High Treason and A Wicked Contrivance?
Library volunteer M. Amor explores the stories of three successive bishops of Rochester each accused of treason.
Three successive bishops of Rochester had to navigate the perilous, political waters between 1683 and 1723. All were arrested at some point in their lives, two being charged with high treason – a capital offence, punishable by hanging, drawing and quartering. All were accused of being Jacobites. The Chapter Library bears witness to some of the challenges faced by these men in several books and pamphlets within its collection.
Background
In our history clerics have often been required to stand by their principles, defend their beliefs and face the consequences meted out by a monarchy or government with opposing views. The senior bishops and archbishops known as the Lords Spiritual who have sat in the House of Lords since the early feudal period faced particularly challenging times at the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century.
After the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 and a brief, initial attempt at religious tolerance, there followed a period of seething resentment, opposing factions, plots and conspiracies which rumbled on for decades between the men of the royal, political and ecclesiastical echelons.
Charles II was publicly Anglican but his failure to produce a legitimate heir and his family’s close ties to the Catholic faith caused concern. Charles had courted Presbyterians, Anglicans and Catholics to secure his throne but the supremacy of the Church of England was ensured by the Cavalier Parliament of 1660. His brother and heir, James, duke of York, originally tolerated as a Catholic, had produced two daughters who were raised in the Protestant faith but when his first wife died in 1671 and he married the Catholic, Mary of Modena, fears of a new Catholic dynasty grew.
Civil war, regicide, death and betrayal were recent memories for many and as the hope of an heir for Charles faded and Parliament tried to exclude his brother, James, from the succession, tensions were raised and loyalties tested.
Anti-Catholic feeling grew but by 1683 Protestants also were beginning to plot against Charles, who supported his brother’s succession. The Rye House Plot of 1683 led by disgruntled Protestants floundered but the savage executions meted out to the plotters, the imprisonment and torture of others, proved that falling foul of those in power was no trivial matter.
After Charles II death in 1685 and James’ succession, the birth of his son, James Francis Edward Stuart in 1688 threatened to supplant his eldest daughter, Mary and her husband, William of Orange and sparked the Glorious Revolution of 1688. James II was exiled for the rest of his life to France.
Even after William and Mary’s succession a future Protestant sovereign was not guaranteed as the monarchs were haunted by the same inability to produce an heir and when Mary’s younger sister, Anne took the throne in 1702, despite 17 pregnancies and 5 live births , none of her children survived to adulthood. The threat of a Catholic monarchy and possible invasion from Catholic countries loomed large and was embodied by the exiled James II until his death in 1701. The threat continued as his son, James Francis Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender led uprisings and attempted invasion. None succeeded but his son, known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, still hoped to prevail even after the Hanoverian succession of George 1 in 1714. Bonnie Prince Charlie died in 1788 but any credible hope of a Stuart restoration was dashed by his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
Francis Turner
Francis Turner (1637-1700) was born to parents both connected to the Royal Household of Charles I and was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was consecrated as bishop of Rochester in 1683, after being installed as dean of Windsor. He had been a chaplain for Anglicans within the York household and gained preferment by the duke’s favour. A year later he was translated to Ely and by the time he became embroiled as a Jacobite, Thomas Sprat had become the next bishop of Rochester.
Turner preached against Catholicism but supported James as the rightful sovereign. He had preached the sermon at James’ coronation in April 1685 but Turner disagreed with James II Declaration of Indulgence. This was an attempt to enshrine religious freedom and allow James to appoint Catholics to senior positions and was seen by many to diminish the supremacy of the Church of England. In 1688 Turner was arrested and tried for seditious libel along with six other senior bishops. They were acquitted but spent some days in June in the Tower of London.
After the Glorious Revolution in 1688, Turner would not accept William and Mary as joint sovereigns and refused to swear the oath of allegiance to William. This was probably for reasons of conscience with regard to the removal of a king, rather than opposition to the new regime.
