried at the Old Bailey Davidson was imprisoned in the Tower of London above Traitor’s Gate. Like Guy Fawkes, the planned execution was hanging, followed by drawing and quartering. Three conspirators turned on the others for a lesser sentence. Thistlewood used the trial to remind the government that the conspirators acted justly in their attempt to remove them by quoting the Magna Carta, as did Davidson. All co...
William Davidson and the West End Job: Part 4
The Cato Street Conspiracy Unfolds: February 23rd 1820 Davidson began chairing meetings of the Committee of Thirteen, a group dedicated to overthrowing Lord Liverpool’s government. One member, George Edwards, was a spy and provocateur for the government. Edwards urged Thistlewood to blow up Parliament like Guy Fawkes planned, but Thistlewood refused to spill innocent blood. Thistlewood believed that assassinating Lord Liverpool and his cabinet Mi...
William Davidson and the West End Job: Part 3
Anger at Peterloo: Joining the Spencean Philanthropists After the Napoleonic Wars, thousands of soldiers were left without employment. William Davidson befriended an ex-Lifeguard, John Harrison, with whom he shared similar views on how society needed to change. Harrison’s time as a Lifeguard disenchanted him with the Regency and he lost all respect for the monarchy. Harrison served abroad in Spain and Portugal towards the end of the Napoleonic Wa...
William Davidson and the West End Job: Part 2
The Wrong Salt: Coming to Terms with the Mother Country William Davidson continues his story with his arrival in the Mother Country. Davidson transferred his legal apprenticeship to Liverpool where he felt more at home. Davidson became a clerk on a merchant ship, where he was press-ganged into service of the Navy for the Napoleonic Wars. For the first time, Davidson experienced slavery first-hand. After returning from sea, Davidson was apprentice...
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