The Spencean Philanthropists, a group taking their…
February 1820 CE
Some of them, particularly Arthur Thistlewood, had been involved with the Spa Fields riots in 1816.
Thistlewood has come to dominate the group with George Edwards as his second in command.
Edwards is a police spy.
Most of the members are angered by the Six Acts and the Peterloo Massacre, as well as with the economic depression and political repression of the time.
The conspirators plan to assassinate the cabinet, which is supposed to be together at a dinner.
They will then seize key buildings, overthrow the government and establish a "Committee of Public Safety" to oversee a radical revolution.
According to the prosecution at their trial, they had intended to form a provisional government headquartered in the Mansion House.
The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 had further worsened the economy and saw the return of job-seeking veterans.
King George III's death on January 29 had created a new governmental crisis.
In a meeting held on February 22, George Edwards suggests that the group could exploit the political situation and kill all the cabinet ministers after invading the fictitious cabinet dinner at the home of Lord Harrowby, Lord President of the Council, armed with pistols and grenades.
Edwards even provides funds to help arm the conspirators.
Thistlewood thinks the act would trigger a massive uprising against the government.
James Ings, a coffeeshop keeper and former butcher, will later announce that he would have decapitated all the cabinet members and taken two heads to exhibit on Westminster Bridge.
Thistlewood spends the next hours trying to recruit more men for the attack.
Twenty-seven men join the effort.