Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

On Tuesday last the gentlemen of this town, to show their utter detestation of the conduct of a certain admiral, ordered his effigy to be made, with labels affixed to his breast and back, expressing his notorious villainy in the following terms: “Admiral Byng:/ The betrayer of his country;/ The deserter of the brave;/ The worst of servants to the best of kings.” On his back: “The just reward of cowardice and treachery.” Thus exemplified, he was drawn on a hurdle through the principal streets, attended by a chimney sweep, to the place of execution, where he was hanged on an iron gibbet fifty cubits high, erected for that purpose, and afterwards burnt amidst the exasperated acclamations of a numerous and loyal populace, who behaved during the procession and execution with the most unanimous zeal, and retired with exemplary order. [Byng was court-martialled and shot, “to encourage the rest,” said Voltaire.]

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations:

• ER: East Riding
• GM: Greater Manchester
• NR: North Riding
• NY: North Yorkshire
• SY: South Yorkshire
• WR: West Riding
• WY: West Yorkshire

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Original

“On Tuesday last the Gentlemen of this town, to shew their utter detestation of the conduct of a certain Admiral, ordered his effigy to be made, with labels affixed to his breast and back, expressing his notorious villany in the following terms:-
Before.
‘Admiral B-g:
The Betrayer of his country;
The Deserter of the brave;
The worst of Servants to the best of Kings.’
On his back.
The just Reward of Cowardice and Treachery.’
“Thus exemplified, he was drawn on a Hurdle through the principal streets (attended by a chimney sweep) to the place of execution, where he was hanged on an iron gibbet fifty cubits high, erected for that purpose, and afterwards burnt amidst the exasperated acclamations of a numerous and loyal Populace, who behaved during the procession and execution with the most unanimous zeal, and retired with exemplary order.”

156 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Battle of Minorca (1756) (1) ·
• Candide (1) ·
• First Newcastle ministry (1) ·
• France (31) ·
• George II (8) ·
• John Byng (1) ·
• Leeds Intelligencer (4), one of the first regional newspapers in the country, founded 1754, renamed the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer in 1866, Yorkshire Post in 1883; conservative, anti-Catholic, anti-Chartist ·
• 📌Leeds (235) ·
• Menorca (1) ·
• Royal Navy (10) ·
• Seven Years’ War (4) ·
• Siege of Fort St Philip (1756) (1) ·
• Spain (9) ·
• Voltaire (3) ·
• Whigs (1678-1859) (21), political faction and, later, party, supported parliamentarism, various forms of elite liberalism, manufacturing interests, opposed Catholic emancipation, succeeded by the Liberal Party ·

All tags.

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