In 1665 Lord Dunmore’s Emancipation Proclamation was signed
The anti-slave movement in Great Britain really broke ground with the verdict of the “Somerset Case 1772”. Lord Mansfield declared that there was no law that permitted slavery in Britain, and no law that supported it. The result of this judgement made people question that if any slave stepped foot on British soil then could they no longer be considered a slave and therefore slavery throughout the British Empire may also be unlawful.
The slave trade was eventually banned throughout the empire in 1807 and slavery itself in 1833 but many other acts against slavery took place throughout the Empire including Lord Dunmore’s Emancipation Proclamation created on the 7th of November 1775. Scottish peer, John Murray, was the 4th Earl of Dunmore who became the British governor of the Colony of Virginia.
Lord Dunmore called on all slaves of patriots to rise up and join his forces and in doing so they would win their freedom. Many slaves did indeed escape their masters, both loyalist and patriot alike, and in 1776 three hundred of the slaves did win their freedom. But Lord Dunmore had an additional motive. As with Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Dunmore knew that his emancipation proclamation was just but would also aide his course.
In 1605 after days of intense torture Guy Fawkes was forced to sign his confession and implement his co-conspirators
On the night of the 20th of May 1604 at the Duck and Drake pub in London, Robert Catesby, Thomas Winter, John Wright, Thomas Percy and Guy Fawkes met. Catesby proposed a plan to assassinate the new king by blowing up the House of Lords when King James opened Parliament.
The plan was set in motion when Thomas Percy leased a house next to the House of Lords on the 24th of May 1604 and on the 9th of June Percy becomes a body guard for James I. On the 7th of July 1604 the Parliament meeting ends and plan to reconvene on the 7th of February 1605, this becomes the planned date for the assassination. Shortly before the planned meeting of parliament is postponed until the 28th of July 1605 giving the plotters more time to plan and gain support. Robert Winter, John Grant and Christopher Wright join the conspiracy and in March of 1605 they lease the basement building of the House of Lords. The conspirators move the acquired gunpowder from Percy’s house to the basement in time for the planned parliament meeting on the 28th of July 1605 but once again the meeting is postponed until the 3rd of October. On the 29th of September Ambrose Rookwood is also recruited to the plot but by the 3rd of October the meeting of parliament is again postponed until the 5th of November 1605. In October two more conspirators are recruited, Francis Tresham and Sir Everard Digby. On the 26th of October the brother-in-law of Francis Treshman, Lord Monteagle, receives an anonymous letter warning him not to attend the meeting of Parliament. Lord Monteagle informs the King’s minister of the mysterious letter and Catesby accuses Treshman of being an informer. On the 3rd of November the conspirators meet once more and decide to continue with the plot regardless. The Kings minister advises the King to order a search of all buildings surrounding the House of Lords in preparation for the meeting of Parliament and on the night of the 4th of November 1605 Guy Fawkes is discovered with the gun powder and arrested. Guy Fawkes is tortured for several days and on the 7th of November he begins to confess to the plot. His co-conspirators had already fled London for the Midlands but were soon surrounded at Holbeach House were Catesby, Percy and the Wright brothers are killed and the other’s captured. On the 31st of January 1606 Fawkes, Rookwood, Thomas Winter and Keyes are all executed for treason. Guy Fawkes was hung drawn and quartered for his part in the plot.
