HC Deb 21 December 1812 vol 24 cc340-5
Sir F. Burdett

rose to present a Petition from the friends and relatives of certain persons now confined in Ilchester gaol. The parties were resident at Bath, and the individuals in confinement had been committed in consequence of assembling riotously before the town hall, during the last election in that city, and demanding in a tumultuous manner that the doors of the hall should be opened. This was refused, and some windows were broken. The next day these persons were seized, and had been treated with a severity which nothing could justify. The particulars of that severity were set forth in the Petition which he held in his hand. The offence was certainly bailable, and bail to any amount had been offered, but was refused. They were then sent to Ilchester gaol, and being all of them people who maintained their families by their own labour, the greatest distress had ensued to them. One was a journeyman printer, another a journeyman carpenter, and another was a poor woman who earned her subsistence by carrying goods home from the markets. They were, of course, unable to obtain justice by any legal process. The petitioners set forth that they were confined in solitary cells and heavily ironed. All access to them by their friends or relations who might be disposed to alleviate the hardships of their lot, was denied. During this severe weather they had nothing to sleep on but a little straw in a stone dungeon, and covered with a scanty rug; and though some humane persons in the town had provided them with great coats, yet they were stripped of these every night before they were locked up in their cells. The ordinary hour of locking them up was about four o'clock. Their food was nothing but bread and water; and to convince the House that he was not dwelling upon feigned or imaginary distresses, he would shew them one of the loaves which had been sent up to him from Ilchester, and which was the whole allowance for one man for a day. [Here the hon. baronet drew forth a little loaf from his pocket, and after holding it up for the inspection of the House, he dashed it indignantly on the floor, and it rolled towards the Treasury benches, where it was picked up by one of the members.] Mr. Burke, continued the hon. baronet, had once thrown down a dagger on the floor of that House, to produce effect, but he had produced something that was real, and not from the mere impulse of momentary feeling. He would ask, whether such a pittance was enough to sustain life? Before he concluded, also, he wished to advert to the present state of the gaols throughout England. He feared there was a degree of oppression exercised in them by the inferior officers of what was called justice, countenanced in some instances by the magistrates themselves (though he was far from intending to cast any imputation upon that body in general,) which were shocking in a civilized country. With regard to the Petition he held in his hand, he knew not exactly what mode of redress to suggest to the House, but he thought some relief ought surely to be afforded. The petitioners were too poor to remove their complaints to either of the courts at Westminster by writs of Habeas Corpus. He concluded by moving, That the Petition do lie on the table.

Mr. Harvey

thought it would be a dangerous precedent to grant the prayer of the Petition, which went either to liberation from prison, or to being admitted to bail. The prisoners had been committed for felony, the Riot Act having been duly read, and they had continued their tumultuous conduct notwithstanding. It was the province of a jury, therefore, to decide upon their guilt or innocence; and they would take their trial at the next assizes. He considered the allegations in the Petition as false.

Lord Palmerston

suggested whether it would not be better to present the Petition when there was a fuller attendance of members.

Sir F. Burdett

said, he had waited till the House was nearly upon the point of adjourning, in hopes that more members would be present.

The Petition was then read. It purported to be the Petition of several friends and relatives of John Hipwood, William Erry, William Taylor, Charles Pitt, Philip Millikin, and Elizabeth Lovett, now under confinement in the gaol of Ilchester, upon a charge of a riot committed at the late election for Bath; and set forth,