Turner was deposed from Ely but then continued to work with and support other clerics seeking the exiled king’s restoration. In 1691 a proclamation called for Turner’s arrest but he escaped capture. Correspondence found seems to indicate his was in communication with the exiled king but historians seem to agree that he never joined James’ exiled court in France. In 1696 Turner was arrested twice but was able to evade punishment and go into hiding. He died in 1700 in London.
His insistence on advocating the rights of bishops and supporting the legitimate heir to the throne put him at odds with many and illustrates the difficulty of remaining on the winning side. Others betrayed their friends and their conscience or simply chose to keep with whoever was in the ascendancy. Many influential people were known to support the claim of James II, including John Churchill, later duke of Marlborough and his name was linked to the next bishop of Rochester, when a career criminal tried to entrap them in a supposed conspiracy to return James II to the throne.
Thomas Sprat
Thomas Sprat was born in Dorset in 1635 and was the son of clergyman educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford. Thomas was a scholar of Wadham College and as a young man enjoyed some literary success. One early piece by Sprat illustrates his creative ability and the prudent necessity to revise allegiances. He published ‘To the happie memorie of the most renowned prince, Oliver, lord protector’ in 1659 but re-published it in 1682 ‘To the happy memory of the late usurper’ – a fact not lost on his critics. Sprat continued to enjoy the patronage of the nobility and after being ordained became chaplain to George Villiers, duke of Buckingham. Many believe Sprat aided Villiers in his writing of the play The Rehearsal. In 1663 Sprat was commissioned to write a history of the Royal Society. This was a major work which Sprat used to expound his ideas on natural philosophy and Christianity but which was criticised for saying very little about the scientific work performed by the society - perhaps not surprising as there is little evidence of Sprat’s knowledge of or real interest in the broad scope of the society, despite becoming a fellow. However, this work enabled Sprat to further his ambitions and the year after its publication, Charles II nominated Sprat as a prebend of Westminster Abbey. He continued to gain advancement and income, which Archbishop Sancroft rather unkindly commented was all important to Sprat. In 1684 he was consecrated bishop of Rochester. Sprat had gained a reputation as a good preacher with a love of clear English and he is said to have preached in support of the future James II as the rightful heir.
Sprat accepted the Declaration of Indulgence in 1685 but without enthusiasm and his correspondence seems to show that he tried to keep all sides happy in the time leading to the Glorious Revolution and James II’s flight to France. He seemed to be advocating a free Parliament and a regency rather than the installation of a new order but he also wrote to William of Orange thanking him for delivering England from ‘Popery.’
Sprat took the oath of allegiance to William and Mary and was one of several clergy who officiated at their coronation. There are records of him preaching before the new sovereigns on Good Friday 1690. His star was in the ascendancy but in May 1692 he was caught up in a ‘Wicked Contrivance’ devised by two miscreants, Stephen Blackhead and Robert Young.
The atmosphere in the country was tense. A French invasion was feared and on the 3rd May Marlborough was arrested as suspicions about allegiances to the exiled king grew febrile.
View of the Bishop’s Palace by Hasted, said to have been drawn before the year 1756.
On the evening of May 7th as Bishop Sprat walked in his orchard at Bromley a coach and four horses brought a Mr Dyve, Clerk of the Privy Council to greet him with the terrifying words ‘I am come to arrest you on suspicion of high treason.’ Many years before Sprat had been asked by Charles II to write an account of the Rye House Plot and knew the grisly end of hanging, drawing and quartering which could await him if he was found guilty.
His house was searched, his papers seized and he was put under house arrest in his Westminster deanery until he could appear before the earl of Nottingham and the Privy Council the following evening. At the time Sprat said he smiled when the soldiers with Dyve even dug down into his flowerpots looking for evidence of his treachery but he soon came to realise they had every reason for this diligence.
