... was fuelled by anger at the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 and the resultant "Six Acts"; it aimed to exploit the government crisis following the death of George III. Named after the location of the Earl of Harrowby's house, off Edgware Road in London, where the assassinations were to take place (at a Cabinet dinner) – the conspirators (led by Arthur Thistlewood) also rented a house there, and met in it. But one of the conspirators was working undercover for the Home Office, and it turned out that there was no dinner; the conspirators were captured, hanged and beheaded.
© Haydn Thompson 2017