Arthur Thistlewood, Richard Tidd, James Ings, William…
May 1820 CE
Infantry are stationed nearby, out of sight of the crowd, two troops of Life Guards are present, and eight artillery pieces are deployed commanding the road at Blackfriars Bridge.
Large banners have been prepared with a painted order to disperse.
These are to be displayed to the crowd if trouble caused the authorities to invoke the Riot Act.
However, the behavior of the multitude is peaceful.
The hangman is John Foxton.
After the bodies have hung for half an hour, they are lowered one at a time and an unidentified individual in a black mask decapitates them against an angled block with a small knife.
Each beheading is accompanied by shouts, booing and hissing from the crowd and each head is displayed to the assembled spectators, declaring it to be the head of a traitor, before placing it in the coffin with the remainder of the body.
These will be the last Britons to suffer decapitation.
The British government uses the incident to justify the Six Acts that had been passed two months prior to the conspiracy.
However, in the House of Commons, Matthew Wood MP had accused the government of purposeful entrapment of the conspirators to smear the campaign for parliamentary reform.
The otherwise pro-government newspaper The Observer had ignored the order of the Lord Chief Justice Sir Charles Abbott not to report the trial before the sentencing.