Sprat was convinced of his innocence but was well aware, as he said to the Privy Council that he had no option but to ‘ submit to the Necessities of State in such a Time of Jealousie and danger, as this is.’ He was asked if he had ever written to Marlborough or planned with others to restore James II which he vehemently denied, saying ‘I cannot imagine how it comes to pass that I should be thus suspected to be guilty of any Contrivance against the Government.’
Sprat remained under house arrest for eleven days and thorough searches continued including the deanery in Westminster. Sprat was allowed to return to Bromley but was summoned to the council again in June for further questioning adnd was able to confront both Robert Young and Stephen Blackhead, his accusers. Robert Young produced a document which he claimed had been found in a flowerpot in the bishop of Rochester’s Bromley home. It described a plot by Marlborough, Archbishop Sancroft, Sprat and others to seize the Queen, dead or alive and with 30 000 men meet James II when he returned and ensure he had a garrison and money for an army.
Spratt’s description of the Flowerplot Plot, The Wicked Contrivance, Rochester Cathedral Chapter library.
Sprat recognised Blackhead but denied knowing Young – however he admitted that Young had written to him from Newgate prison. He said he had not acquiesced to Young’s written demands in his letter as he had discovered him to be of ‘ill – character.’
Blackhead confessed the plot was contrived and on the 13th June Sprat was discharged by the Privy Council. In 1691 and 1962 Sprat completed his narrative of the entire experience and added his personal biographies of his accusers. The result was the publication of A Relation of the Late Wicked Contrivance of Stephen Blackhead and Robert Young (1692) and A Second Part of the Relation (1692). The Relation is written in the first person and as well as allowing Sprat to constantly protest his innocence, provides some interesting detail about his household, his personality and his person. Archbishop Sancroft believed that Sprat's 'quick & ready Witt & Memory' kept him from being 'clapt into prison' but the volume was well-received by many critics and the Chapter Library copy shows clearly that Sprat could write a lively narrative.
Sprat continued as an active Lord Spiritual for the rest of his life, participating in national events such as the coronation of Queen Anne in 1702 and the funeral of her husband, Prince George of Denmark in 1708. History records a variety of opinions on Bishop Sprat from being ‘a time-server’ and a man who ‘lived a lazy, libertine course of life’ to another who called him an ‘English Cicero.’
Stephen Blackhead escaped from custody and despite all evidence to the contrary, Young maintained his accusations against Sprat for many years and even tried to ensnare other notable people with allegations of Jacobite sympathies, such as the duchess of Richmond. He continued to commit forgery, was a habitual counterfeiter but was eventually arrested for coining and was hanged at Tyburn on the 19th August 1700. In his final imprisonment before execution he confessed that The Flowerpot Plot, as it had become known, was fictitious, was penitent and even supplemented Sprat’s information about his long criminal career.
In June 1712 Sprat sat in the Lords for the last time and Francis Atterbury, the next bishop of Rochester noted that Sprat’s understanding was “much – decayed’ and he had ‘lost all spirit and firmness of mind.’
Sprat died on the 20th May, 1713 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
The Chapter Library also contains a copy of Sprat’s sermon to his clergy on his visitation to the Cathedral in 1695.
The text shows Sprat’s urging his clergy to deliver their own sermons only after diligent study of the scriptures, to choose their words carefully and avoid speaking off the cuff. He says that he would hope the parishioners would come to love the scriptures from the clergy’s teachings but with regard to the young, urges them not ‘to overburden tender minds.’ This lengthy address covers many aspects of good ministry including visiting the sick and dying and also the correct way to treat curates!
Francis Atterbury
Francis Atterbury was born in 1663 in Buckinghamshire. He attended Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. As a student and as a young man he was widely admired for his intelligence and writing ability. He soon achieved advancement, was made minister to the Bridewell and Bethlem Hospital and appointed chaplain-in-ordinary to King William and Queen Mary. On gaining these appointments he married, moved to Chelsea where he lived with his wife and children. However he soon gained a reputation for voicing his High-Church Tory opinions very forcefully and probably secured both many supporters and enemies who would have an impact on his final fate.
