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8 July 1685
James Scott, the Protestant Duke of Monmouth and Charles II's eldest illegitimate son, is captured after the failure of his rising against James II. While in exile in Holland (after being implicated in the Rye House Plot (see 1 June 1683), Monmouth is persuaded by radical Whigs to invade England and depose his uncle James II. With an inadequate army of about 3,000 untrained soldiers, he lands at Lyme Regis in Dorset on 11 June. Promised risings in London and Cheshire fail to occur, and, on 5-6 July, during a night attack at Sedgemoor, Somerset, his troops are defeated. He is executed 10 days later in London. — • — Monmouth ... threw himself upon his uncle's mercy, ignobly begging clemency, which disgusted James. On 15 July he went to his death for treason, beseeching the executioner to do it cleanly, in one blow, but the executioner was so agitated that two or three strokes were not enough to sever the head from the body. He threw away the axe in despair, until the sheriff forced him to finish the botched job. From A Century of Troubles by Stevie Davies (Channel 4 Books) |
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