Regency spies : secret histories of Britain's rebels and revolutionaries / Sue Wilkes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wilkes, Sue, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Espionage--Great Britain--History.

Espionage.

Espionage--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (241 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Barnsley, England : Pen & Sword History, 2015.

Summary:

Sue Wilkes reveals the shadowy world of Britain's spies, rebels and secret societies from the late 1780s until 1820. Drawing on contemporary literature and official records, Wilkes unmasks the real conspirators and tells the tragic stories of the unwitting victims sent to the gallows. In this 'age of Revolutions', when the French fought for liberty, Britain's upper classes feared revolution was imminent. Thomas Paine's incendiary Rights of Man called men to overthrow governments which did not safeguard their rights. Were Jacobins and Radical reformers in England and Scotland secretly plotting rebellion? Ireland, too, was a seething cauldron of unrest, its impoverished people oppressed by their Protestant masters. Britain's governing elite could not rely on the armed services even Royal Navy crews mutinied over brutal conditions. To keep the nation safe, a 'war chest' of secret service money funded a network of spies to uncover potential rebels amongst the underprivileged masses. It had some famous successes: dashing Colonel Despard, friend of Lord Nelson, was executed for treason. Sometimes in the deadly game of cat-and-mouse between spies and their prey, suspicion fell on the wrong men, like poets Wordsworth and Coleridge. Even peaceful reformers risked arrest for sedition. Political meetings like Manchester's 'Peterloo' were ruthlessly suppressed, and innocent blood spilt. Repression bred resentment and a diabolical plot was born. The stakes were incredibly high: rebels suffered the horrors of a traitor's death when found guilty. Some conspirators' secrets died with them on the scaffold... The spy network had some famous successes, like the discoveries of the Despard plot, the Pentrich Rising and the Cato St conspiracy. It had some notable failures, too. However, sometimes the 'war on terror' descended into high farce, like the 'Spy Nozy' affair, in which poets Wordsworth and Coleridge were shadowed by a special agent.

Contents:

Enemies of the State. The machinery of government

The King's peace

Gathering intelligence

Recruitment

New ideas

Treason and sedition

Spies, ships and secrets. Growing tensions

A spy is caught

The Bantry Bay Disaster

The Black Legion arrives

Mutiny!

The `Spy Nozy' Affair

Ireland Ablaze! A rebel priest

Insurrection!

Invasion!

Robert Emmet's rebellion

Inside the Secret Societies

The origins of a conspiracy

The Manchester Connection

Treasonable practices

Daring Despard

The Sons of Liberty

Outlawed!

A mysterious Yorkshire plot

Despard's downfall

S is for Spy. An assassin strikes

The Nottinghamshire Luddites

`Enoch Shall Smash Them'

Trouble looms in the North-West

A rebel underground?

Strange lights on the moors

The people's champions. A desperate character

The Spa Fields Riot

The North-West connection

A nst of spies

The Blanketeers

The Ardwick conspiracy

Oliver's Army. Oliver's tour

The Nottingham agent

A trap is sprung

A wild goose chase

Recruits for a rebellion

A spy unmasked. The Yorkshire rising

The Pentrich Rebels

Exposed!

The traitors' trial

`The Last Grand Secret'

Shegoe the spy

The Peterloo Massacre

The Benevolent patriots

The Northern connection

The Cato Street conspiracy

`Scotland free, or Scotland a desart'

The Grange Moor Rising

A sincere revolutionary.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed February 18, 2016).

ISBN:

9781473878396

147387839X

9781473878402

1473878403