David McLane (c. 176721July 1797), also sometimes referred to as David McLean or David M'Lane, was a merchant from
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...
. He was hanged at
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...
as a
French spy by the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
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authorities.
Biography
Little is known of McLane's life. He may have been born in
Ayrshire, Scotland, and has been described as "an insolvent architect-merchant."
McLane was accused of attempting to organize a surprise attack on the garrison at Quebec City based on testimony of a number of witnesses, including William Barnard and
John Black. At the time, Great Britain was expecting trouble in its colonies because many colonists were expressing support for the ideals of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
. McLane was arrested at Black's home in Quebec City. Despite the fact that McLane was not a resident of Canada and that some of the testimony given against him may not have been credible, in July 1797 he was found guilty of treason by a jury and sentenced to suffer a traitors death of being
hanged, drawn and quartered. He was hanged outside the walls of the town, then decapitated and disembowelled. McLane was about thirty years old at the time of his death. The
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
government chose to ignore the affair in order to maintain relations with Great Britain.
Citations
References
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Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:McLane, David
Year of birth uncertain
1767 births
1797 deaths
18th-century executions of American people
People executed by British North America by hanging
American people executed abroad
Executed spies
People executed by the Province of Quebec (1763–1791)
People executed by the Kingdom of Great Britain
18th-century spies
Colonial American merchants