The Monmouth Rebellion 1685 Somerset Record Society. Volume 79. Page 208. Roll Call Luppitt Devon. Bird Bernard. Yeoman of Luppitt. Supposed CP;Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Bird John. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Bird Nat'. Yeoman of Luppitt. Absent CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Braddick John. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Bradley George. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Bradley Jas. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Broome John. Of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Browne John. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Burrough Ezekiel. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Burrow John. (Wick). Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Coleman Jas. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Coombe John. Yeoman of Luppitt. Supposed CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Excepted from the GP. Dare Gideon. Convicted, Transported. See main text. (a). Deeme John Senior. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Deeme John Junior. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Evans Edward. Yeoman of Luppitt. Absent CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Farmer Jos. Yeoman of Luppitt. Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Ferrer Jos. Yeoman of Luppitt. Absent CP. Francklin Thomas. Convicted. Transported. see main text (b). Hamme Edward. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Huggins Edward. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Huggins Jos. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Huggins Richard. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Lambert John Juinior. Of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; See Humphrey Lambert of Combe Raleigh. Lowman George. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Middleton John. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Pulman Thomas Junior. Of Luppitt. Supposed CP; Quick Thomas. Convicted. Transported.see main text (c). Rogers Christopher. Yeoman of Luppitt. Absent CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Sheppard John. Yeoman of Luppitt. Absent CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Thomas Moses. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Thomas Phillip. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Willcox Phillip. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Woodroffe John. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. Combe Raleigh Roll Call Extract Lambert Humphrey. Yeoman of Combe Raleigh. In the rebellion and not yet taken CP. Presented at Exeter,but at large JR. CP = Constables Presentments eg; "supposed", "absent". JR = Judge Jeffrey's report to King James. GP = General Pardon. Issued 10th March 1686. Excepted from the General Pardon, Henry Quick of Upottery. John Comb of Luppitt. Convictions & Transportations. (a) Gideon Dare. Husbandman of Luppitt. In prison, supposed CP. In the High Gael, Exeter, Devon. DLD; presented at Exeter, but at large; tried at Taunton; to be hanged but omitted from the warrant JR; transported by Howard, November 12th, on the Constant Richard to Jamaica SL; land forfeit and for sale TB: named on the 1689 petition for return CSPD,W&M 1,43. Returned with Coad 1690 CM. (Sir Philip Howard, Governor of Jamaica) (b) Thomas Francklin. Husbandman of Luppitt. Supposed CP; in prison in Wiltshire DLD; tried at Dorchester JR; transported for Nipho on the Betty from Weymouth, November 25th, to Barbados; sold to Thomas Pearce SL. Also presented at Exeter and misreported at large JR. Land forfeit and for sale TB. Named on the 1689 petition for return CSPD, W&M, 1,43. (Sir Jerome Nipho, the queen's secretary) (c) Thomas Quick. Yeoman of Luppitt. Out in the rebellion CP; in Dorchester gaol, tried at Dorchester JR: transported for Nipho from Weymouth, November 25th, on the Betty to Barbados, sold to Ralph Lane SL. Also misreported presented at Exeter and at large JR. One of two Thomas Quick's the other being a silk weaver from Membury, one of these two was named on the petition for return of 1689.CSPD, W&M, 1,43. CP = Constables Report. JR = Judge Jeffrey's report to King James. DLD = List compiled for the Deputy Lieutenant of Devon of persons in prison in Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, and Devon. SL = Sailing and Shipping list. Public Records Office, Colonial Office. List of persons of quality, emigrants, religious exiles, political rebels, who went from Great Britain to the American