Our Legal London walks invariably take you through Lincoln’s Inn Fields, which was once one of the capital’s execution grounds.
It would be difficult to find a more glaring injustice than the conviction and execution of Lord Russell for alleged complicity in the Rye House Plot.
In Lincoln’s Inn Fields, which we pass through on our Legal London walks, a tablet marks the spot where Russell met his death with the serenity of a hero and the demeanour of an innocent man.To the end he was comforted by the ministrations of his wife.
Rye House Plot was the name given to the abortive conspiracy to murder Charles II and his brother James, Duke of York, in 1683. Rye House was an isolated house near Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire. The scheme of the plotters was to murder the royal brothers as they returned from Newmarket to London.
The authorities were warned by informers, and several arrests were made, including Lord Russell, Algernon Sidney, the Earl of Essex, and John Hampden.
These four were charged with forming a council of six to organize an insurrection. The other members of the council were the Duke of Monmouth and Lord Howard.
Essex, who might have made his escape, but preferred to stand by Russell, was afterwards found dead with his throat cut in the Tower of London.
Howard, who appears to have known more about the plot than anyone, was arrested in his house. He was found hiding inside a chimney.
He turned King’s Evidence and disclosed that Lord Shaftesbury had plotted a revolt by the City, that a party of soldiers were to be brought from Taunton, and that a council of six, of which he was one, had been deputed to make the arrangements.
Lord Howard was one of the chief witnesses against Russell, but there is good reason to believe that his evidence was false. An old soldier named Rumbold, also one of the leaders of the plot, testified against Russell.
Lord Russell was brought to his trial on the day that the Earl of Essex was found dead. When the news was brought to the court, Lord Howard was giving his evidence. He stopped, and said that he could not go on “till he had given vent to his grief in some tears.”
Our London Walking Tours that feature Lincoln’s Inn Fields include our Dickens London walks and our Legal London Tour.
We will continue with the story of William Lord Russell in Wednesdays Blog.
