Sentenced to Hang

The early 1790s were a turbulent period in an increasingly dividedEngland, nowhere more so than in Birmingham, where a strengthening Republicanthreat inevitably prompted a desperate Anglican and Tory backlash. As ayoung Birmingham metal-worker who was there, Billy gives a vivid first-handaccount of the part he and his friends played in the Birmingham Riots of 1791,and the resulting trials which attracted the attention of the whole country. Through Billy's eyes the reader comes to understand the social and politicalunrest of those turbulent times. Billy Hands describes his life as a common butwell-respected metal-worker. Billy wasalso invited to be a free or servitorial member of a remarkably egalitariangentlemen's Birmingham Athletic Society. When some of the gentlemen members were developing plans for someanti-Republican riots, Billy heard and understood the gentlemen's reasons. Thus, Billy's story provides an importantinsight into public disorder in England that still applies to this day.