plantations. TB = Calender of Treasury books is a schedule of people whose lands were forfeit and in some cases were for sale. HMSO Volume VIII pp 2002/6. CSPD = Calender of State papers Domestic. CM = J.Coad. Memorandum of the Wonderful Providence of God. 1849. Chronology James Duke of Monmouth illegitimate son of Charles II by Lucy Walter was born in 1649, he was created Duke of Monmouth in 1663. Married Anne Scott. In 1684 he fled to Holland after being implicated in a conspiracy to claim the throne. On 11th June 1685 he landed at Lyme Regis and claimed the crown from James II. On the 18th June he arrived in Taunton. On the 5th,6th July he fought and lost the battle of Sedgemoor. On the 8th July he was captured. On the 15th July he was beheaded on Tower Hill. Assizes began at Winchester on 25th August 1685 then moved on to Dorchester, Exeter, Taunton and then Wells on 23rd September. In all 1400 cases were heard, 300 sentenced to be hanged drawn and quartered, 600 transported mainly to the West Indies. Honiton and the Vale of the Otter. By Capt' J.R.W.Coxhead. Page 26,27. The following copy of a contempory broadside gives names of the men of the Honiton district who were tried before the Court at Exeter on 14th September,1685, fourteen of them being executed: An Account of the PROCEEDINGS against the REBELS at an Assize holden at EXETER, On the 14th of this instant September, 1685, where to the Number of 26 Persons were tryed for High - Treason, and found Guilty. As also an Account of the several Persons Names that were appointed to be Executed, and the places they are to be Executed at. Sir I Having already given an Account of the Proceedings at Dorchester; I shall now proceed to that at Exeter; where on the 14th of this Instant, were arraigned for High - Treason the Persons whose names follow :- JOHN OLIVER, THOMAS BROUGHTON, HENRY KNIGHT, PETER BIRD, ABRAHAM HUNT, JOHN KAMPLIN, CHRISTOPHER COOPER, JOHN GOSLING, EDMOND BOVET, JOHN SPRAKE, SAMUEL POTS, WILLIAM CLEGG, WILLIAM SILLER,JUN. WALTER TEAPE, JOHN KNOWLES, JAMES COX, JOHN FOLLET, TIMOTHY DUNKIN, ELIAS HOLMAN, JOHN ROSS, WILLIAM PARSONS, THOMAS CONNET. THOMAS QUINTIN, The Persons above - named, being in Numer, Twenty Three, were Indicted for High - Treason, and upon their Arraignment of Death pleading Guilty, an have since received Judgment. John Foweracres, and Robert Drower, puting themselves upon Tryal were found Guilty, and received Judgment as the former. Thomas Hobbs, Tryed for Proclaiming Monmouth King at Crediton in the County of Devon, was found Guilty, and received Judgment. These are all the Persons that were Tryed at Exeter and received Judgment, in Number Twenty Six, out of which Number, Fourteen are ordered to be Executed at the several places following, viz.:- THOMAS HOBBS, at Crediton. WILLIAM PARSONS THOMAS QUINTIN at Ottery St.Mary. JOHN SPRAKE WILLIAM CLEGG at Collyten. JOHN OLIVER HENRY KNIGHT SAMUEL POTS JOHN KNOWLES at Honiton. THOMAS BROUGHTON JOHN GOSLING TIMOTHY DUNKIN JOHN ROSS at Axminster. The Heads and Quarters of these Persons are to be fixed where the King shall appoint. Your Servant, T.S. September the 15th, 1685. This may be Printed, R.L.S. September the 25th, 1685. LONDON : Printed by E.Mallet, in Black Horse Alley, near Fleet - Bridge, 1685. In the neighbourhood of Luppitt Common to the north of Honiton there is an area of ground containing a number of small depressions or craters measuring roughly eight feet across by about three feet deep; tradition has it that these pits were used as bivouacs by men of the district while they were mustering before joining Monmouth's main force. Number of suspected rebels from surrounding parishes. Honiton. 62. Luppitt. 34. Combe Raleigh. 6. Upottery. 33. Sheldon. 2 Hottens List of Emigrants. Page 317 * A receipt of one hundred prisoners on Mr Nepho's Acco' to be sent to Barbados. Prisoners in Dorchester Gaol to bee Transported. List includes:- Thomas Quick of Luppitt. Thomas Franklyn of Luppitt. Rec'd according to his Ma'ties direccons ye warr't from ye LORD CHEIFE JUSTICE with a schedule therunto annexed of one hundred p'son attainted of High Treason which are by JEROM NEPHO to bee transported unto some of His Majesties Plantacons in America according to a Recognizance entered into by me for this purpose. In witness whereof I have put my hand this six & Twentieth day of September in the first year of his now Majesties reign A.D. 1685 George Penne Charles White Witness, Rob't Hyde Sam'l Gee Certificate of Mr Nipho's prisoners landed at Barbados. A list of convicted Rebells put on Board the Betty of London at the Port of Weymouth in the County of Dorset. James May Commander, and according to Bill of Ladeing by him signed bound for the Island of Barbados. List Includes:- Thomas Quicke of Luppitt. Thomas Francklyn of Luppitt. Arrived in Barbados on 8th January 1686. 