Henry Redhead Yorke, Colonial Radical This is a political, cultural, and intellectual biography of the neglected but important figure, Henry Redhead Yorke. A West Indian of African/British descent, born into a slave society but educated in Georgian England, he developed a complex identity to which politics was key. Probably the most revolutionary radical in Britain between 1793 and 1795, Yorke then recanted his radicalism and died a loyalist gentleman. This book raises important issues about the impact of ‘outsider’ politics in England and the complexities of politicisation and identity construction in the Atlantic World. It restores a forgotten black writer to his due place in history. Amanda Goodrich is a lecturer in history at the Open University. The Enlightenment World Series Editor: Michael T. Davis Griffith University Series Co-Editors: Jack Fruchtman Towson University Kevin Gilmartin Caltech Jon Mee University of York 26 The Poetic Enlightenment Poetry and Human Science, 1650–1820 Edited by Tom Jones and Rowan Boyson 27 British Visions of America, 1775–1820 Republican Realities Emma Macleod 28 Representing Humanity in the Age of Enlightenment Edited by Alexander Cook, Ned Curthoys and Shino Konishi 29 Before Blackwood’s Scottish Journalism in the Age of Enlightenment Edited by Alex Benchimol, Rhona Brown and David Shuttleton 30 Mary Wollstonecraft and Feminist Republicanism Independence, Rights and the Experience of Unfreedom Lena Halldenius 31 William Cobbett, Romanticism and the Enlightenment Contexts and Legacy Edited by James Grande and John Stevenson 32 Cultures of Improvement in Scottish Romanticism, 1707–1840 Edited by Alex Benchimol and Gerard Lee McKeever 33 Henry Redhead Yorke, Colonial Radical Politics and Identity in the Atlantic World, 1772–1813 Amanda Goodrich For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/ The-Enlightenment-World/book-series/ENW Henry Redhead Yorke, Colonial Radical Politics and Identity in the Atlantic World, 1772–1813 Amanda Goodrich First published 2019 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2019 Amanda Goodrich The right of Amanda Goodrich to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Goodrich, Amanda, 1957– author. Title: Henry Redhead Yorke, colonial radical : politics and identity in the Atlantic world, 1772–1813 / by Amanda Goodrich. Description: New York : Routledge, 2019. | Series: The Enlightenment world; 33 | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed. Identifiers: LCCN 2018048164 (print) | LCCN 2018055000 (ebook) | ISBN 9781848935976 (hbk) | ISBN 9781781448632 (ebk) Subjects: LCSH: Yorke, Henry Redhead, 1772–1813—Political and social views. | Political activists—Great Britain—Biography. | Authors, English—18th century—Biography. | Authors, English— 19th century—Biography. | Authors, Black—Great Britain— Biography. | Racially mixed people—Great Britain—Biography. | Blacks—Great Britain—Politics and government. | Great Britain— Politics and government—1789–1820. Classification: LCC DA506.Y67 (ebook) | LCC DA506.Y67 G66 2019 (print) | DDC 941.07/3092 [B]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018048164 ISBN: 978-1-8489-3597-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-7814-4863-2 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents List of abbreviations vi List of figures vii Acknowledgements viii Introduction 1 1 The colonial periphery 29 2 The colonial centre 54 3 Citizen of the world 80 4 Performance on the outdoor platform 108 5 Up against the government and the law 138 6 The trials 168 7 Recanting 198 8 A loyalist gentleman 228 Conclusion 264 Works cited 280 Index 298 Abbreviations CO Colonial Office Papers TNA Codrington Bodleian Library Special Collections: Codrington West Correspondence I Indian Papers Micr. W. Ind 22/1–15: Reel 1 C8 ‘D1610 C8 Letters concerning S. Redhead 1758–82,’ D1610 C9 Codrington The Codrington Correspondence 1743–1851 (microform) Correspondence II 1960, Film 24995 Reel 1, Benson Latin American Col- lection, University of Texas Libraries ECCO Eighteenth Century Collections Online FO Foreign Office Papers TNA HO Home Office Papers TNA KB King’s Bench Papers TNA LCS London Corresponding Society MCS Manchester Constitutional Society ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online (2004–present), general editor: David Cannadine. Proceedings Proceedings of the Public Meeting, held at Sheffield, In the Open Air on the seventh of April 1794 and also an Address to the British Nation being an exposition of the motives which have determined The People of Sheffield to Petition the House of Commons no More on the subject of Parliamentary Reform (Sheffield 1794), TNA, TS 24/3/88 SCI Society for Constitutional Information SCS Sheffield Constitutional Society (sometimes known as the Sheffield Society for Constitutional Information) State Trials Thomas Bayly Howell and Thomas Jones Howell, eds., A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason, 34 vols. (London, Longman et al., 1816–1822), also on Hathi Trust Digital Library. TNA The National Archives TS Treasury Solicitor’s Papers TNA Yorke, Trial The Trial of Henry Yorke, for a Conspiracy, &c. before the Hon, Mr. Justice Rooke, at the Assizes, held for the County of York, on Saturday, July 10, 1795. Published by the Defendant (York and Sheffield, 1795) Figures 1 “Henry Yorke Esq.” portrait, after W. Hay, engraved by J. Ward, mezzotint. x 2 “Henry Yorke” portrait, after John Raphael Smith, engraved by Samuel William Reynolds, mezzotint. xi 3 “A Picture of Great Britain in the Year 1793” satirical print, published by J. Alexander, London, 1794. xii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Michael T. Davis, the editor of the series The Enlight- enment World: Political and Intellectual History in the Long Eighteenth Century, for his generous help and encouragement. Also thank you to Rout- ledge for publishing this book, the editors, and particularly Max Novick, for his patient and calm assistance. I am also grateful for the support pro- vided by colleagues in the History Department at the Open University and for the research time and financial assistance provided by the university. I have benefited greatly from the assistance and professionalism of librari- ans and archivists, including those in London at the British Library, the Brit- ish Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Archives and the Bodleian Library, Oxford; the Rhodes House Library, Oxford; University of Nottingham and University of Edinburgh libraries; Dorchester History Centre, Derbyshire Records Office; Manchester Archives at Manchester Central Library; and Sheffield Archives. I also wish to thank the librarians and archivists at the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas Libraries, Austin, Texas, for their help in unearthing primary sources and prompt provision of sources via microfilm. Special thanks go to the librarians and staff at the Open University Library. In particular, I would like to thank Nathan Bend of the University of Hert- fordshire for his wonderful research assistance in The National Archives. His considerable knowledge, particularly of the Home Office Papers but also his general agility among all the archives for the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, enabled him to find material with ease. Nathan’s good nature and diligence is greatly appreciated. His research contributed in particular to chapters 5 and 6 of this book. I also thank Katrina Navickas and Robert Poole for enabling Nathan to take this research assistance role while completing his PhD. I also appreciate the support of the conveners and members of the Insti- tute of Historical Research, Britain in the Long Eighteenth-Century Seminar. I owe intellectual debts to many academics. In particular, I wish to thank Sarah Barber, Nick Draper, Michael Durey, Kevin Gilmartin, David Karr, Annika Acknowledgements ix Mombauer, Barbara Paca, Anna Plassart, Mario Valdes, and Amnon Yuval, who have all assisted me in this book project. It is to Penelope Corfield and David Vincent that I owe the greatest debt and offer my heartfelt thanks for reading and commenting so perceptively and generously on the book. Also many thanks to Lenny for supporting me throughout, and to my family for being there.