TRIALS OF REBELS HELD AT YORK CASTLE, OCTOBER 1746.
On the opening of the Commission at Carlisle on the 11th August 1746, after bills of indictment had been found against the prisoners there, the Court adjourned until the 9th September. In the interval the Commission went to York, and the Grand Jury found true bills against 75 prisoners.
The judges then went back to Carlisle for the trials there, and finally returned to York, where the trials lasted from 2nd to 7th October 1746 (Scots Mag-, vui. 482).
On 7th February 1746 the official lists (S.P.Dom., 81-88) showed 249 men and 8 women confined in the Castle, described as having been " taken in actual rebellion."
On 27th July, when Philip Webb went there to carry out the "lotting" of the prisoners, he found only 109 men and women awaiting trial. The discrepancy is inexplicable in the absence of mortality tables for the prison, but it throws a lurid light on the health conditions in York Castle.
From Webb's analysis of these prisoners it appears that eight men had been set aside for King's Evidences, and twenty-five had been expressly earmarked for trial by the Duke of Newcastle. Deducting these there remained seventy-six prisoners who were lotted. The lots fell on four individuals, who were accordingly put up for trial {S.P.Dom., 85-122).
Only twenty-nine prisoners from York itself were on the list to appear before the Commission, but forty-six came from Lancaster Castle, which was not visited by the Commission.
On 8th October 1746 Lord Chief Baron Parker submitted a report on the trials (S.P.Dom., 88-42).
The disposal of the persons indicted may be tabulated as follows :
Confessed the indictment . . • .54
Convicted upon evidence . . • .16
Acquitted 5
Total 75
The seventy persons who confessed or were convicted were sentenced to death, and execution days were appointed for groups in accordance with the estimated gravity of their offence.
Of the first batch of thirteen prisoners to be executed on 1st November only ten were hanged. They were : Edmund Clavering, Lieut. Charles Gordon, William Connolly.° Capt. George Hamilton of Redhouse, James Main (Mayne), Benjamin Mason, David Fraser, William Dempsey, James Sparks, Angus M'Donald.
0f the remainder John Jellens and William Barclay were allowed to enlist, and William Crosby was transported.
Of the second batch of fifty-five prisoners due to be executed on 8th November only thirteen were hanged. These were : Michael Brady, William Hunter, Archibald Kennedy, John M'Gregor, John M'Kellar, Thomas M'Innes, John Walker, David Rowe, John Endsworth, Simon Mackenzie, James Thomson, Alexander Parker, John M'Lean.
John Barnaghy and Angus Campbell died, and William Fraser escaped, twenty-seven enlisted, and eleven were transported, and Sir David Murray, Bt., was ultimately conditionally pardoned and banished.
Finally a third batch of four men was ordered to be hanged on 15th November. Only one, Piper James Reid, suffered; David Ogilvy died, and Daniel Duff and David Wilkie enlisted.
The results of the trials were as follows:-
Acquitted 5
Convicted but escaped 1
Convicted but died 3
Hanged 23
Pardoned on enlistment 31
Transported 11
Banished 1
Total 75