8 prisoners having died on the journey and were buried at sea. Masters to whom the rebels were sold in Barbados. Master Rebels Thomas Pearce John Cooke Thomas Franklyn Ralph Lane Thomas Quicke John Baker William Clarke The Monmouth Rebellion Robert Dunning The history of the reign of Charles II is a story of political intrigue. When the King was restored in 1660 after eleven years of republican rule, a settlement was reached to restore govrernment by cooperation between Parliament and Crown, the Anglican Church and Anglican land owners. The same issues which dominated politics and divided the country in the years before the Civil War dominated and divided it again - constitutional or arbitary government, taxation by consent and religion - but divided it in a different way, largely in the form of organised political parties. these parties came later to be distinguished as the Court party (Tories) supporting the Crown and Establishment, and the Country party (Whigs), poorly represented in Parliament early in the reign, who were often against the monarchy as well as Crown polices, and were for religious toleration. It was to these Whigs such as Thomas Thynne of Longleat, George Speke of Whitelackington House, Sir Thomas Sydenham of Brympton and Edmund Prideaux of Forde that the Duke of Monmouth came in 1680 on a progress to the West Country. He found great support for his claim to the throne from the large estate owners and also from the general populace. In 1684 Monmouth was implicated in the Rye House Plot to assasinate the King and the Duke of York and to avoid testifying against sympathetic Whigs he left the country for Belgium. Who were the Rebels?. It used to be thought that the men who followed Monmouth were largely an illiterate rabble, attracted by a popular hero into a rebellion engineered by political agitators. John Evelyn the diarist recorded that " most of his party were Anabaptists and poor clothworkers from the country", and that most of the slain were Mendip miners. An eminent historian of the 20th century, David Ogg, declared that "the majority of the rebels were peasants, not craftsmen". In the past few years two scholars have been testing these conflicting options. Peter Earle in his "Monmouth Rebels" made a careful analysis of a document now in the British Library known as the "Monmouth Roll", an official list of rebels based on the returns of parish constables from East Devon, West Dorset and Somerset of those who for whatever reason, were away from their homes during the rebellion and who were thus suspected of being involved. This list records the names, the home parishes, and sometimes the occupations of 2,611 men. These names, of course, amount to only a third of the rebel army at its largest, and there is no means of knowing whether it is a representative sample of Monmouth's support. Yet Mr Earle's general conclusion is that, given the small proportion of people with known occupations, the rebels were drawn not from the lowest but from the middle ranks of society, and that Monmouth's cause proved most attractive to urban communities where many were engaged in making cloth. This was not to say that the rebellion had much, if anything to do with a possible crisis in the cloth export business. The rebel banners declared "Fear Nothing but God", and the expressed motives in the dying speeches of several of the rebels and the testimony of nonconformist ministers makes that clear. More recent work by W.Macdonald Wigfield has recovered from many sources beyond the "Monmouth Roll" the names of almost 4,000 rebels, the largest number yet established, representing about half of Monmouth's force at its largest. An analysis of those whose occupations are known, a total of 1,053 or just over a quarter, produces a rather different picture than that painted by Mr Earle. The rebels fall very clearly within a group of people who Daniel Defoe, himself accused of taking part in the rebellion in his youth, was later to describe as "the middle sort, who live well... the working trades, who labour hard but feel no want, and the ordinary country people, farmers etc., who fare indifferently'. The figures, it must be said, still represent only a small proportion of the total, but the overall proportions may well accurately reflect the general social structure of the "middle " class in the West