Despard Plot

The Despard Plot of 1802 was an alleged conspiracy to assassinate King George III, led by Colonel Edward Marcus Despard (1751–1803), a former army officer and colonial official.^[1] Despard was the leader of a group known as the United Britons, with links to Irish rebels, but which had been infiltrated by government spies.^[2]

The plan was that following the King’s assassination the group would seize key strong points in London, such as the Bank of England and the Tower of London, as a prelude to a wider uprising by the population of the city.^[2]

The British government was aware of the plot five months before the scheduled date of the assasination, but while they were still gathering evidence delayed apprehending the conspirators.^[3] On 16 November 1802, a week before the anticipated attack, Despard was arrested at the Oakley Arms public house in Lambeth.^[4]

Trial and execution

Despard and six of his co-conspirators – John Francis, John Wood, James Sedgewick, Thomas Broughton, Arthur Graham, and John Macnamara.^[5] – were condemned to be hanged drawn and quarteredStatutory penalty in England from 1352 for men convicted of high treason, not repealed until 1870. ,^[6] the last time that sentence was ever passed.^[7][a]Hanging, drawing, and quartering was not abolished in England until the Forfeiture Act 1870.^[8] The executions at the Surrey County Gaol, in Newington, on 21 February 1803, were attended by a crowd of 20,000.^[4]

In the event, the removal of their bowels before the men were dead, and the subsequent quartering of their bodies was remitted by the magistrates responsible for carrying out the executions,^[9] and they were hanged before being cut down and beheaded.^[10]