James Ings
1782-1820
Print by Robert Cooper after Wivell. Courtesy British Museum ImagesBorn and raised in Hampshire, James Ings works at the family butcher’s shop in Portsea by Portsmouth.
The island of Portsea is expanding and the family owns properties there, but they struggle with the seemingly endless taxes imposed by the government to pay for recent wars in America and France.
Ings takes his family to London in circumstances that are dramatized in Turtle Soup for the King . When his family returns to Hampshire without him, Ings is thankful for kindness, whoever shows it. His skills are particularly useful for the job in hand.
In Turtle Soup for the King, Ings guides us through some of the spiritual and intellectual challenges of his day.
The only known portrait of Ings is made shortly after a sentence of death has been passed.
Portsmouth Point by Thomas Rowlandson, 1814. Courtesy British Museum Images
From a letter by James Ings to the King, 30th April, 1820As a child, the fictional James Ings anticipates the arrival of King George III to insect General Howe’s flagship in the wake of a triumph at sea.
“There are men at large, son,” said Pa Ings, “who look like common fellows, but believe we should have no king nor Parliament neither, or at least no Parliament made up of noblemen and such. One of them, wrote a wicked book and ran away to France. Tom Paine, his name is, curse him, and now he’s going to court.
“That’s why there might be trouble?” asked Ings, mightily puzzled.
“No.” replied pa. “It’s because the lawyer representing him is a Member of Parliament for Portsmouth. “
“Why would a Member of Parliament help a person who wanted to get rid of that Parliament?”
Pa replied that he’d heard enough clever questions for one day, especially with his mind on the venison just come in, and Percy too busy in the stockyard to help out.
Turtle Soup for the King, 26th June, 1794
Polyp’s much anticipated graphic novel, publication expected in April, 2021Thomas Paine, 1737-1809 is born in Norfolk. Inspired by a meeting in London with Benjamin Franklin, he emigrates to America, where his political writings have a profound influence on the War of Independence. Paine’s involvement with the French Revolution is also powerful, although he narrowly escapes the guillotine.
Paine is present in Turtle Soup for the King, but indirectly. Perhaps his writings make a greater impact on Britons with more formal education than our cast. Nevertheless, their revolutionary action is almost unimaginable without the bedrock of Paine’s theories, which in this case, are filtered by the common man’s revolutionary, Thomas Spence.
Paine writes two volumes of The Rights of Man, which argue that revolution is permissible if the government fails to serve the natural rights of its population.
Pa Ings, in the quote above, confuses the dates, though he is correct that Paine’s lawyer is also a Member of Parliament for Portsmouth ( 1790-1806)
In fact, Paine has already been tried (in 1792) and found guilty of publishing seditious material. In 1794, the same brilliant lawyer leads the defence of 30 known radicals, following the suspension of habeus corpus.
The lawyer is Thomas Erskine, whose controversial defence of Paine has cost him his position since 1786 as legal adviser to the Prince of Wales (i.e the later Regent / King George IV).
Lord Thomas Erskine. Print by Charles Turner after Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1806. Courtesy British Museum ImagesThomas Erskine, 1750-1823 is born in Edinburgh to impoverished Scottish nobility. For financial reasons, his formal education is delayed and he serves with the navy until the age of 25. At Trinity College ,Cambridge, he impresses with a speech about the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and begins a successful career as a lawyer. In 1806 Erskine is awarded a Baronetcy and becomes Lord Chancellor of England.
Meanwhile, in 1794, amid growing unrest, the British government Is terrified of Revolution in the French style. Thirty known radicals are rounded up and charged with treason. They include Thomas Hardy, shoemaker and founder of the London Corresponding Society, and Thomas Spence, member of the L.C.S. Defended by Erskine, the prisoners are acquitted following a sensational trial.
Erskine continues to court controversy, arguing for the right to criticise government, for freedom of the press and for the treatment of prisoners acquitted or reasons of insanity.
The Process of the Hampshire Hogs, driven by Cobbett from Botley to St James. 1808 James Gillray. Courtesy British Museum Images.The Hampshire hog has a unique place in the English psyche. Here are four of them, driven by William Cobbett, agrarian reformer, journalist and later, transporter of Thomas Paine’s remains. Only the hogs and Cobbett are spared Gillray’s satire.