Country. The figures are as follows: Total Percentage Agriculture 462 36.6 Cloth Making 408 32.3 Clothing Trades 117 9.3 Building and Metals 104 8.2 Food, Drink,etc. 57 4.5 Professionals 31 2.45 Carrying Trades 28 2.2 Gentlemen 21 1.7 Servants etc 21 1.7 These broad categories cover a wide spectrum of professions and occupations. The agricultural group comprised 373 yeomen, 74 husbandmen and 15 carters. The clothworkers revealed the breadth of the industry: craftsmen in wool, worsted, serge and silk, weavers of broad and narrow cloth and ribbon, cardmakers, shuttlemakers and combmakers; and the fullers, dyers and clothiers who processed the finished cloth and distributed it through the region's cloth fairs or the ports of Bristol, Exeter or Lyme. Among the clothing trades, tailors, shoemakers and cordwainers accounted for 81 of the total of 117, and among the building trades were 27 carpenters, 16 blacksmiths and 14 masons. The food and drink group was more evenly divided: 7 chandlers, 7 butchers, 7 millers, 6 soapers and 5 pipemakers. The professionals included 8 surgeons, 3 apothecaries and 2 doctors, 4 lawyers and 3 goldsmiths. The carriers included 8 seamen. 15 men were described as "gentlemen", one of whom was also a mercer; 5 were esquires and 1 a landowner. The smallest category comprised 15 servants, 5 labourers and a pauper. These figures incomplete as they are, indicate the breadth of the support for the rebellion. The landed gentry, it is true, were hardly represented, but the urban "gentry", the merchants, goldsmiths, mercers and the like, were men of substance. So many yeomen compel a correction to recent suggestions that the rebellion was essentially urban: so far as they are traceable these men had modest estates. The very few servants, labourers and the single pauper were clearly untypical of the rebels. Monmouth's support came unequivocally from those who worked well and felt no want. Of the 34 people from Luppitt included in the "Monmouth Roll" 29 were yeomen and 2 husbandmen. The two husbandmen along with one yeoman were convicted and transprorted for their part in the rebellion. The "Roll Call" for Upottery consisted of 33 people, Combe Raleigh 6 people, Sheldon 2 people and Honiton 62 suspected rebels. The support in the towns of the region provides a study in urban contrasts. From Lyme came 99 rebels of whom 13% were tailors, 12% seamen or mariners, 9% shoemakers, 6% carpenters, and 4% engaged in cloth manufacture. Unique to Lyme were a printmaker and a "cobb mason". Axminster, by contrast with 104 rebels with known occupations produced 67 yeomen one of whom was a clothier and another a dyer, and there were 11 others in the cloth industry. Honiton's 47 rebels comprised 19 craftsmen, 6 in the cloth trade, including 2 lacemakers and only one yeoman. The towns and villages from which the rebels came present in themselves some fascinating questions. There is no doubt about the massive support from the villages of West Dorset and East Devon; hardly a village is not represented in a wide band running north from Lyme. In Somerset, although there was greater support from particular centres like Chard, Ilminster and Taunton and from neighbouring villages like Trull, Pitminster, Wilton and Stoke St Gregory, some villages seem not to be represented. Loss of records and perhaps a reticence on the part of captured rebels to admit to a home in case of recriminations may be part of the reason. Why should Bishop's Lydeard, so near to Taunton not produce a rebel? And perhaps the most curious problem is Bridgewater. Only 17 men from the town are said to have been involved, despite two visits by Monmouth's army; and that number is noticeably small in relation to the support given by surrounding villages like Durleigh (8) and Huntspill (15). Were the town's constables lax in reporting their friends and possibly over zealous in other areas. "Fear Nothing but God" was the motto embroidered on the Duke of Monmouth's banner, and there seems to be no doubt that for many of his followers religion was an important factor, or rather liberty to worship in the way each one might choose. There were of course, other reasons , some of which were plainly political, reason which together harked back to the "Old Cause" for which so many had fought and died during the Civil War. Religious reasons certainly inspired the members of the Congregational church at Axminster, at least eight of whom joined the Duke, led by their minister Stephen Toogood and their ruling Elder Thomas Lane. Nonconformists had undoubtedly experienced trouble and persecution for twenty years