The Monmouth Rebellion of 1685

The Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, was an attempt to overthrow the King of England, James II, who became king when his elder brother, Charles II, died on 6 February 1685. James II was unpopular because he was Roman Catholic and many people were opposed to a "papist" king. James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, claimed to be rightful heir to the throne and attempted to displace James II.

The rebellion ended with the defeat of Monmouth's forces at Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July 1685. Monmouth was executed for treason on 15 July, and many of his supporters were executed or transported in the Bloody Assizes of Judge Jeffreys. SOURCE - Wikipedia

List of Somerset Locals executed for their part in the Monmouth Rebellion - 1685

The following excerpt is from the book "The Monmouth Rebels 1685"
Compiled by W. MACDONALD WIGFIELD, M. A.
SOMERSET RECORD SOCIETY Local History Library, Taunton Castle, Taunton, Somerset 1985
ISBN 0 901732 27 3
Produced for the Society by Alan Sutton Publishing Limited, Gloucester. Printed in Great Britain.

This is a good book to read if you find one of your ancestors was involved in the Monmouth Rebellion. The book includes information about the rebellion itself, the general pardon, the purchasers of the Rebels in Barbados, and an index of rebels by surname and by place of origin.

Between 11 June 1685, when the Duke of Monmouth landed at Lyme in Dorset (from Holland) with a party of just over eighty men, and 6 July, when his army (estimated at between 3200 and 7000) was defeated at Sedgemoor, a significant proportion of the population of West Dorset, East Devon and Somerset rose up in arms against the Government of James II. The level of support for the cause resulted in the government’s savage treatment of the rebels, and also was the reason why so many rebels were able to disappear into a countryside ready to shelter them.

Many factors contributed to the rebellion, but it seems the major reason people got involved was the lack of freedom of worship of protestant nonconformists.

The book comprises a list of almost 4000 names of rebels, composed from various lists, some made in preparation for the Assizes conducted in the West Country in September and October 1685. The Assizes were headed by the country’s most brutal judge, Lord Chief Justice George, Baron Jeffreys of Wem. Public hangings and subsequent gruesome burning of entrails, quartering of corpses, boiling them in salt and dipping them in pitch for long-term exhibition was designed to strike awe into the West Country.

An alternative was transportation. By the beginning of August, courtiers with business interests in the West Indies began bidding for the rebels. The Secretary of State wrote to Jeffreys early in September with his instructions:
200 were to be given to Sir Philip Howard, Governor of Jamaica
200 to Sir Richard White
And 100 each to
Sir William Booth, a Barbados merchant
Sir James Kendall, later Governor of Barbados
Sir Jerome Nipho, the Queen’s Italian Secretary
Sir William Stapleton, Governor of the Leeward Islands
Sir Christopher Musgrave.

These grantees were to take the prisoners from custody within 10 days to ‘some of his Majesties southern plantations, viz. Jamaica, Barbados, or any of the Leeward Islands in America’, and to keep them there for 10 years as indentured servants. A total of 890 prisoners were handed over.

A change of government at home in 1689 forced a revision of policy towards the prisoners, and in February 1690 free pardons were issued. Governor Kendall of Barbados, and others were reluctant to let their prisoners go. By 1691 half the Jamaican prisoners had been released, but not given any cash reward at the end of servitude, and so were unable to return home.

However, for many rebels, all the information to survive is the village of origin and the constable’s presentment. The lack of further facts implies either that the rebel was killed and buried at Sedgemoor, or, more probably, that he managed to stay concealed until the General Pardon was proclaimed.
SOURCE - Merriott Families