WILLIAM DAVIDSON
1781/6 - 1820
William Davidson is born in Jamaica, the son of an Anglo-Scottish lawyer (reputedly Attorney General) and a prosperous Jamaican woman, who supports his studies and his early business efforts.
Since publication of my novel, David Alston, in his book, Slaves and Highlanders (Edinburgh University Press, Oct. 2021) argues convincingly that William’s father is John Davidson, merchant and assistant judge in Kingston, Jamaica and formerly of Tarland near Aberdeen
From his own reported accounts, it is unlikely that William Davidson has been enslaved. His heritage does not always make life in Britain easy.
Davidson studies law and mathematics in Scotland, while apprenticed as a cabinet maker. After moving to Liverpool, he becomes the victim of press gangs, and is taken to sea. On returning to Britain, he continues training as a cabinet-maker.
His association with the “tavern radicals” probably begins in London, but in Turtle Soup for the King, there are narrative reasons to suggest the initial contact elsewhere.
As a journeyman cabinet-maker, Davidson moves around England, settling for a time in Lichfield, Staffordshire, where he is engaged to an heiress.
St Mary’s Church and Market, Lichfield (early 19th century)
Watercolour by W.G Herdman, source unknownThere were women who attended St Mary’s twice on Sundays simply for a glimpse of his imposing figure and the sound of Will Davidson’s magnificent voice as it soared above the congregation.
Turtle Soup for the King, July, 1812
Sandon Hall, Stafforshire
The hall burnt down in 1848 and was rebuilt in neo-Jacobean style in 1854. The present residents are descended from Lord Harrowby. Parts of the building and extensive grounds are in use for exclusive functions, including weddings.
Sandon Hall by JF Neale, 1818. British Museum ImageDavidson’s one-time employment in Lord Harrowby’s London and country homes provides inside knowledge about the building and access to personnel at the address, where the assassination is planned.
Dudley Ryder, Lord Harrowby, by Samuel Agar, 1813.Courtesy British Museum ImagesViscount Sandon of Sandon Hall & Earl of Harrowby in the County of Lincoln
British Cabinet member, residing at Sandon Hall, Staffordshire and Grosvenor Square, London.
1804-1805 Foreign Secretary
1812-1827 Lord President of the Council.
Grosvenor Square, London. The flags mark the Millennium Hotel at number 44. Formerly known as number 39, it was the home of Lord Harrowby.
The building was the site of a more successful assassination attempt in 2006 - of the Russian writer, Alexander Litvinenko.
Author's snapshot, 2007. Davidson is not the only characterin the book with a connection to Lord Harrowby. He’ll have a devastating effect on another.
In his defence at the Cato Street trials, Davidson describes an occasion, where he is threatened at a south London Sunday School, where he teaches before being actively involved in politics.
While this incident is not reconstituted, Turtle Soup for the King illustrates the prevailing attitudes to race with stories during the principal action.
In popular culture of the time, black men are often viewed as savages, or even monkeys, with huge sexual appetites.
During the trials, Davidson is repeatedly identified as “the man of colour,” as if that were his only identifying feature.
A man of privileged birth and education, Davidson tries to distance himself from popular preconceptions, which may influence the all-white members of the court and jury.
Abolitionists host a dinner party. George Cruikshank, 1819. Courtesy British Museum ImagesWith so many children to feed and so few opportunities for work in London, the Davidsons’ struggle is bad.
After the Sunday school scandal, the Davidsons move to a cottage in St Marylebone,
Elliott’s Row, Old Lords Cricket Ground
MAP REFERENCES:
Contemporary A –Z of London : p191 6F
Referenced in the Marylebone rate books for 1824 (with Wellington Cottages), Elliott’s Row is not found in the older maps I accessed. In 1819, Elliott’s Row is close to the present Dorset Square, which is redeveloped after 1820.
While living in St Marylebone, Davidson allies himself with two influential two influential organisations
The Marylebone Union Reading Society, which – for as long as he can spare tuppence a week - gives Davidson the opportunity to read the radical press. The society has two groups, of which Davidson’s meet fortnightly at Hazard’s house on Queen Street, Edgware Road. Another member of the same group is Firth, cow-keeper at Cato Street, whose cattle graze at Hyde Park (and who appears in Turtle Soup for the King.)
The Unitarian Chapel on Hopkins Street in Soho is owned by radical preacher and former Methodist, Robert Wedderburn, whose loyal congregation often protect him from the caprices of the judicial system.
Robert Wedderburn, 1762 - (unknown)
Robert Wedderburn’s father was a doctor turned sugar-planter, who fled to Jamaica to avoid scandal, when his own father, a Scottish aristocrat, was convicted of treason.
Wedderburn Snr sold the enslaved Rosanna while she was pregnant, with the condition that his child (Robert) was born free. Robert Wedderburn was brought up, miserably, it seems, on the Jamaica estate of Lady Douglas.
Aged 16, he joins the Royal Navy and a year later, settles in St Giles, at this time, the most diverse and one of the poorest districts of London. His experience of poverty and cruelty fires radical tendencies, which consolidate after 1812, when he meets the Geordie philosopher, Thomas Spence.