and more. Puritanism had been firmly planted in parts of the West Country for a century. By 1653 there were, for instance, nine Baptist churches in Somerset including Taunton, Bridgwater, Chard, Stoke St Gregory and Hatch Beauchamp, places from which substantial numbers of rebels were later to come. There were others in West Dorset and East Devon, including the church at Loughwood, whose charming chapel is said to have been built by the Baptists of Kilmington. Quakers had also established themselves in the West in the 1650s' and among theri meetings was one at Musbury, a Devon village which produced a remarkable number of Monmouth sympathisers. And what clearly inspired their sympathy was the promise of liberty of worship. For more than twenty years the religious toleration which had persuaded many to accept the restored monarchy of Charles II had been too often religious persecution instead; and persecution in the name of a king at least nominally Anglican. But with King Charles dead his openly Catholic brother was king. For nonconformists the future appeared bleak indeed - popery meant suppression and foreign interference. Where was the liberty of the grand old cause? Under King Charles there had at least been some periods of freedom. The higher Anglican Cavalier Parliament had taken its revenge on nonconformists and repulicans by removing the former from local government office and had forced many worthy clergymen by the Act of Uniformity to leave their parishes. From 1664 the first Conventicle Act forbade religious worship outside the parish church except for family prayers for no more than five at a time, and heavy fines or transportation could be imposed for breach of the law. It was suspicious, to say the least, that in 1665 four nonconformist ministers were living at Thorncombe, a parish near the boundaries of Dorset, Devon and Somerset, so that avoiding the eyes and the officers of local magistrates was a relatively easy business. For two years from 1668, when the first Conventicle Act expired, there was little opposition, but a survey made in 1669 revealed how strong was the dissenting movement despite legal penalties: 400 worshipped in and near West Monkton, 230 in St Mary's parish Taunton, 200 at Creech St Michael. The numbers were "always very great" at Chard, ranging from 200 "oftentimes" to 700; there were "nigh 500" at Cullompton. The second Conventicle Act of 1670 reduced the penalties against dissenters but made prosecution much easier, awarding informers a portion of fines imposed. The Axminster nonconformists, like most of their breth, determined to face the consequences of continuing to worship after the second Act, resolving on the first Sunday after it came into force ; "to retire into a solitary wood, only judging it prudent to change the houre of the day: and through the good hand of God towards this people they assembled together every Lord's day, and very frequently on other daies of the week also, and never met with any conviction by informers. . . they have assembled peace-ably together . . . in the Pastor's own hired house . . . sometimes . . . into more solitary places, and to change the place of their assembling up and down, in woods, in fields, in obscure desert places. Sometimes . . . constrained to take the solitary night watches to asseble together to worship the Lord . . ." "but still", as they triumphantly declared, "members have been added to this church in the worst of times", Evasion of magistrates and informers, and growing congregations were common experiences. Charles II's attempt to increase toleration through his Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 was not given legal sanction by an increasingly intolerant parliament, but the licences under the Declaration for preachers to exercise their ministry and for houses in which to worship are witness to the growth of nonconformity. Presbyterians and Congregationalists were particularly active in the region, with two meeting houses in Honiton, three in Luppitt, one in Chard, two in Ilminster, two each in Taunton and Trull. Beaminster, Lyme Regis and Wootton Fitzpaine were the strongest centres in West Dorset. The places of origin of many of the rebels coincide closely with the centres of Dissent. After the battle at Sedgemoor. Some 700 hundred rebels were killed during the battle and a further 300 taken prisoner according to Captain Dummer one of the king's artillery officers. 