Arthur Thistlewood


Thistlewood was born in Tupholme, Lincolnshire in 1774, the son of a successful farmer. He visited the United States and Revolutionary France as a young man, and became obsessed with with the idea that the first duty of a patriot was to overthrow the government. He was a lieutenant in the Lincolnshire Militia for a brief time, then in December 1816 he was involved in the Spa Fields Riot in which the Bank of England and Tower of London were to be seized. He was arrested but acquitted. He spent time in prison in 1818/9 for threatening Lord Sidmouth who was responsible for the Six Acts of 1819 a measure taken to suppress radical movements.


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by Stephen Luscombe