A former Wesleyan, Wedderburn allies himself to the Unitarian Church and purchases the chapel on Hopkins Street, Soho. After Spence’s death, Wedderburn collaborates with fellow-Spenceans, Thistlewood, Brunt and Tidd, later also with Ings and Davidson, who - it is reasonable to imagine - is an enthusiastic member of his congregation.
For more on Wedderburn:
https://www.Robert Wedderburn: race, religion and revolution • International Socialism (isj.org.uk)
Horrors of Slavery and Other Writings by Iain McCalman (ed) and Robert Wedderburn. Markus Wiener Publisher, New Jersey, 1991 and Ian Randle Publisher, Jamaica, 1997
The Many-Headed Hydra. The Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker. Beacon Press, 2000
.
See also the essay by Ryan Hanley: Cato Street and the Caribbean in -
Davidson agrees to be tried simultaneously with Tidd. Theirs is the third trial, following Thistlewood (who is also tried for murder) and Ings.
Much Is made, during the trial, of Davidson’s possession of a blunderbuss.
Richard Birnie, Police Magistrate, writes to Sidmouth’s Under-Secretary at the Home Office, presumably 24th February, 1820
Bow Street, 8pm Thursday
Dear Sir, It is a curious fact that Davidson (the man of colour) had thirty shillings on Tuesday from the Mendicity Society under the pretence of redeeming his working tools which were pawned, and yesterday morning he redeemed a blunderbuss, which he had pawned at the shop of Alders Pawnbrokers on Berwick Street. We found a Blunderbuss in Cato Street in the hands of the man who attacked Mr Fitzclarence.
Yours most faithfully,
Richard Birnie
H Hobhouse Esq
Image and transcript courtesy National Archive, Kew
“George Edwards bought the gun, passed it to me for cleaning and said I could return the money, when the item was sold. Unfortunately, it failed at auction, and he advised me to wait until New Year when the firearms market generally improves.”
We owe Mr Edwards five pounds?” asked Sarah in horror, “and the only means of repaying it is a useless old gun!”
“It’s not useless! Did you not make a delicious pie on Sunday?”
“You shot those pigeons with a blunderbuss?”
Turtle Soup for the King, 23rd December, 1819
“He was still waiting anxiously, when who should come strolling up, but his former employer from Liverpool. Mr Goldworthy said he was sorry to see an old friend in a state of evident agitation. Without the formality of a greeting, Davidson asked sharply whether his friend, Williamson had ever sailed to the Cape, because he had been cheated out of five pounds.
“Calm yourself, Davidson,” said Goldworthy. “You did a good turn to a man, facing an uncertain future. A man of your talents can earn that five pounds in no time.”
“I’ve not earned a farthing since August,” replied Davidson.
“I’ve found plenty of work in London,” said Goldworthy, with a reassuring smile.”
Turtle Soup for the King, 23rd February, 1820
It is not known exactly why he moves to Liverpool, although a qualification in English law is more valuable in Jamaica than the Scots equivalent. During this time, Davidson’s mother sends him an allowance of two guineas a week, and he lives in gentile style.
Davidson’s radical tendencies intensify after Peterloo, but they are certainly present beforehand as he is reported as attending other rallies in north west England.The son of a lawyer, William Davidson appears to have enjoyed reciting (or preaching) the Magna Carta. As a student of law himself, he is likely to have been familiar with the teachings of Sir William Blackstone and this 1810 publication.
SCOTLAND
There is no doubt about Davidson’s patriotism and his pride in his Scots heritage. Reports vary. Some describe his father as Scottish. Davidson himself is quoted as saying that his father was English, his paternal grandfather Scottish. (David Alston has clarified and seems to confirm the matter in Slaves and Highlanders.)
An architect named McWilliam, a character witness at Davidson’s trial reports that he knew the prisoner in Aberdeen, where he studies law, is apprenticed to a cabinet-maker and is in possession of a “gigantic mind”. Other reports suggest further periods in Edinburgh and Glasgow , and that Davidson also studies mathematics.
There are several reports that Davidson is a particular fan of Burns. Here he is, just after arrest, The account is possibly biased.
from The Authentic History of the Cato Street Conspiracy, 1820 by G. Wilkinson.
“Rabbie” Burns is celebrated throughout the world as Scotland’s National poet. The son of Ayrshire farmers, Burns attracts rich patrons in Edinburgh.
His work focuses on pastoral life, radical politics and his passionate relationships with a number of women.
after Alexander Naysmith, 1800-1820Courtesy British Museum ImagesROBERT BURNS
1759-1796
Ploughman’s poet of Ayr
SCOTS WHA HAE
by Robert Burns, 1793, carried down and adapted from a speech by Robert the Bruce, 1314
Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled
Scots wham Bruce has aften led
Welcome tae your gory bed
Or tae victory
Now's the day and now's the hour
See the front o' battle lour
See approach proud Edward's power
Chains and slavery
Wha will be a traitor knave
Wha can fill a coward's grave
Wha sae base as be a slave
Let him turn and flee
Wha for Scotland's King and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw
Freeman stand or freeman fa'
Let him follow me.