The hogs are fed by that well-known seller of slops, Thomas Spence, aged 58. It is 15 years since the first publication of Pig’s Meat.
Hampshire hog, (source unknown)Cousin Jack was of the firm opinion that it was a mistake to combine English stock with foreign breeds. It was a fashion, he always said, that would fade, just like the fashion in ladies’ hats, and he never let any of those new-fangled boars from Naples or China anywhere near his sows. Jack had a point, because James Ings made first-rate bacon off his cousin’s pure Hampshire hogs.
Turtle Soup for the King, 1817-8
The Duke of Wellington fleeing a Hampshire Hog with a triple head of three enraged county members. Published by Fores, 1821. Courtesy British Museum Images.The Duke of Wellington is among the cabinet members targeted in 1820 by the Cato Street Conspirators, to which this image, though entertaining, has no other known connection, except for the hog.
When business is bad, the historical and the fictional Ings family tries its luck in London.
Frequent coaches run between London and the busy naval town of Portsmouth. It is a journey of some 80 miles, at approximately 12 miles per hour, with stops.
The cost of transport is often divided between customers. The more passengers can be crammed in, the more advantageous the cost, but the more uncomfortable the journey. The cheapest seats are on top, with no cover. The poet, Keats famously undertakes the same journey in June 1819 in pouring rain, on his way to the Isle of Wight.
George Scharf, The West Country Coach, 1829 source unknown
Named about 1689 after local developer, Baker’s Row is round the corner from Hanbury Street and will be familiar to Jack the Ripper.
Rebuilt in 1896, the location becomes the southern most part of Vallance Road. From 1939, twin villains, Ron and Reggie Kray live at number 178, which is destroyed during World War Two.
The Ings family leaves Portsea in spring, 1819 and moves to Whitechapel.
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Close to the Quaker Burial Ground (now Vallance Gardens), Baker’s Row in 1819 contains a few houses in a passageway, less than four yards wide, that creates a bottleneck on the route to the docks.
The corner of Fleet Street and Chancery Lane, 1798. Anon. Courtesy British Museum Images
From a letter to the King by James Ings, April 30th, 1820There are roots in the history, but Turtle Soup for the King adapts reports of the Ings’ initial experience in London. The impact is unchanged, and there are good story reasons, which provide opportunities to explore aspects of London life at familiar sites around Chancery Lane and Fleet Street.
The Tipperary at 66, Fleet Street. Formerly the Boar’s Head, the tavern was a favourite of the London Irish community and appears more than once in Ings’s story. Author’s snapshot, 2021
Nothing is left of the old Water Lane, which the conspirators approach via an archway on Fleet Street and descend to their meeting hall on the right. The new name, Whitefriars Street, acknowledges this tIny, but historic dIstrict of London (and where in Turtle Soup for the King, James Ings has his first fateful meeting with George Edwards.)
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From Whitechapel, the historical Ings moves for a time to Primrose Street, near the present Liverpool Street station. Turtle Soup for the King takes Ings along a slightly different path towards his fate, at least as far as his lodgings are concerned. The justification is simple; to bring him a little closer to the characters with most impact on his life.
There is something of Wycherley’s 1675 drama, The Country Wife in the way the character of Ings emerges after he moves away from Hampshire. He also helps us to see London - and the other participants - as an outsider might.
Although the Hampshire butcher falls prey to a great deception, there is a character, whose motives in educating both the historical and the fictional James Ings are entirely genuine. Radical journalist, Richard Carlile introduces him to the ideals of the American Revolution, in particular to Deism, a version of Christianity which favours logic above the supernatural and to the slogan ,“Give us Liberty or Give us Death”, which will be Ings’s rallying call on the scaffold.
RICHARD CARLILE
1790-1843
Richard Carlile, c.1825 anon. Courtesy British Museum ImagesWhile his sympathies are undoubtedly with the 97 in every 100 men who have no right to vote, Carlile dislikes the tavern radicals’ tendency to fisticuffs, when verbal argument fails, and he stands with Henry Hunt in favour of reform by peaceful means.
..from the mouths of simple men come nuggets of gold, and there is little an editor fears more than an empty space where words belong.
