John Frost (1750–1842) was an English radical and republican, known as the secretary of the

London Corresponding Society The London Corresponding Society (LCS) was a federation of local reading and debating clubs that in the decade following the French Revolution agitated for the democratic reform of the British Parliament. In contrast to other reform associati ...

Life

Born in October 1750, Frost was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

, and became an attorney. In 1782 he was a prominent member of a group meeting at the Thatched House tavern in London, who advocated constitutional reforms. There his associates included

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

who corresponded with Frost on parliamentary representation, the

Duke of Richmond Duke of Richmond is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created four times in British history. It has been held by members of the royal Tudor dynasty, Tudor and House of Stuart, Stuart families. The current dukedom of Richmond was ...

, Lord Surrey,

Lord Mahon Philip Henry Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope, (30 January 180524 December 1875), styled Viscount Mahon between 1816 and 1855, was an English antiquarian and Tory politician. He held political office under Sir Robert Peel in the 1830s and 1840s but ...

Major John Cartwright John Cartwright (17 September 1740 – 23 September 1824) was an England, English Royal Navy, naval officer, Nottinghamshire militia major and prominent campaigner for parliamentary reform. He subsequently became known as the Father of Reform. ...

John Horne Tooke John Horne Tooke (25 June 1736 – 18 March 1812), known as John Horne until 1782 when he added the surname of his friend William Tooke to his own, was an England, English clergyman, politician, and Philology, philologist. Associated with radica ...

, and

John Wilkes John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fo ...

. At the beginning 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 November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

Frost adopted republican principles, and in 1792 sheltered in his house a number of political prisoners. The same year he took a leading part in founding the Corresponding Society, for which he also acted as secretary. The Society began active propaganda for a reform of the parliamentary representation: one of its manifestoes, prepared by Frost and

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

showed that 257 representatives of the people, a majority of the existing House of Commons, were returned by a number of voters that was less than 0.1% of the nation. The

Society for Constitutional Information The Society for Constitutional Information was a British activist group founded in 1780 by Major John Cartwright, to promote parliamentary reform. It was an organisation of social reformers, many of whom were drawn from the rational dissenting c ...

was active at the same time, with both societies having branches in the provinces. The Constitutional Society elected Frost a deputy to the convention of France in 1793, his colleague being

Joel Barlow Joel Barlow (March 24, 1754 – December 26, 1812) was an American poet, and diplomat, and politician. In politics, he supported the French Revolution and was an ardent Jeffersonian republican. He worked as an agent for American speculator Wil ...

, whose expenses he paid. In this character he was present at the trial of

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

(1792–3), and was denounced in one of

Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_ NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style"> ...

's speeches as the ambassador to his murderers. On the information of the

attorney-general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Frost was arrested in February 1793 on a charge of sedition. He was brought to trial in the following May, the charge being that he had uttered words in Percy's coffee-house,

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...

in favour of equality, and against the king and constitution. Defended by Thomas Erskine, he was found guilty, and was sentenced to six months in

Newgate Prison Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...

, to stand once in the

pillory The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the stocks ...

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...

, to find sureties, and to be struck off the roll of attorneys. On 19 December 1793, Frost was brought out of Newgate in a state of collapse; but the crowd took the horses out of his carriage and drew him along the streets, shouting. They went to his house in Spring Gardens, where

John Thelwall John Thelwall (27 July 1764 – 17 February 1834) was a radical British orator, writer, political reformer, journalist, poet, elocutionist and speech therapist.

made a speech. During a debate in the House of Commons in May 1794 Pitt stated that the Corresponding Society had proposed to the Society for Constitutional Information a plan for a convention for all England, to overturn the established system of government. On 28 July 1797 members of the Corresponding Society assembled in a field near

St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in north London. It was originally a medieval ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the area it covered now forms around ...

. They were interrupted when magistrates arrested the principal speakers. The Society itself was then suppressed by the government. Frost was a candidate as Member of Parliament for

East Grinstead East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...

in 1802, and petitioned against his opponent's return; a committee of the House of Commons found that the petition was frivolous and vexatious. In December 1813 Frost received from the

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...

a free pardon; and on 8 February 1815, the

Court of King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of common ...

replaced his name on the roll of attorneys, but held that he was presumably unfit for the employment. Frost lived to the age of 91, dying at Holly Lodge, near

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, on 25 July 1842.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Frost, John 1750 births 1842 deaths English lawyers English republicans