By oppression's woes and pains
By your sons in servile chains
We will drain oor dearest veins
But they shall be free
Lay the proud usurpers low
Tyrants fall in every foe
Liberty's in every blow
Let us do or dee
Apprenticed to his father a handloom weaver in Paisley, at the age of 25, Tannahill spent two years in Lancashire. His interest in writing poetry bloomed after his return to Scotland in 1802 to support his family. He experimented in various forms and met with some popularity, some of his work being set to music by local composer. After Tannahill's final volume was rejected for publication, he burnt his manuscript and drowned himself in a stream beneath the Paisley canal.
Tannahill is commemorated in an 1883 statue in Paisley and is among the sixteen poets acknowledged on the base of the Scott monument on Princes Street, Edinburgh.
Engraving by S Freeman. Courtesy British Museum ImagesROBERT TANNAHILL
1774-1810
Weaver poet of Paisley
As a Wesleyan at the time, Davidson is moderate in his drinking habits. In Turtle Soup for the King, it his birthday, when Davidson quotes this poem by Tannahill. With a pint of elderberry brew in his veins, he gets it slightly wrong. Below is the version he meant to sing.
We’ll meet beside the dusky glen, on yon burn side,
Whar the bushes form a cozie den, on yon burn side,
Tho the brumy knowes be green,
Yet; there we may be seen,
But we'll meet—we'll meet at e'en, doun by yon burn side.
Awa ye rude unfeeling crew, frae yon burn side,
Those fairy scenes are no for you, by yon burn side,—
There Fancy smooths her theme,
By the sweetly murm'ring stream,
An the rock lodg'd echoes skim, doun by yon burn side.
I'll lead thee to the birken bow'r, on yon burn side,
Sae sweetly wove wi woodbine flow'r, on yon burn side,
There the busy prying eye,
Ne'er disturbs the lovers' joy,
While in ithers' arms they lie, doun by yon burn side.
Noo the plantin taps are ting'd wi goud, on yon burn side,
And gloamin draws her fuggy shroud o'er yon burn side,
Far frae the noisy scene,
I'll thro the fiel's alane,
There we'll meet—My ain dear Jean! doun by yon burn side.
It is reasonable to assume that Davidson takes an interest in a late, but very notorious fellow-cabinet maker in Scotland:
Deacon (William) Brodie, 1741-1788.
Deacon Brodie (right) and his companion in crime, English cabinet-maker, George Smith. Courtesy British Museum ImagesAn Edinburgh City Councillor and Deacon of the cabinet-makers’ guild, Brodie used his locksmith skills in a thrilling secret life as a thief. Some say the proceeds funded his gambling habit, others that he distributed them among the poor. Perhaps both are true. Either way, Deacon Brodie met his death by hanging at the Edinburgh Tollbooth.
Legends about Brodie persist long after his death and he is the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Such legends, as much as the abundant Scottish literature of the time, contribute to the development of Will Davidson’s character in Turtle Soup for the King.
SARAH DAVIDSON (dates unknown)
Little is known of the historical Sarah Davidson. William’s application for support from the Society for the Suppression of Mendicity reports that they have six sons, of which Sarah has brought four from her late first husband, Mr Lane. It is no wonder if she finds little time for politics.
Sarah comes from Devon, and William appears to have met her while teaching at a Sunday School in Walworth, London, where she supports him following an accusation of sexual misconduct. (William claimed mistaken identity, one black man, he said, looking, to most Englishmen, very much like the others. ) The family moves soon afterwards to Elliot’s Row in St Marylebone, of which there is little trace. (see above)
The fictional Sarah Davidson swallows her pride and her Jamaican mother-in-law for help.
The historical Sarah Davidson writes a letter to the King.
To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty
the humble petition of Susan Thistlewood, Sarah Davidson Elizabeth Ings, Mary Brunt and Mary Tidd
Most humbly
That your petitioners are the unhappy widows of the unfortunate men who have today suffered the sentence of the law, and we humbly beseech and implore Your Majesty that you will be graciously pleased to alleviate the acute sufferings of your petitioners by allowing them to take away the mutilated remains of their deceased husbands in order that they might be consigned to their silent graves, and
your petitioners will in
grateful remembrance ever pray
Sarah Davidson
Celia Ings
Mary Brunt for Mary Tidd
Mary Brunt
Ann Holland for Susan Thistlewood
Transcribed by the author. Courtesy, National Archives, Kew
The fictional Sarah Davidson swallows her pride and asks for family help.
The Lane-Davidson children appear occasionally in Turtle Soup for the King, most frequently, Sarah’s oldest son, Abraham (b1805). Nothing is known of their fates in real life, once William Davidson is hanged, but Turtle Soup for the King imagines a trajectory.
RADIO PLAY
Betrayal, the Trial of William Davidson by Tanika Gupta was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001 and repeated to mark the 200th anniversary of the conspiracy in February, 2020.