In 1704 after several battles over church politics, which were enmeshed in the battles between Whigs and Tories, Atterbury was triumphant when the lower house of convocation agreed to two documents which enshrined his own views on the Church and clergy. Atterbury was asked to preach to the Commons and shortly afterwards he became dean of Carlisle. This preferment brought confrontations which were to be a mark of Atterbury’s life as he was unable to see eye-to-eye with his bishop. In 1711 Atterbury was made dean of his old Oxford college but he was disappointed to meet with great resistance to any of his ideas for reform and great dislike of his overbearing manner. He continued to dabble in politics and in 1713 was offered the bishopric of Rochester which by custom carried with it the much more lucrative role as dean of Westminster. Atterbury’s time as bishop seemed to be relatively harmonious but as dean of Westminster he clashed with the headmaster of Westminster School – a dispute which he took to the House of Lords to resolve and win.
As a Lord Spiritual Atterbury continued to be a leading advocate for the High-Church Tories and as he became more disillusioned about the Hanoverian regime’s support for the Whigs, he became involved, albeit sceptically, with the Jacobite cause. He probably helped to raise funds for an invasion but the plan floundered. He was wise enough to break his connections when he feared his correspondence had been intercepted and for a while was hopeful of a Tory revival. After the South Sea Bubble burst Atterbury became more actively involved with the Jacobite agents but again lost his patience with his co-conspirators who included several members of the aristocracy such as the Lord North and Grey and the earl of Strafford. Furious for what he saw as their incompetence he tried to distance himself from them.
Unfortunately for Atterbury, Walpole and other senior politicians such as Secretary of State Townshend were well-aware of the plots. Atterbury was betrayed by the earl of Mar, a leading Jacobite, and arrests followed along with the seizure of many documents and much incriminating correspondence. Atterbury was arrested on the 24th August 1722 at Westminster and taken to the Tower.
There are numerous letters and documents which remain in the National Archive pertaining to Atterbury’s months of imprisonment and the government’s actions against him which involved the passing of a bill of pains and penalties. This evolved into a form of government trial where Atterbury was very vocal in defending himself. Atterbury did not face execution unlike a co-conspirator, Christopher Layer, a lawyer who was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. He was executed at Tyburn in May 1723. Most eminent men lost their estates, income and titles and some of the most high-ranking were eventually discharged.
The National Archive also contains numerous letters which show arguments between Atterbury and his gaolers over stationery, visits, servants, searches of food sent in and pleas to the government to ameliorate the conditions of his confinement in the Tower.
In a letter dated 25th September 1722, sent by Atterbury to Charles, Viscount Townshend, Atterbury thanked Townshend for returning his papers and complains about his detention in comparison with the lenient treatment handed out to his predecessor, Bishop Sprat. This is curious because Sprat had been the victim of a rather incompetent trap by a criminal and declaimed his innocence vociferously, yet Atterbury seems to assume that the truth may have been very different.
Whilst a prisoner Atterbury’s argumentative behaviour took a more violent turn if a contemporaneous report is true. It is alleged that on the 28th December 1722 he confronted his gaoler, Deputy-Lieutenant of the Tower, Colonel Williamson and ‘collared him, struck him and threw him down’ although this report also expresses surprise that Williamson would reveal to the world that he was ‘beaten by a gouty bishop.’ There are references to this scuffle in several sources which contain differing accounts. Atterbury attests Williamson tripped, others say Atterbury laid hands on Williamson and ‘threw him on the bed.’
Despite his vigorous self-defence, Atterbury punishment was permanent exile and he was accompanied on the journey by his daughter and son-in-law. Notwithstanding the animus the Whigs felt for him, his Tory supporters provided a huge sum of £10 000 to help finance his life in France.
