Folio(s) 134-150. Copies of papers relating to John Bone, state prisoner in Gloucester...

Folio(s) 134-150. Copies of papers relating to John Bone, state prisoner in Gloucester County Gaol.

Copy of a letter of 19 December 1800 to the Duke of Norfolk, Gloucestershire magistrate, from John Bone appealing against his imprisonment without a trial. Bone was imprisoned in 1798 on charges of conspiracy against the state. He asks Norfolk to present a petition to the House of Lords, stating Bone's case and opposing the continued suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. Bone insists that, although he had been a member of the London Corresponding Society until its intention to call a public meeting at St Pancras in 1797, at which time he resigned, he had had no contact whatsoever with any political society, in or out of Ireland or beyond the sea. A letter found in his house from Henry Fellows of Maidstone, later convicted of distributing seditious pamphlets to soldiers, was intended not for Bone, but for one of his visitors. The pamphlets 'Appeal of the People of Ulster to their Countrymen', and 'General Buonaparte's Address to his Army' were printed by Bone but only after they had appeared in the public press and had not been denounced as seditious by the Attorney-General. Bone writes in great detail of the seeming determination of the government to keep him in prison, and stresses that he wishes only to be brought to trial, where he can defend himself.

Copy of a minute of an adjourned meeting of the Gloucestershire magistrates, Epiphany Sessions 1801, stating that they had enquired into the grievances expressed by Bone in a letter to his brother about his health and his accommodation in gaol and had concluded that there was no case for making any alteration.

Copy of a letter of 11 February 1801 to Mr Bone of 2 Castle Street, Clerkenwell, London, from John Bone in Gloucester Gaol in which he claims to be seriously ill with a stomach complaint brought on by drinking spirits before his confinement, and he wishes to be moved to another goal where he will be allowed small, frequent meals and walks in the open air. At present he spends his days in either a smoky room or in a damp yard, and he requires freedom of movement between the two.

Annotated: Dr R B Cheston visited Bone and finds that the complaints are groundless. Mr Parker, the doctor attending the gaol, has never received a complaint from Bone, and he always appeared to be in good health with a hearty appetite for the diet on which he has put himself. Bone has withdrawn his complaint about the smoky room, considering that it is no worse than many others. He has no further complaints to make.