Joseph Gerrald (9 February 1763 – 16 March 1796) was a political reformer, one of the "

Scottish Martyrs The Political Martyrs Monument, located in the Old Calton Burial Ground on Calton Hill, Edinburgh, commemorates five political reformists from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Designed by Thomas Hamilton and erected in 1844, it is a tall ...

". He worked with 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 ...

and 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 ...

and also wrote an influential letter, ''A Convention the Only Means of Saving Us from Ruin.'' He was arrested for his radical views and convicted of

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...

in 1794. Subsequently, he was deported to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, where he died from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

in 1796.

Early and family life

Gerrald was born in St. Kitts,

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

to Joseph Gerrald, a wealthy Irish planter, and Ann Rogers. In 1765, Gerrald and his family moved to London, where he attended a boarding school in Hammersmith until he was 11. Gerrald's mother died when he was very young – shortly after his family moved to England, and his father died when he was just 12 years old. After his father died in 1775, Gerrald was sent to study at Stanmore school under Dr. Samuel Parr. While at Stanmore, Gerrald performed very well in several subjects, such as Greek, Latin, and art, and became very close with Parr. Despite these successes, Parr needed to expel Gerrald because of 'extreme indiscretion'. In 1780, Gerrald moved back to the West Indies to tend to matters of the family fortune. Unfortunately, his father had been lavishly spending and had reduced the family estate considerably. During his stay, he brashly married a woman and they had a son and daughter together. Gerrald's wife died soon after the birth of the second child and he was left to raise two young children without much money. He then decided to move to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania where he was a lawyer for several years. In 1785, he was listed in the muster roll for the City of Philadelphia, in the 3rd company 6th battalion of the Philadelphia militia. Gerrald returned to London in 1788, but in 1789 he moved to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

due to his declining health.Davis, Michael T
''Gerrald, Joseph (1763–1796)''
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Accessed 22 Nov. 2015.

Political reformer

After Gerrald's return to England, he began writing anonymous letters about politics and joined the

and the more radical

. He became popular among radical reform groups due to his eloquence and pleasant demeanor. These groups were under continuous observation by royal authorities due to their promulgation of radical ideas; these ideas, in conjunction with eruption of war all over Europe during the 1790s, raised fears of a similar revolution in Britain. Gerrald was mostly concerned with parliamentary reform and was a large proponent of a national convention, alongside

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...

. The convention would be democratically elected and would focus on sorting out the laws of England. Gerrald drew his ideas from the successful precedent of the Saxons' Convention, and outlined his plans in his pamphlet, ''A Convention the Only Means of Saving Us from Ruin'' (1793).

''A Convention the Only Means of Saving Us from Ruin''

Gerrald sets the tone of the letter by discussing how legislators and the government may be offended by the criticisms he presents, but states that the government exists to represent the people and should learn from their suggestions. He draws on the trajectories and repercussions of the wars of the 18th century, including the American Revolution, to form his argument that the British should not have engaged in the current war, which Prime Minister William Pitt was carrying through. Throughout this pamphlet, Gerrald addresses the people of England on the need for common folk to be involved in politics. He believed that this was important because of the eruption of war between England and France, caused by the majority British opposition to

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 ...

. He argues that even though the government declares war, it is made possible only because of the contributions of others – in the form of taxes and soldiers – and thus that people are morally obliged to understand and justify the wars. On this front, Gerrald uses the young United States, an example showing that there exists a country that doesn't go to war unless its citizens decide to. Gerrald also found civic involvement necessary because the wars themselves were not constructive. He suggests that negotiations could have made a larger impact on the people because the outcomes of the wars left civilians in a worse state than they had started with. In addition, he refers to the

Society of the Friends of the People The Society of the Friends of the People was an organisation in Great Britain that was focused on advocating for Parliamentary Reform. It was founded by the Whig Party in 1792. The Society in England was aristocratic and exclusive, in contrast ...

's report that many current representatives are self-elected or are tools for the aristocracy, and that the current system favors neither wealth nor population size. To overcome these issues, Gerrald suggests a plan where people can elect representatives who will follow instructions set by the general body.Gerrald, Joseph.&nbs
A convention the only means of saving us from ruin
In a letter, addressed to the people of England, by Joseph Gerrald. The second edition. London, MDCCXCIV.

794 __NOTOC__ Year 794 ( DCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 794 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar ...

Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale. Carnegie Mellon University Libraries. 30 Nov. 2015

Plans for the convention

The convention will have 250 deputies from England and 125 from Scotland and these 375 men will speak out for the welfare of both England and Scotland. Any male can be elected to the convention unless a jury has found him to be a criminal, idiot, or lunatic. In order to determine the deputies in the convention, there will first be a primary assembly for each parish, 1250 in total. In this assembly, any males that are 21 and over and not deemed a criminal, lunatic, or idiot can vote. The members of the parish will vote for ten members to form a second assembly composed of the elected individuals from ten parishes. Each second assembly will then choose two deputies for the national convention. This process results in every deputy representing 5000 males each. Gerrald argues that because the deputies are elected with the specific purpose of speaking for their constituents, the people will have more political liberty while politics will have less corruption. He also states that war will be eliminated, as people will now have a voice in the declaration of it.

London Corresponding Society

On October 24, 1793, Gerrald and

Maurice Margarot Maurice Margarot (1745–1815) is most notable for being one of the founding members of the London Corresponding Society, a radical society demanding parliamentary reform in the late eighteenth century. Early life Maurice Margarot was the son of ...

were chosen as delegates for a convention of reformers, the British Convention of the Delegates of the People, in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. While attending, Gerrald took a trip to the Scottish countryside to publicize the reform movement. This convention was considered incendiary because of its goals of universal suffrage and annual parliaments and Gerrald's participation in the convention is what led to his arrest.

Arrest and conviction

The aims of the British Convention were moderate, but Gerrald and others were arrested and in March 1794 he was tried for

. It was felt that the case was prejudiced, and while out on bail Gerrald had been urged to escape by his friends such as Dr. Parr, but he considered that his honour was pledged. At his trial in Edinburgh he made an admirable speech in defence of his actions but was condemned to 14 years

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

. The apparent courtesy and consideration with which the trial was conducted could not conceal the real prejudice which ruled the proceedings. Throughout the trial,

Gilbert Wakefield Gilbert Wakefield (1756–1801) was an English scholar and controversialist. He moved from being a cleric and academic, into tutoring at dissenting academies, and finally became a professional writer and publicist. In a celebrated state trial ...

provided Gerrald with moral support. Gerrald was imprisoned in London until May 1795, when he was hurried on board the storeship about to sail for

. He arrived there on 5 November 1795. He was then in a poor state of health suffering from

and was allowed to buy a small house and garden in which he lived. He died on 16 March 1796.John Earnshaw, 'Gerrald, Joseph (1760–1796)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gerrald-joseph-2089/text2625, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 10 December 2015.

Legacy

Gerrald was a man sustained by his belief in the rights of mankind. In the account of his death

David Collins David Collins may refer to: Persons * David Collins (Hampshire cricketer), 18th-century cricketer * David Collins (New Zealand cricketer) (1887–1967) * David Collins (Scottish footballer) (1912–?) * David Collins (Australian footballer) ( ...

speaks of his "strong enlightened mind" and that he went to his death "glorying in being a martyr to the cause which he termed that of Freedom and considering as an honour that exile which brought him to an untimely grave". He was buried in the plot of land he had bought at Farm Cove. His son, Joseph, was cared for by Dr. Parr. Gerrald's associates included Thomas Muir,

Thomas Fyshe Palmer Thomas Fyshe Palmer (1747–1802) was an English Unitarian minister, political reformer and convict. Early life Palmer was born in Ickwell, Bedfordshire, England, the son of Henry Fyshe who assumed the added name of Palmer because of an inherit ...

William Skirving William Skirving (c. 1745 – 1796) was one of the five Scottish Martyrs for Liberty. Active in the cause of universal franchise and other reforms inspired by the French Revolution, they were convicted of sedition in 1793–94, and sentenced t ...

and

. His name appears on the

Political Martyrs' Monument The Political Martyrs Monument, located in the Old Calton Burial Ground on Calton Hill, Edinburgh, commemorates five political reformists from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Designed by Thomas Hamilton and erected in 1844, it is a tall ...

(1844) on

Calton Hill Calton Hill () is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, situated beyond the east end of Princes Street and included in the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and from, the hill are often used in photographs and paintings of the ci ...

at Edinburgh and a similar monument at

Nunhead Cemetery Nunhead Cemetery is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries in London, England. It is perhaps the least famous and celebrated of them. The cemetery is located in Nunhead in the London Borough of Southwark and was originally known as All Saints' ...

(1852) in London. Gerrald's son Joseph was admitted to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

in 1800 at the age of 17.Provo, UT, US: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999. From original date compiled by Venn, J. A., comp. ''Alumni Cantabrigienses.'' London, England: Cambridge University Press, 1922–1954. Accessed 4 December 2015.

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerrald, Joseph 1763 births 1796 deaths Convicts transported to Australia 18th-century deaths from tuberculosis British reformers People from Saint Kitts Tuberculosis deaths in Australia Infectious disease deaths in New South Wales