"That, on the 2nd day of the late election for the said city, held by virtue of the proclamation thereupon issued by Joseph Phillott esq. the returning officer thereof, a great number of the freemen and other inhabitants of Bath were peaceably assembled in the market place in front of the town hall of the said city, in order to continue the business of such election, in exercise of their lawful rights and privileges; and that the doors of such hall were then closed against the citizens, and guarded by an extraordinary number of constables, who prevented all access thereto, in despite of the repeated remonstrances made by John Allen, esq. one of the candidates, who insisted on the light of public admission thereto for the purpose of continuing the said election; and, in consequence of their persevering in such refusal, the suffrages of the freemen then present were about to be taken in the open street at a temporary hustings, when an immediate stop was put thereto (notwithstanding there was not the least appearance of riot or tumult) by three of the corporation of the said city, who violently rushed out of the said hail, attended by a number of constables, and not only seized the person of the said John Allen, esq. dragging him from the place on which he was then standing (and in the very act of exhorting the people to keep the peace) preventing thereby the unpolled freemen from tendering their votes, and also with their staves and bludgeons striking and compelling the people to disperse; and that, in consequence of such violent procedures on the part of the corporation and their officers, many of the persons so struck, and others who felt indignant thereat, attacked the officers in their turn by throwing at them dirt, oyster shells, &c. by which several windows of the town hall were demolished, but no personal damage whatever was sustained by the constables, although by their promiscuously striking at the people with their long staves more than 100 persons were severely wounded and bruised by them; and that, on pretext of such riot, the several persons above named (together with others who have since been admitted to bail) were seized by the officers, and dragged to the Bridewell of the said city, where they were kept for four days in cells heavily ironed, and on the allowance of a twopenny loaf and water each per day, until they were fully committed on a charge of having unlawfully and riotously assembled in the market place of the said city, and having there feloniously remained with such persons so assembled one hour after proclamation had been made (as it is said) by one of the magistrates for their dispersion, pursuant to the act of the 1st of George J, although the riot and tumult was notoriously begun by the said three members of the corporation and the constables in manner above stated; and, although bail for the appearance of the said prisoners was tendered to the said Joseph Phillott by their friends, and also by vice admiral Graves and the said John Allen, esq. to the extent of 5,000l. yet the said Joseph Phillott, in the most harsh and peremptory manner, refused to accept of any bail whatever, and committed the said prisoners to the county gaol of Ilchester, where they now remain, and must continue confined upon the same miserable allowance of bread and water as in the Bath prison (which is totally inadequate to the sustenance of human existence) until the next assizes (being six months from the time of their commitment) unless the House shall be pleased to interfere on their behalf, by ordering them to be released or admitted to bail; and that, in consequence of the imprisonment of the said John Hipwood, the business of his father as a boat builder, and of which he had the sole management, is at a stand, and his parents have sustained most serious pecuniary injury, as well as much mental affliction, thereby; and that the said W. Erry is by profession a journeyman printer, and by his labour supported his aged mother and infant brother and sister, who, in consequence of his confinement, are now thrown on the parish for relief; and that the said W. Taylor, another of the said prisoners, is by trade a carpenter, who by his industry has materially contributed to the support of his mother and an infant sister; and that the said Charles Pitt is by business a shee-maker, and by his labour as a journeyman maintains himself and his mother, who is a widow; and that the said Philip Millikin is by trade a journeyman printer, and has ever borne an irreproachable character for industry and integrity; and that the said Elizabeth Lovett the other of the said prisoners (who was apprehended in her bed on the night after the above tumult) is merely a poor industrious woman, who obtains her livelihood by carrying baskets from the market; and the petitioners have not only been informed, but some of them have actually seen, that, independent of the scantiness of their gaol allowance, the bodily sufferings of the prisoners above named are very considerable, inasmuch as they are fettered like felons of the worst description, precluded the sight and conversation of their friends, except at three stated times of the day, one hour only at each time, and then through two iron gratings, at the distance of six feet from each other; and, notwithstanding they have been supplied by the humanity of several gentlemen with a great coat each, to defend them against the inclemency of the season, their clothes, which might add to their warmth in the nights of this severe winter, are constantly taken from them on their retiring to their straw bed (about four of the clock in the afternoon) where they have nothing but a rug allowed them for a covering; and that the petitioners have been informed that all ends of public justice would have been answered, and the duration of the confinement of the said prisoners shortened at least one half, if the magistrates had chosen to commit them to the next quarter sessions of the peace, instead of the assizes, for the county, and to draw down a heavier judgment (if possible) upon the unfortunate relatives of the petitioners, the said corporation have already monopolized all the leading counsel on that circuit; and that the poverty of the prisoners has prevented their applying to any of his Majesty's courts of Westminster for writs of Habeas Corpus for the purpose of being admitted by a judge to bail, and by whom they would most probably have been relieved; and that, although they, as well as the petitioners, have been advised, that they will ultimately have legal redress by actions at law against the persons by whom they have been under these circumstances imprisoned, yet in the mean time, in consideration of the personal sufferings of the said prisoners, and of the great affliction of mind felt by the petitioners as their relatives and friends, and also in consequence of the severe privations and hardships sustained by their respective families by reason of their confinement; the petitioners pray, that under the whole of these circumstances, the House will, in its humanity and justice, be pleased to interpose herein for the relief of the above named prisoners, in such mode as to them shall seem meet."

Ordered to lie upon the table.