Deaths of Thomas Harrison and John Carew

General Thomas Harrison had played an incriminating role in the execution of Charles I. After fighting at several major encounters in the English Civil War, he was entrusted with the military escort that brought the king from Windsor to stand trial at Westminster. At the trial, Harrison regularly participated as a judge and was a signatory on the king's death warrant. In 1660 he made little attempt to escape arrest - perhaps in the expectation of a pardon - and was admired for his stoicism in the face of violent death.

On 13 October, the day before this entry's focus, Thomas Harrison was dragged on a hurdle through the streets of London from Newgate Prison to Charing Cross and executed. Pepys writes:

I went out to Charing Cross, to see Major- general Harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered; which was done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition. He was presently cut down, and his head and heart shown to the people, at which there was great shouts of joy... Thus it was my chance to see the King beheaded at White Hall, and to see the first blood shed in revenge for the blood of the King at Charing Cross.

After watching the execution, Pepys returns home to quarrel with is wife and put up some shelves.

Harrison's 'cheerful' manner was admired by many attending his execution, including Pepys. A contemporary publication¹ notes that 'All the way as he went he endeavoured to discover to the world the undauntedness of his spirit' although his true feelings may have been shown by 'the more than ordinary trembling and shaking of his joynts'. Upset by the scoffing noises made by the audience at this apparent weakness, Harrison interrupted his speech from the scaffold to explain that it was his old war wounds caused him to shake, not fear. By all accounts, Harrison remained conscious and livid throughout his horrific ordeal. Afterwards, his body was decapitated and quartered, and put on public display. In a sentence that is characteristic of his excellent ability to perceive an events underlying meaning, Pepys details how Harrison was 'the first bloodshed in revenge'. If Harrison was the first, it is hard not to imagine Pepys spending the rest of his weekend anticipating the bloodshed that would come on Monday.

Much like Thomas Harrison, John Carew was a signatory of Charles I's death warrant who refused to flee prosecution; he was executed on 15 October. After Sunday's wet and dirty trip back from Whitehall and with office work to do, Pepys does not attend his execution. Although he displayed a similar level of stoicism as Harrison, Carew had consumed several pints of wine to reduce the pain of his death. He was probably killed by the noose. In a reprieve that Pepys seems to favour, his quarters were not displayed .

By the end of the week, all ten of the condemn regicides were dead. While Pepys attends one of the executions, and attempts to see two others, one gets the sense that he is able to sympathise with their deaths. His admiration of Harrison's toleration of pain and indefatigable faith in God is made clear, as is his discomfort at seeing the publicly displayed limbs of some of the other traitors². Like many others, by October 1660 Pepys has still not completed the change over from the thinking of parliamentarianism to the demands and practices of the royalist regime. The entry in the Diary for 14 October shows Pepys embracing the monarchy with apparent satisfaction at his social ascendance; they have not, however, gained his unquestioning support.

Marty: Why don't you just make ten louder, and make ten be the top number, and make that a little louder?


Nigel: These go to eleven

Things that I like - John Peel, diaries, charity shops, seeing bands live, art, books, lighting fires, cheese, libraries, trees, mixed tapes, inventions, records, the theatre, lists, cool buildings, The Forum, walking fast, rain, stamps, winter, scotch and bourbon, trapdoors, secret rooms, doors hidden in bookcases, iron age hill forts, history.

For those of you that are interested, I am twenty years old and having a great time studying history at Leicester university.

Writings

I have written several solo entries for h2g2. Curiously, many of these entries are on topics that I had no interest in prior to writing, and were picked almost completely at random.

• Macbeth - historical figure.
• Edgar the Peaceful (c943-975) - King of England
• The 'Common Era' - a secular term for year definition
  
• Transport Tycoon
• Lord Liverpool (1770-1828) - British Prime Minister
• How to Make Your Own Coasters
• Cooking with Carrots - Victorian Style
• 'Acid Eaters' by the Ramones
• How to Make Vinyl Bowls
• Anti-Flag - the Band

Music and Stuff

Albums

Last few records listened to - Call the Police '1984 in 2003', Hefner 'We love the city', Sleater-Kinney 'The Woods', X Ray Spex 'Germ free adolescents', Subhumans 'From the Cradle to the Grave, Orchid 'Dance tonight, Revolution tomorrow' 10", Icarus Line 'Mono', Fleshies 'Game of Futbol' 10", Nuggets 60s Garage Comp. Volume One, Cult of Luna s/t, MC5 'Kick out the jams', LimpWrist '18 songs 12"', F-Minus 'Suburban Blight', The (International) Noise Conspiracy 'A new morning, changing weather', 'The Clash 'London Calling', DJ Shadow 'Endtroducing', Minor Threat 'Complete Discography', Infect 'Indelevel', Victim's Family 'Voltage and Violets'.

Books and Films

Ten minutes ago I finished re-reading 'The Plague' by Albert Camus. Before that I read 'Decline of the English Murder and other Essays' by George Orwell. Next I hope to read 'The Subjection of Women' by JS Mill.

Books that I've enjoyed:

• Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
• To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
• Brighton Rock - Graham Greene
• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch - Alexander Solzhenitsyn
• Diary of a Nobody - George Grossmith
• Scoop - Evelyn Waugh
• The Autumn of the Patriarch³ - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I have also recently enjoyed non-fiction works including 'Discipline and Punish' by Michel Foucault, 'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman' by Mary Wollstonecraft and, best of all, the Diary of Samuel Pepys.