Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq, vol 1 | Page 9

on the 6th day of Nov. 1773, and am descended from as
ancient and respectable a family as any in that county, my forefather
having arrived in England with, and attended William the Conqueror,
as a colonel in that army, with which he successfully invaded this
country. He became possessed of very considerable estates in the
counties of Wilts and Somerset, which passed from father to son, down
to the period of the civil wars in the reign of Charles the First, when, in
consequence of the tyrannical government of that weak and wicked
prince, _resistance became a duty_; and, at length, after having by the
means of corrupt judges and packed juries, not only amerced and
incarcerated, but caused to be executed many of the wisest, bravest, and
most patriotic men of the age, the tyrant was ultimately brought to
justice, and forfeited his head upon a scaffold, having first been
compelled to sign the death warrant for his favourite, Lord Strafford[1].
When the commonwealth was established, and Cromwell declared Lord
Protector, my great great grandfather, colonel Thomas Hunt, who was
in possession of those estates in Wiltshire, unfortunately took a decided
and prominent part in favour of Charles the Second, who had fled, and
was then remaining in France, waiting an opportunity for his
restoration, and instigating those who were known to be his partisans in
this country, to resist and overthrow the government and constitution of
the country as then by law established. Charles was in constant
correspondence with my forefather colonel Hunt, who together with Mr.
Grove and Mr. Penruddock, were all country gentlemen of large
property and considerable influence, residing in the county of Wilts,
and avowed royalists firmly attached to the family of Stuart. And as it
was well known by Cromwell that Charles had a number of powerful
partisans in various parts of the kingdom, he took good care to have all

their motions well watched, and as he kept a host of spies in his employ,
they found it next to impossible to form or arrange any general plan of
co-operation, without its coming to the knowledge of his agents. Many
well-digested schemes had been detected and frustrated, by these
watchful well-paid minions of the Protector, but the royalists were not
to be deterred from their purpose, although many of them received
intimation from Oliver that he was aware of all their plans and
intentions: he resting satisfied with this knowledge, and the conviction
that he not only kept their restless spirits in check, but that he was at all
times prepared to put them down with a high hand, in case they should
ever dare to break out into open violence, or attempt to put their
intentions into execution. However, as Hunt, Grove, and Penruddock,
with many other friends in the West, became very impatient; it was
agreed to attempt a general communication by means of a meeting of
the disaffected at[2] a great stag hunt, which was announced to be
about to take place somewhere in the forest, in the neighbourhood of
Wokingham, between Reading and Windsor. To this stag hunt all the
known partisans of the house of Stuart were invited; and when
assembled there in great numbers from all parts of the kingdom, it was
agreed among them, that each man should raise a force agreeable to his
means, some horse and some foot, by a particular day, in order to attack
the troops of Cromwell, who was a great deal too wary and cunning to
suffer such an extraordinary assembly, under any circumstances, and
particularly of such suspicious persons as those who attended the hunt
were known to be, without sending some of his agents to join them,
whereby he might become acquainted with whatever project they might
have in contemplation. They all departed after the hunt was over,
having fixed to be ready and join in the field by a particular day.
Cromwell's agents did their duty, and he was no sooner informed of the
plan which was laid, than he made all due preparation for meeting any
force that might be brought into the field against him by these powerful
malcontents. He not only did this, but he employed his agents to win
over some of the most formidable of his adversaries, by bribes and
promises. Having succeeded in this, he wrote to all the remaining
conspirators, and informed them separately, that he was perfectly aware
of all their plots, and of their intention to bring a force into the field
against him on a particular day; he assured them that he had made all

necessary preparations, not only to meet, and to defeat them with an
overwhelming force of well-disciplined troops, but that he had also
made friends of some of those on whom the conspirators