Williamson, later General Adam Williamson, accompanied his prisoner on a small boat out to the Alborough. This was the ‘man o’war’ docked at Long Reach, near Gravesend, which was to carry the deprived bishop to France, on 18th June, 1723. According to the published version of Williamson’s diary, he detested Atterbury and they even argued on this final river journey. He wrote that he gave three cheers when Atterbury boarded the Alborough; he was, according to his gaoler ‘the worst man I had to do with in all my life.’
In France, Atterbury worked hard for the Jacobite cause but liked neither the court life of the Pretender nor the practice of Catholicism. His temperament did not alter and he confronted and argued with those around him, perhaps out of frustration because he knew James Stuart was unlikely to succeed in taking the throne either by force or with the wholehearted support of the British people.
Atterbury must also have pined for home. After breaking with the James Stuart he wrote to Walpole begging for permission to return to England but his request was denied. He continued to correspond with supporters and published a Vindication to clear his name when he was accused of interfering in the editing of the new edition of Clarendon's History of the Rebellion. Atterbury was not an editor and never saw a copy until it was printed. A 1731 copy of this Vindication published in Paris and reprinted later in London can be found in the Chapter Library.
Atterbury died, aged 68, on 22nd February, 1732. His body was brought to England, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey. He wished to be buried away from kings and politicians and by royal command his burial was private and discreet. He was denied the tomb inscription he had composed which detailed the many injustices he felt he had suffered.
Ultimately, Atterbury is remembered by most not as a great theologian nor bishop but as a High-Church Tory at the centre of a treasonous plot. The Chapter Library contains copies of his sermons and texts which illustrate the support he had from like-minded men. He continued to garner support from friends of his descendants into the twentieth century and despite his actions and his quarrelsome ways, in his lifetime and unhappy exile, this enigmatic man managed to secure the friendship of many who were not necessarily aligned to his political views.
Visitors to Rochester Cathedral can see the coats of arms of Bishops Turner, Sprat and Atterbury, side by side, on the north side of the quire.
Bibliography
House of Lords Library Briefing House of Lords: Religious Representation (2017}
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
Francis Turner
https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/27849
Thomas Sprat
https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-26173
https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/thomas-sprat#i14631
Lambeth Palace MS 3894, fol. 63 (Archbishop Sancroft)
A Relation of the Late Wicked Contrivance of Stephen Blackhead and Robert Young (1692) and A Second Part of the Relation (1692). Thomas Roffen Chapter Library
A discourse made by the Ld. Bishop of Rochester to the clergy of his diocese at his visitation in the year 1695.
Personal Author:
Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713, author.
Publication Information:
Savoy [London] : Published at their request, Printed by E. Jones, MDCXCVI [1696] Chapter Library
Francis Atterbury
https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/871
https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/francis-atterbury
Francis Atterbury by H C Beeching (1909) Chapter Library
The Official Diary Of Lieutenant-General Adam Williamson Deputy-Lieutenant Of The Tower Of London 1722-1747 Edited For The Royal Historical Society By John Charles Fox, F.R.Hist.S., A Master of the Supreme Court
Camden Third Series Vol. XXII London Offices Of the Society 6 & 7 South Square Gray's Inn (1912)
Robert Young
https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/30278
Books in the Chapter Library – library catalogue
Thomas Sprat
Sermons preached on several occasions
Personal Author:
Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713, author.
Publication Information:
London : Printed for R[ebecca]. Bonwicke, J[ohn]. Walthoe, R[ichard]. Wilkin, B[enjamin]. Tooke, J[ohn]. Ward, and E[lizabeth]. Nutt, 1722.
(14 B 3)
Sermons preached on several occasions
Personal Author:
Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713, author.
Publication Information:
London : Printed for R[ebecca]. Bonwicke, J[ohn]. Walthoe, R[ichard]. Wilkin, B[enjamin]. Tooke, J[ohn]. Ward, and E[lizabeth]. Nutt, 1722.
(14 A 16)
A discourse made by the Ld. Bishop of Rochester to the clergy of his diocese at his visitation in the year 1695.