Turtle Soup for the King, 30th April, 1819Born in Ashburton, Devon to the wife of an absent shoemaker, Richard Carlile trains as a tinsmith. His interest in politics seems to be sparked in 1816, after his master is forced to reduce his hours of work.
Soon Carlile is in London, publishing instalments of Thomas Paine's works in pamphlets. After the suspension of habeus corpus in 1817 He founds, with a Fleet Street publisher, and edits Sherwin’s Political Register.
An ally of “orator” Henry Hunt, Carlile escapes arrest during the Battle of Peterloo and dashes to London. His articulate and moving reports excite publish opinion against the government.
He is later convicted on previous accounts of blasphemy and sedition, but continues publishing his new journal The Republican from Dorchester Gaol
Carlile’s print shop at 55, Fleet Street is well known to Ings. In 1819, the shop is in two halves - of which one was to make way for a tiny passageway known as Pleydell Court,
Author’s snapshot, 2021Smithfield in east London resonates with political history. First known as 'Smoothfield', a place outside the City walls where jousts, executions and markets are held in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Scottish hero, William Wallace is hung drawn and quartered here in 1305. It is the site of the murder of peasants’ leader, Wat Tyler in June 1381
More than 200 Protestants are burnt at the stake here during the reign of Queen Mary. In the fifteenth century, the principal place of execution moves west to Tyburn.
In 1872, the small rotunda park opens on the site of Smithfield, and is embellished a year later by a statue of peace. Behind her is a view along Giltspur Street to the Old Bailey. It has become a quiet place with benches to relax - and if you’re so inclined, to feed the grateful pigeons.
Author's snapshot, May, 2021
Smithfield Market in times of Covid.
Author's snapshots, May, 2021
At Smithfield, he would have to prepare himself for customs that may seem peculiar to Hampshire ways of thinking. And it would be clear, every time Ings opened his mouth and spoke, that he was an outsider, which might be detrimental to his prospects. Being an ineffective mimic, there was little he could do to improve his dialect, and besides; why should he disguise his proud Hampshire roots? The people of London would have to take James Ings as he was, or do without.
Turtle Soup for the King, 4th May, 1819
A livestock market is held here from 1638 until it transferred to Caledonian Market in Islington in 1855 and Bartholomew Fair is an annual event, also until 1855, after which the site is closed as a public meeting place.
Smithfield Market and St Bartholomew’s Hospital, 1825 Published by W Belch, Courtesy British Museum Images For James Ings, the journey to political commitment is more complex and more challenging than for his co-conspirators, not least, because of the separation from his family. It is at Smithfield, where - at least in Turtle Soup for the King - the Hampshire butcher will face his epiphany. There are challenges ahead before that moment arrives.
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When his clamouring senses could take no more, Ings decided that the old King must choose, and he took a penny from his purse. If, when it landed, His Majesty looked up at him, he preferred him to go home and damn the consequence. If the coat of arms fell uppermost, then Ings was destined for a different destination.
Hon y soit qui mal y pense. Alas poor Celia! He emptied Philbin’s last bottle and slept like a baby till dawn.
Turtle Soup for the King, 29th July, 1819
George III Gold Sovereigns, Courtesy British Museum ImagesWhen the time for action comes, so history tells us, Ings is at the heart of it, as he is instructed to write out the victory proclamations.
"Your tyrants are destroyed; the friends of liberty are invited to come forward; the Provisional Government is now sitting.
James Ings , Secretary. Feb. 23, 1820."
In his testimony, shoemaker turned informer, Robert Adams reports that Ings is very anxious while writing out the proclamation, which he does three times, before asking for someone else to take over. When asked what Ings does next, Adam continues:
He equipped himself; he put a black belt round his loins, another round his shoulder, and a couple of bags like soldiers' haversacks, under his great-coat. The belt round his loins was to contain a brace of pistols, and the other the cutlass. On viewing himself he found he had not got his steel. He had a large knife, with wax-end round the handle. He was asked what it was for? he said it was wound round to prevent his hand from slipping at the time he was cutting their heads off - he said he prepared it for that purpose.
From the Old Bailey Court Proceedings
“So, you’re the butcher who would have the heads of Sidmouth and Castlereagh!” cried the giant.
