Pentrich Historical Society

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© Pentrich Historical Society 2000-2007

Updated Saturday, 26 July, 2008

Web site maintained by Helen Wilson

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THE STORY OF A REVOLUTION

The Aftermath

The history of Pentrich almost stopped with the revolution. The Duke’s agents ensured that houses where guilty man had lived were pulled down (plaque 10 and 8). Wives and children were put out of their tenancies and years later can be traced in other parts of the country, still scraping a livelihood after their disgrace. In the village those who had not taken part distanced themselves from the trouble refusing to associate with those suspected of taking part, and offering evidence against them. Land taken from guilty men was redistributed to loyal tenants, some of whom had given evidence at the trial (plaque 9).

The men who were transported to Australia went there on the Tottenham and the Isabella. All men eventually received absolute pardons; it is thought that none returned to Pentrich. Their descendants occasionally contact the village and it is known, from Josiah Godber’s letters home to his wife Rebecca that the life there was not as bad as they had feared.

The harsh sentences handed down to the Pentrich Revolutionaries had the effect that the government wanted. The call for reform was temporarily silenced and it was to be almost 20 more years before reform was achieved.