Henry Redhead Yorke, Colonial Radical: Politics and Identity in the Atlantic World, 1772-1813

324 Pages·2019·7.088 MB·English

by  Amanda Goodrich

Henry Redhead Yorke,
Colonial Radical
This is a political, cultural, and intellectual biography of the neglected but
important figure, Henry Redhead Yorke. A West Indian of African/British
descent, born into a slave society but educated in Georgian England, he
developed a complex identity to which politics was key. Probably the
most revolutionary radical in Britain between 1793 and 1795, Yorke then
recanted his radicalism and died a loyalist gentleman. This book raises
important issues about the impact of ‘outsider’ politics in England and
the complexities of politicisation and identity construction in the Atlantic
World. It restores a forgotten black writer to his due place in history.
Amanda Goodrich is a lecturer in history at the Open University.
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33 Henry Redhead Yorke, Colonial Radical
Politics and Identity in the Atlantic World, 1772–1813
Amanda Goodrich
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Henry Redhead Yorke,
Colonial Radical
Politics and Identity in the Atlantic
World, 1772–1813
Amanda Goodrich
First published 2019
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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© 2019 Amanda Goodrich
The right of Amanda Goodrich to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Goodrich, Amanda, 1957– author.
Title: Henry Redhead Yorke, colonial radical : politics and identity in
the Atlantic world, 1772–1813 / by Amanda Goodrich.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2019. | Series: The
Enlightenment world; 33 | Includes bibliographical references and
index. | Description based on print version record and CIP data
provided by publisher; resource not viewed.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018048164 (print) | LCCN 2018055000 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781848935976 (hbk) | ISBN 9781781448632 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Yorke, Henry Redhead, 1772–1813—Political and
social views. | Political activists—Great Britain—Biography. |
Authors, English—18th century—Biography. | Authors, English—
19th century—Biography. | Authors, Black—Great Britain—
Biography. | Racially mixed people—Great Britain—Biography. |
Blacks—Great Britain—Politics and government. | Great Britain—
Politics and government—1789–1820.
Classification: LCC DA506.Y67 (ebook) | LCC DA506.Y67 G66
2019 (print) | DDC 941.07/3092 [B]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018048164
ISBN: 978-1-8489-3597-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-7814-4863-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of abbreviations vi
List of figures vii
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction 1
1 The colonial periphery 29
2 The colonial centre 54
3 Citizen of the world 80
4 Performance on the outdoor platform 108
5 Up against the government and the law 138
6 The trials 168
7 Recanting 198
8 A loyalist gentleman 228
Conclusion 264
Works cited 280
Index 298
Abbreviations
CO Colonial Office Papers TNA
Codrington Bodleian Library Special Collections: Codrington West
Correspondence I Indian Papers Micr. W. Ind 22/1–15: Reel 1 C8 ‘D1610
C8 Letters concerning S. Redhead 1758–82,’ D1610 C9
Codrington The Codrington Correspondence 1743–1851 (microform)
Correspondence II 1960, Film 24995 Reel 1, Benson Latin American Col-
lection, University of Texas Libraries
ECCO Eighteenth Century Collections Online
FO Foreign Office Papers TNA
HO Home Office Papers TNA
KB King’s Bench Papers TNA
LCS London Corresponding Society
MCS Manchester Constitutional Society
ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online
(2004–present), general editor: David Cannadine.
Proceedings Proceedings of the Public Meeting, held at Sheffield,
In the Open Air on the seventh of April 1794 and also
an Address to the British Nation being an exposition
of the motives which have determined The People of
Sheffield to Petition the House of Commons no More
on the subject of Parliamentary Reform (Sheffield
1794), TNA, TS 24/3/88
SCI Society for Constitutional Information
SCS Sheffield Constitutional Society (sometimes known as
the Sheffield Society for Constitutional Information)
State Trials Thomas Bayly Howell and Thomas Jones Howell, eds.,
A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings
for High Treason, 34 vols. (London, Longman et al.,
1816–1822), also on Hathi Trust Digital Library.
TNA The National Archives
TS Treasury Solicitor’s Papers TNA
Yorke, Trial The Trial of Henry Yorke, for a Conspiracy, &c. before
the Hon, Mr. Justice Rooke, at the Assizes, held for the
County of York, on Saturday, July 10, 1795. Published
by the Defendant (York and Sheffield, 1795)
Figures
1 “Henry Yorke Esq.” portrait, after W. Hay, engraved by
J. Ward, mezzotint. x
2 “Henry Yorke” portrait, after John Raphael Smith, engraved
by Samuel William Reynolds, mezzotint. xi
3 “A Picture of Great Britain in the Year 1793” satirical print,
published by J. Alexander, London, 1794. xii
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Michael T. Davis, the editor of the series The Enlight-
enment World: Political and Intellectual History in the Long Eighteenth
Century, for his generous help and encouragement. Also thank you to Rout-
ledge for publishing this book, the editors, and particularly Max Novick,
for his patient and calm assistance. I am also grateful for the support pro-
vided by colleagues in the History Department at the Open University and
for the research time and financial assistance provided by the university.
I have benefited greatly from the assistance and professionalism of librari-
ans and archivists, including those in London at the British Library, the Brit-
ish Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Archives and the
Bodleian Library, Oxford; the Rhodes House Library, Oxford; University
of Nottingham and University of Edinburgh libraries; Dorchester History
Centre, Derbyshire Records Office; Manchester Archives at Manchester
Central Library; and Sheffield Archives. I also wish to thank the librarians
and archivists at the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of
Texas Libraries, Austin, Texas, for their help in unearthing primary sources
and prompt provision of sources via microfilm. Special thanks go to the
librarians and staff at the Open University Library.
In particular, I would like to thank Nathan Bend of the University of Hert-
fordshire for his wonderful research assistance in The National Archives.
His considerable knowledge, particularly of the Home Office Papers but
also his general agility among all the archives for the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries, enabled him to find material with ease. Nathan’s
good nature and diligence is greatly appreciated. His research contributed
in particular to chapters 5 and 6 of this book. I also thank Katrina Navickas
and Robert Poole for enabling Nathan to take this research assistance role
while completing his PhD.
I also appreciate the support of the conveners and members of the Insti-
tute of Historical Research, Britain in the Long Eighteenth-Century Seminar.
I owe intellectual debts to many academics. In particular, I wish to thank Sarah
Barber, Nick Draper, Michael Durey, Kevin Gilmartin, David Karr, Annika
Acknowledgements ix
Mombauer, Barbara Paca, Anna Plassart, Mario Valdes, and Amnon Yuval,
who have all assisted me in this book project. It is to Penelope Corfield and
David Vincent that I owe the greatest debt and offer my heartfelt thanks for
reading and commenting so perceptively and generously on the book. Also
many thanks to Lenny for supporting me throughout, and to my family for
being there.