The trusty apron, worn by his father and his father’s father, had given him away.
Turtle Soup for the King, 23rd February 1820
Sketch from An Authentic History of the Cato Street Conspiracy by G.T. Wilkinson, 1820
1a, Cato Street, London, W1; the former cow-shed and loft. Author’s snapshots, 2007
Today, Cato Street runs parallel to Edgware Rd between Crawford Place and Harrowby Street. Both have been redeveloped by Victorians, the name, Harrowby Street a reference to the intended victims.
In 1820, Crawford Place is known as John Steet and contains the Horse and Groom tavern, to which the dying policeman, Smithers is carried.
After the scandal of the conspiracy, Cato Street name is renamed Horace Street, continuing the Roman theme. The original name is restored in 1937.
It is want of food which has brought us here. Death - death would be a pleasure to me. I would sooner be hanged this instant than turned into the street there; for I should not know where to get a bit of bread for my family. and if I had fifty necks, I’d rather have them all broken, one after the other, than see my children starve.
James Ings, quoted in the Manchester Observer, 5th March 1820CELIA INGS
1792-1874
Customers came all the way from Winchester for Celia’s puddings and pies.
Turtle Soup for the King, 1817-1818
“If I’m big enough for the kitchen, I’m big enough for the fair!” chanted Annie, already a champion of her rights.
“After the night we’ve had, madam,” retorted Celia, as she tightened Gulliver’s harness, “you’re fit for nothing but your cot! I’d give every hair on my head for the day of idleness coming your way!”
Turtle Soup for the King, 23rd April, 1819
Illustration by Jaydees, aged 13, 2021Cold Bath Lock-Up. The Middlesex House of Correction
Treadmill at Cold Bath Felds Prison, the Middlesex House of Correction (source unknown)The medicinal “Cold Bath Spring” is discovered in 1697 and a debtors’ gaol is built nearby. In the late 18th century, Middlesex magistrates and police are heavily involved with the government’s suppression of radical activity. Colonel Despard and Robert Wedderburn are both held here.
After their arrests in February, 1820, the principal Cato Street Conspirators are also taken to the now notorious Cold Bath Fields Lock-up and placed in solitary confinement, except for Thistlewood, who had two guards at all times. They will later find themselves in the Tower, where conditions are better, and they will be given oranges to suck.
The treadmill house burns down in 1877. When the Prison closes in 1885, the buildings are transferred to the post office. Final demolition is in 1929, and the site is now occupied predominantly by the Mount Pleasant Sorting Office, north of Kings Cross railway station.
When Celia visits Cold Bath Fields Gaol, she is refused access to her husband, an incident that is dramatized in Turtle Soup for the King.
Author's snapshot, 2014.
According The Manchester Observer, 5th March, 1820, James Ings writes to his family instructing them not to visit him in prison. Celia defies the request and makes her way, with their four children to London, where they stay at the Saracen’s Head in Snowhill.
Author’s snapshots, May, 2021
In 1875, the building is reconstructed as Snow Hill Police Station. In 1920, suffragette (and editor of the “Workers’ Dreadnought”), Sylvia Pankhust is held here for printing seditious articles. The police move out when the City of London force is reorganized early in 2021
A small street at the corner of St Sepulchre’s Church in Newgate, Snow Hill also features in the Spa Field riots of December 1816, when an intoxicated crowd makes its way from Clerkenwell to the Tower of London
Celia Ings is a signatory to the widows’ supplication to granted their husband’s remains. Otherwise she is the least active wife in the conspiracy. What can be deduced of her bravery and her spirit is nevertheless inspirational. Below an extract of the letter written by her husband shortly after their last farewell.
My dear Celia, of the anxiety and regard I have for you and the children I know not how to explain myself; but I must die according to the law, and leave you in a land full of corruption, where justice and liberty have taken their flight from, to other distant shores…I hope you will bear in mind that the cause of my being consigned to the scaffold was a pure motive. I thought I should have rendered my starving fellow-men, women and children a service….
Give my love to your mother and Elizabeth. I conclude a constant lover to you and your children, and all friends. I die the same, but an enemy to all tyrants.
JAMES INGS. Newgate, 30th April, 1820