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(BRITISH TRIAL). (DESPARD). The Trial of Colonel Despard and His Associates, for High Treason, and a Conspiracy...to which is added an Account of Their Execution. Published from the London Morning Chronicle. New-York: George F. Hopkins, 1803. First American edition. 8vo. 50 pp. Removed. A few leaves loose. $100.00

 

S & S 4077, one copy. Edward Marcus Despard (1751-1803) served with distinction in the British Navy in the Caribbean. He was suspended from the Navy on frivolous charges by Lord Grenville and later dismissed without compensation. Despard hatched a preposterous plot to seize the Tower of London, the Bank of England and to assassinate George III. He was arrested, tried, found guilty and, with six co-conspirators, hanged, drawn and quartered, the last men so executed in England.