A locally printed defence of the conduct of John Allen, a wealthy builder and pawnbroker, during and after the Bath election of 1812, by 'An Inhabitant and Eye-Witness', 'Published in order to counteract the Misrepresentations that have appeared in all the Bath Newspapers'. Allen 'insist[ed]' on the rights of the freemen of Bath to vote in parliamentary elections, as opposed to members of the corporation alone, and had staged a 'mock election' in which freemen were allowed to vote, which overlapped with, continued after, and commented upon, the official election. Allen was accused of causing riots; the pamphlet celebrates him as a 'worthy advocate of Parliamentary Reform' whose actions represented 'so noble an effort in the great cause of the Liberty of the subject'. The pamphlet reprints material from the Bath Herald, and also provides its own 'Narrative of Facts' dated 12 October 1812, and 'Further Particulars of the Case, with a Copy of Mr. Allen's Speech as delivered at the Town-Hall, his Addresses to the Freemen, Copy of the Letter sent to the Mayor, and of the legal Notice served on three Members of the Body Corporate, for a gross, and wilful attack on [Allen's] Person'. The pamphlet concludes by drawing a comparison with the 'Contest for the Representation of Aldeburgh, in Suffolk', as reported in 'a London Paper' on 13 October 1812. Handwritten on the back page is 'John Bourn 24th October 1812'.
Bath Record Office: Archives and Local Studies; Pamphlet Collection
Images copyright Bath Record Office: Archives and Local Studies
Candidate: Charles Palmer
Constituency: Bath
Constituency: Aldeburgh
date: 1812
date: October 1812
Election: Oct-1812
keyword: Printed Text
keyword: Pamphlet
maker: [Unknown]
maker: John Browne (Printer)
maker: John Allen
materials: Ink
materials: Paper
place: Aldeburgh
place: Union Passage, Bath
place: Bath