Personal Author:
Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713, author.
Publication Information:
Savoy [London] : Published at their request, Printed by E. Jones, MDCXCVI [1696]
(13 F 1)
A relation of the late wicked contrivance of Stephen Blackhead, and Robert Young, against the lives of several persons by forging an association under their hands
Personal Author:
Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713, author.
Publication Information:
[London?] : Printed by Edward Jones, MDCXCII [1692].
(13 C 21)
The clergyman's instructor : or, A collection of tracts on the ministerial duties.
Edition:
Second edition.
Publication Information:
Oxford : at the Clarendon Press, MDCCCXIII. [1813]
(12 D 14)
Francis Atterbury
Memoirs and correspondence of Francis Atterbury, D.D., Bishop of Rochester : with notices of his distinguished contemporaries. Volume the first & second. Atterbury, Francis, 1662-1732, author.
Wm. H. Allen and Co., 1869 (1C 10 &11)
Ecclesiastical synods and Parliamentary convocations in the Church of England historically stated, and justly vindicated from the misrepresentations of Mr. Atterbury. Part I Kennett, White, 1660-1728, author.
London : Printed for A. and J. Churchill, at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row, 1701.
(8 E 11)
Sermons on several occasions. Vol. I & Vol II
Personal Author:
Atterbury, Francis, 1662-1732, author.
Publication Information:
London : Printed by George James in Little-Britain, and fold by C. Davis in Paternoster Row, MDCCXXXIV [1734]
Publication:
London : Printed by George James in Little-Britain, and fold by C. Davis in Paternoster Row, MDCCXXXIV [1734]
(11 C 11 & 12)
Sermons and discourses on several subjects and occasions : in four volumes. Vol. I,II,III,IV
Personal Author:
Atterbury, Francis, 1662-1732, author.
Edition:
The eighth edition.
Publication Information:
London : Printed for L. Davis and C. Reymers, J. Rivington, W. Johnston, R. Baldwin, S. Crowder, B. Law, T. Caslon, and E. Johnson, MDCCLXVI [1766].
(13 D 8,9,10 & 11)
The late Bifhop of Rochefter's vindication of Bifhop Smallridge, Dr. Aldrich, and himself, from the scandalous reflections of Oldmixon, relating to the publication of Lord Clarendon's history.
Personal Author:
Atterbury, Francis, 1662-1732, author.
Publication Information:
London : Lately printed in Paris, now reprinted at London by J. Watson, over-against Hungerford-Market in the Strand, and sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster, 1731.
(20 G 11)
The rights, powers, and privileges of an English convocation stated and vindicated : in answer to a late book of Dr. Wake's entitled The authority of Christian princes over their ecclesiastical synods asserted &c., and to several other pieces
Personal Author:
Atterbury, Francis, 1662-1732, author.
Edition:
The second edition, much enlarg'd.
Publication Information:
London : Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1701.
(2 G 12)
Sermons and discourses on several subjects and occasions. Vol I
Personal Author:
Atterbury, Francis, 1662-1732, author.
Publication Information:
London : Printed by J. Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, at the Rose in Pater-noster Row, M, DCC, XXVI [1726]
(11 C 10)
Tracts relative to the history and antiquities of Scotland
Publication Information:
Edinburgh : Sold by A. Constable, 1800.
(4 G 3)
Sermons and discourses on several subjects and occasions. Vol I
Personal Author:
Attterbury, Francis, 1662-1732, author.
Publication Information:
London : Printed by J. Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, at the Rose in Pater-noster Row, M, DCC, XXVI [1726]
(11 C 9)
Not in catalogue
The History of the Royal Society of London for the improvement of Natural Knowledge
By Thomas Sprat DD Late Bishop of Rochester
Third Edition Corrected
London Printed for Samuel Chapman at the Angel and Crown Pallmall MDCCXXII 1722
(2 copies)
Francis Atterbury by H C Beeching (1909)