150 rebels are said to have retreated to Bridgwater, this was out of total number of rebels said to be 4,000 when the battle began. So one must assume that a great number of rebels must have escaped the battle and returned to their home towns and villages. Most of the King's forces returned to London but two regiments under Colonel Kirke and Colonel Trelawney remained in Somerset to mop up the rebels and parish constables were instructed to report on all who had been absent from home during the time of the rebellion, the (Monmouth Roll).it is clear that the Luppitt rebels did not return to their homes after the battle as the roll states that they are "at large" and were probably hiding out in the Blackdown Hills. The small depressions found upon Luppitt Common that were once used as bivouacs, described by Captain J.R. Coxhead in his book are probably all that remains of the hiding places used by the rebels , which would have been close enough to their homes to have been supplied with food and clothing and yet remote enough to provide security, not as Captain Coxhead states as mustering points used before joining Monmouth's main force. The majority of people would have heard nothing of the imminent arrival of the Duke of Monmouth and would have gone straight from their homes to join his force as it marched towards Taunton. It is possible that a great number of rebels fleeing after the battle would have found sanctuary in the wilderness of the Blackdown Hills and safe in the knowledge that the many local sympathisers would not inform on them, even so with a reward of 5 shillings for every rebel captured the jails of the West Country gradually filled up with suspected rebels awaiting trial. For the rebels not captured it must have been a very uncertain time not being able to return home for fear of arrest and so this went on throughout the last months of 1685, eventually on the 10th March 1686 a "General Pardon" was issued and with a few exceptions the main group of suspected rebels were allowed to return to their homes without fear of arrest after spending most of the winter months in hiding. The 30 or so yeomen farmers on the "Monmouth Roll" for Luppitt must have represented a large proportion of Luppitt farmers and in many families father and son were suspected together, one can only assume that their belief that if the Duke of Monmouth became king then freedom of worship would be granted to everybody, but if this is so then one can only admire their conviction of religion. The Bloody Assizes The Autumn Assizes of 1685 began in Winchester on the 25th August with five judges in attendance under the Lord Chief Justice, George, Baron Jeffreys. After hearing some routine cases they proceeded to the case of Dame Alice Lisle of Moyles Court a widow of over 80 years, she was accused of harbouring an escaping rebel named John Hickes a dissenting minister and for her crime of treason she was condemned to be burnt alive, after pleas to the king for mercy she was beheaded instead. This set a pattern for the rest of trials in showing that no mercy was to be given to those implicated in the rebellion. From Winchester the next Assize town was Salisbury where six people were sentenced to be whipped and fined for "seditious words" and then on to Dorchester on the 5th September where 340 men were on trial including Thomas Francklin and Thomas Quick of Luppitt. Out of that number Judge Jeffreys condemned 74 to be hanged, 175 to be transported, 55 were pardoned, 15 remanded in custody and 15 set free for lack of evidence, the hangings were followed by drawing and quartering: entrails were removed from the hanged corpse and burnt, and the corpse was then beheaded and quartered, the head and limbs being boiled in salt and then tarred for preservation, to be displayed in towns and villages throughout the area. Sampson Larke a Baptist minister from Combe Raleigh was one to meet his fate in such a way. The Assizes then moved to Exeter on 14th September where over 500 names appeared on a list suspected of participation in the rebellion but who were still at large. Only 28 men were tried as rebels, 13 were sentenced to be hanged, drawn an quartered including the 4 from Honiton. Why there were so many suspected rebels still at large is a interesting question, were the Devon authorities not being as vigilant in rounding them up as other counties seem to have been, a certain proportion of the suspected rebels from Devon were probably held and tried out of the county for example the three Luppitt men were held one in Taunton, one in a Wiltshire jail and one in Dorchester. the reason might have simply been logistic in that holding the suspected rebels in one or two places made the task of prosecution easier, but even if a certain amount