BattlefieldsThomas Muir arrest and trial context Edinburgh 1793
modern

Thomas Muir arrest and trial context Edinburgh 1793

1793
Scotland
Era
modern
Battle Type
Pitched Battle
Location
Scotland
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Forces
Not recorded in historical accounts
Forces
Friends of the People radicals
VS
Victor
Not recorded in historical accounts
Forces
Scottish legal establishment
Outcome
Muir transported to Botany Bay; Scottish radical movement suppressed; Muir later escaped to France where he died
The Battle

History & Significance

Thomas Muir of Huntershill was arrested in Edinburgh for sedition after advocating parliamentary reform and distributing Paine's Rights of Man; his subsequent trial before Lord Braxfield and transportation sentence of fourteen years became an international cause celebre of radical politics

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