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Ruthapricot (talk) 23:39, 13 May 2012 (UTC)

Shire Hall Chartist Trail
1. The Queen v Frost

During the winter of 1839-40 Monmouth's elegant Shire Hall was in the national limelight as it hosted the last mass trial for treason in mainland Britain. Three Chartists, charged with Treason, were found guilty and sentenced to death in Courtroom 1. This was one of the most important trials in British legal history, and it gripped the nation as events played out towards a seemingly gruesome concludsion.

'Whose side would you have been on in The Queen v Frost?'''

2.	Who were the Chartists?
Feeling powerless in the face of the worst economic recession of the 19th century, ordinary working people turned on Parliament which they saw as privileged and corrupt. The Chartists wanted Parliament to be reformed so that everyone could have a say in how the country was governed. Six reforms were laid out in The People’s Charter, launched by William Lovett in May 1838. The six points of the People’s Charter were: • A vote for every man over 21. • The secret ballot so you could vote without intimidation. • No property qualifications for Members of Parliament (MPs), allowing any man, poor or rich to be chosen as an MP. • Payment of Members of Parliament, allowing ordinary working men to be MPs. • Equal constituencies to ensure the same amount of representation for the same number of electors, so that small constituencies didn’t swamp the votes of larger ones. • Annual Parliaments - to keep MPs accountable.

Thousands of Chartists signed the petition to Parliament demanding that the six reforms be adopted.

3. What was all the fuss about?

Chartism was the first real working class movement in Britain, but the Chartists were divided: the ‘Moral Force’ Chartists rejected violence;the ‘Physical Force’ Chartists (such as John Frost)argued ‘Peacefully if we may, forcibly if we must’. There were 3 prominent Chartists in south Wales:

•	John Frost was a middle-class draper, who ran a shop in Newport’s High Street. He announced his support for the People’s Charter in October 1838 and soon became the leader of Monmouthshire’s Chartists and a speaker for the Chartist cause throughout the country. He had been the Mayor of Newport in 1836 and remained a magistrate until March 1839, when he was removed because of his Chartist activities. He was described by the editor of the Monmouthshire Merlin as, ‘about five feet seven inches in height, rather stoutly formed; his personal appearance and manner are rather at variance with recklessness or violence of conduct or character. The expression of his countenance is mild and thoughtful; and his manner would be regarded as indicating more than usual benevolence and kindness of disposition. In the tones of his voice, too both in conversation and when speaking in public, there is something pleasing and conciliatory’.

•	Zephaniah Williams, a Welsh-speaker, was the spokesperson for the Chartists in the western valleys of Monmouthshire. He had been employed as a mineral agent for the Sirhowy Company, an influential and powerful position, but left in early 1839 to run the Royal Oak Inn with his wife Joan, in Blaina, just as the Chartist movement took off in Monmouthshire. He held strong radical views, favouring a republic and doubting Christian belief. He had been in trouble with the authorities, who described him as ‘5ft 8 inches, of strong, square build, a bold talker with a blunt manner and a swaggering walk’.

•	William Jones was the energetic and militant leader of the Chartists in the more anglicised eastern valley of Monmouthshire, north of Pontypool, where he worked as a watchmaker and, with his wife,kept the Bristol House beer shop where he established the Pontypool Working Men’s Association. Although of Welsh extraction he didn’t speak Welsh. He had been a travelling actor and proved to be a popular performer at Chartist gatherings throughout the Monmouthshire coalfield.

All three sympathised with the Physical Force Chartists and after Parliament rejected the Charter petition, they drew up secret plans for a mass protest: Out of site, quietly and often speaking in Welsh the political movement became a front for a military organisation - drilling, arming, training. Secret cells were set up, covert meetings were held in the Chartist Caves at Llangynidyr and weapons were manufactured. Behind closed doors and in pub back rooms plans were drawn up for a mass Chartist protest and on November 4th, 1839 thousands of armed Chartists marched to Newport.

This wooden box contains replicas of some of the weapons the Chartists carried with them. They were used as evidence during the Trial.

 4.	 Dreadful riot and loss of life

The Chartists massed outside the Westgate Hotel and ‘a dreadful riot and loss of life’ followed. A gun went off, windows were smashed, and soldiers stationed inside the hotel opened fire on the huge crowd of Chartist protestors. Many fell to the ground and the surprise tactic forced mass retreat. ‘The moment I saw blood flow I became terrified and fled’, Frost admitted. The other leaders, Zephaniah Williams and William Jones quickly disappeared too. For over an hour a young apprentice carpenter lay wounded on the steps of the hotel before he died. George Shell was one of at least 20 Chartists who lost their lives ‘engaged in a struggle for freedom’. More than 60 were wounded.

This plan of the Westgate Hotel was used in the Trial. It shows where the Chartists entered the Hotel, which windows the soldiers fired from and where the dead fell.