of misrepresentation did occur in Exeter it must still leave a large number at liberty. From Exeter the assizes travelled to Taunton and on 18th September the trial started of 514 prisoners, of these 144 were condemned to hang and 284 were to be transported, including Gideon Dare for Luppitt who was condemned to hang but ommited from the warrant and eventually sentenced to be transported, the sentence of hanging once handed down was usually carried out within several days, why Gideon Dare's sentence was commuted to transportation we may never know, there are recorded cases of bribery being offered to the judges for commuting a death sentence to transportation instead. Bristol was the next stop for the Assizes, but no rebels were to be tried there. The last Assize was held in Wells on 23rd September where some 540 names were on record, 518 accused of rebellion against the king. 99 were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, one of these was John Hookes the dissenting minister that Dame Alice Lisle was convicted for sheltering. After the Assizes many of the supposed rebels were held in custody in various jails awaiting new evidence before they could be tried, indeed many were released from prison without trial when the general pardon was issued in March 1686. For others who had already been tried and sentenced to transportation it meant a long wait in prison before ships could be arranged for the voyage, for example Thomas Francklin and Thomas Quick were held in Dorchester jail from their trial date 5th September 1685, transfered to Sir Jerome Nipho's account on 26th September 1685, but still held in Dorchester jail until shortly before their embarkation to Barbados on November 25th 1685, arriving there on 8th January 1686, needless to say that many prisoners weakened by months in jail did not survive the journey being struck down with infectious diseases such as smallpox and the plague. The length of transportation was initially thought to be for four years, but in October 1685 while the convicts were still in jail a letter was sent to each of the colonial governors requesting them reform this to a ten year period of servitude. the people who benefited most from this increase were those whom were in the kings favour, such as Sir Jerome Nipho the queen's secretary, and Sir William Stapleton, Governor of the Leeward Islands and Sir Christopher Musgrave who were each alloted 100 prisoners; Sir Philip Howard, Governor of Jamaica, and Sir Richard White who were each alloted 200 prisoners. In total 890 prisoners were sentenced to transportation and 8 ships were used, the Betty, the Rebecca, the Constant Richard, the Jamaica Merchant, the Port Royal Merchant, the John, the Indeavour and the Happy Return, leaving from the ports of Bristol and Weymouth making for either Barbados where 388 prisoners were sent, Jamaica or the Leeward Islands. In 1688 at the invitation of opponents to King James II, William of Orange became joint sovereign with Mary and in 1689 a pardon was issued to all those transported, but the rebels were already under contract to their employers who had paid good money to have them work for the ten year period, a compromise seems to have been reached that the rebels work until five years had passed from their arrival, but many rebels seem to have left the Caribbean and returned to England after the pardon was granted in 1689. Quite how they afforded their return passage, as slaves they were drawing no wage and had to rely on their masters for food and clothing remains a mystery, there was no provision made for their return in the pardon with the idea that they might stay in the Islands longer and eventually settle and integrated into the Islands society which I am sure some did despite the return of many to their homeland. Notes on John Coad. Captain General & Rebel Chief. by J.N.P.Watson 1979 Coad was with the Somerset Militia under Sir Edward Phelips, "wading through a river [Axe] to escape the watches, and come to Axminster, and tendered myself and arms to the Duke, and was kindly accepted ,where I found Mr Ferguson at prayer. John Coad who was badly hurt at the barricade, (Phillips Norton 27th June 1685) recalled the journey. "My wounds being judged mortal and wondering I was not dead the chirurgeons refused to dress [them]; but the same evening, notwithstanding the great rain that fell, our camp was moving southward, I was cast on a wagon with few clothes about me. The shaking of the wagon made my wounds bleed afresh and [later] one Mr Hardy, an apothecary from Lyme, cutting off my body clothes, ketched and stuck