5.	A pocketful of pistols

£100 rewards were offered immediately for the capture of the Chartist leaders - John Frost, Zephaniah Williams and William Jones. Frost was arrested the same night eating bread and cheese at a friend’s house in Newport. He was found with three unused pistols in his pockets. Within a month all three men had been captured, charged with Treason and imprisoned in Monmouth Gaol.On December 10th a Grand Jury met here to decide which of the accused Chartists should stand trial for being:

‘Arrayed and armed in warlike manner that is to say with Guns Pistols, Pikes, Swords, Daggers and gathered together… wickedly, maliciously and traitorously did levy and make war against our said Lady the Queen.’

6.	The Treason Trial

Interest in events in Monmouth intensified; everyone knew the penalty for Treason was hanging and quartering! The Government, convinced the Rising had been an organised rebellion against the state, were determined to prove it. Monmouth found itself centre stage in a trial of national importance. On a bleak winter’s day, 31st December 1839, in this courtroom the last mass treason trial in Britain began.

This is a list of the Chartist prisoners who were to be tried.

7.	Who’s Who

This commemorative print was produced to satisfy public interest in the Chartist Trials. To fit all the people in the artist turned John Frost’s face at a peculiar angle to look directly at the viewer. Can you find him? The Courtroom at the Shire Hall has hardly been changed since 1840 and looks remarkably similar today.

8.	The Prisoners

Frost was the first to be tried. You can still stand in the prisoners' box where he listened to the evidence brought against him during the trail. Steps behind the box lead down to the holding cells in the basement. Frost and the other prisoners were only held there during the days they appeared in court: Can you image how Frost must have felt: ‘Everything now was as hushed as the grave, and nothing could be heard but the clinking of the chains as the prisoners came up to the bar, and the occasional quiet whisper of “Which one is Frost?” ’ (Seren Gomer)

9.	The Jury

Many of those called for jury service (over 300) were rejected by Frost’s defence. They were concerned he would not receive a fair trial locally. The Chartist press felt that ‘to allow the prisoners to be tried by a middle class Monmouthshire jury was to allow them to be murdered’. The twelve Jurors selected were all from rural Monmouthshire and as property owners they had the vote. We don’t know if the authorities found it difficult to recruit enough English speaking supportive men for the Jury, but the language issue must have added to the tension in the courtroom. Many of the defendants were asked to plead for their lives in a language that wasn’t their first. One Welsh farmer begged to be allowed to give his evidence in Welsh at the trial. It clearly compounded feelings of injustice and colonial oppression by the English!

T h e J u r y:

John Daniel, haberdasher from Abergavenny Edward Reese, miller from Llanmartin Thomas Davies, butcher from Abergavenny Edward Smith, coachmaker from Chepstow Richard Lewis, farmer from Llanfair Discoed Christopher John, farmer from Redwick Edward Brittle, farmer from Mitchell Troy William Williams, farmer from Llangattock James Hollings, ironmonger from Monmouth John Richards, baker from Chepstow Thomas Jones, farmer, from Nash John Capel Smith, butcher from Chepstow

10.	The Defence

The defence team sat on the left hand side of the court. Sir Frederick Pollock, one of the leading barristers of the day, presented the case for the defence in a speech lasting 5 hours! He argued that the march on Newport was a demonstration of strength to persuade the Newport magistrates to release another Chartist (Henry Vincent) who had been imprisoned in Monmouth Gaol.

11.	The Prosecution

The prosecution team sat on the right hand side of the court. The Attorney-General Sir John Campbell was in charge of the prosecution of the Chartist prisoners. The case for the prosecution was that 30 local Chartists had planned a national rising and that the Chartist leaders, including Frost, Williams and Jones, were guilty of treason.

12.	The Judges

The Judge - Lord Chief Justice Sir Nicholas Tindal - was assisted by Mr Justice John Williams and Sir James Parke. At the end of Frost’s trial Tindal highlighted flaws and inconsistencies in the evidence, in effect summing up for an acquittal and directing the Jury to a verdict of ‘not guilty’. Chartist fears that the trials would not be fair were justified. In just 30 minutes the Jury found Frost guilty. Williams and Jones were also found guilty.

13.	Outrage and Transportation

Sir Nicholas Tindal, prepared for court each day in the Judge's Robing Room. It was here on 16th January that he prepared to deliver the final sentences on Frost, Williams and Jones: ‘that each of you be hanged by the neck until you be dead and that afterwards the head of each of you be severed from the body and the body of each be divided into four quarters!’

Not surprisingly there was a massive public outcry at the severity of the sentences. Privately Sir Nicholas doubted the evidence brought before the court. He visited the Home Secretary (that's his portrait on the wall in the Robing Room)in Whitehall and shared his concerns. A compromise was reached - the sentence was reduced to transportation for life. Serving their sentence in Tasmania, the Chartists experienced extreme hardship and trauma before they were granted an unconditional pardon in 1856.

Despite the severity of the punishments Chartism flourished with further petitions to Parliament in 1842 and 1848. When Frost returned to Britain in 1856 two of the Charter points had been achieved; the secret ballot and the abolition of the property requirement for MPs. Chartism continued as a radical force pushing for social reform.

What the Chartists did helped pave the way for modern democracy in Britain - and ensured that everyone (over 18) would eventually secure the right to vote!

A short walk around Monmouth will take you to many locations associated with the Chartist trials. A leaflet is available from the Shire Hall.