fast to my body, in searching found the bullet lodged in the loins of my back, cut it out..." The Monmouth Episode. by B.Little.1956. John Coad who had been out with the Somerset Militia since the 13th June, had determined, as he left home , to join Monmouth when he could; his puritan soul was more offended by the "hellish oaths and ribaldry" of many of his companions in arms. It was at Chard , while his officers wrote cheerfully to the Lord Lieutenant, that he retired alone into a garden and completed his resolve. (After Coad's wounding) So in the end , after another long,untended spell, he came with his wife to Long Sutton, near Langport, where the village midwife charitably tended him towards the time of his arrest. The soldiers, whether Regulars or Militiamen, were also active in other areas such as Long Sutton, for there they apprehended John Coad and brought him before Sir Edward Phelips. That gentleman, less harsh, apparently than Lord Stawell would have been, got a surgeon to tend his wounds and sent him by horse litter to Ilchester gaol. Worst of all conditions in the county prisons was at Ilchester, John Coad , when there for 10 or 11 weeks was comparitively lucky, for his wound partly healed and he regained some of his strength. At Dorchester the numbers dealt with were far larger. The Gaol, a noisome place , was in All Saints parish, so All Saints church at least for a time , was used as an extra prison. The prisoners not unnaturally from their loyalties, did some damage inside, and the County Justices had to pay to make it good. (Dorset Q.S.Minutes.) At Exeter rebel prisoners were lodged in the cloisters of the Cathedral. (Exeter City Records.) Coad gives one example of how diminutions could occour: We see a vivid scene in Wells cloisters while the prisoners, a throng of frantic relatives around them, were picked for their respective fates. Coad, of course, was due for death, but his sister found that an officer was calling out the names of 200 men allocated for Jamaica. Coad offered the man a bribe to include him among the transportees. The officer declined, but kindly advised him to step forward when he called a name and its owner failed to answer. At first Coad missed his chance, while about thirty of his comrades so saved themselves by exchanging certain death for exile and servitude. At length the list of 200 was made up, but a poor woman, seeing a man of her acquaintance who longed to be kept back from the plantations, seized Coad, put him in the mans place, and quietly told him that his name must now be John Haker. So Coad, like may hundreds from the Wessex gaols, set forth to that distant servitude which was the lot of most who faced Judge Jeffreys and his colleagues. The Axminster non - conformists also recorded that one of their munber, Thomas Smith, escaped execution when another "stood forth in his name" (Ecclesiastica, ed 1874 pp 85-6) Convicted Rebels were allocated to Queen Mary of Modena, The elderly Italian Secretary Jerome Nipho, Sir William Stapleton non resident Governor of the Leeward Islands, who acted for a larger factor, Lieut'Colonel Charles Pym, to Sir Phillip Howard, the Governor of Jamaica, and to a few London merchants like Sir Christopher Musgrove and Sir William Booth. To those not at Court they were presumably made over for a price, but at figures less helpful to the Treasury than the œ10 or œ15 a head of which Jeffreys had Heard. Some of the recipients - Nipho for example, or Booth, handed over their rebels to other large scale factors, who in their turn arranged shipment to labour dealers in the Islands. In Nipho's case, the agent in England was George Penne a Dorset Roman Catholic (a needy Papist,) as Pitman calls him, whose relations, Charles Penne in England and John Penne in Barbados, were also in the business. For then, as we find from the account of the London ship Betty (Captain James May) took aboard her unhappy passengers at Weymouth, the freight charge was œ5 per rebel for the voyage to Barbados; Jamaica, perhaps cost more for the longer run. The tranactions and the shipments were carefully invoiced, with copies of the documents sent out to the Caribbean and returned with accounts of what had happened to the prisoners on the voyage and on arrival; for this and other reasons no events in the whole Rebellion are better documented than these. Nearly all the rebels went to Barbados, Jamaica or Nevis. A few may also have reached St Kitts, and two of Booth's rebels, consigned to York River, Virginia, in a ship from Topsham, seem to have been the only prisoners sent to work in Mainland America.