The first political prisoner to enter the Tower in the reign of George the Third was John Wilkes, the notorious member for Middlesex. On the 30th of April 1763, Wilkes was imprisoned in the Tower under a warrant signed by Lords Egremont and Halifax, the charge against him being, that he had written and published the North Briton newspaper, the forty-fifth number of which was styled “a most infamous and seditious libel.” Wilkes, however, was only kept for a week in the fortress, the Lord Chief-Justice (afterwards Lord Camden) deciding that the offence for which he was committed to prison, “was not an offence sufficient to destroy the privilege of a member of Parliament, that it was unconstitutional, illegal, and absolutely void.”

The next prisoners of note also made the acquaintance of the inside of the fortress indirectly through the Press. They were no less personages than the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Brass Crosby, and one of his Aldermen, Oliver, both members of Parliament. They had held a messenger to bail, who, under the Speaker’s warrant, had apprehended the printers of the London Evening Post, and had afterwards been charged by the arrested printer with assault and false imprisonment. The Lord Mayor and his Alderman attempted to justify themselves before the House of Commons by claiming the City privileges,[7] but, nevertheless, they were kept in durance vile in the Tower until the 23rd of July, when, Parliament being prorogued, they obtained their liberty, after a confinement of four months’ duration. Their liberation was regarded as a popular triumph, and celebrated with much rejoicing.

During the American War many of the Tower guns, and a quantity of the ammunition stored there, was sent across the Atlantic, and used against the so-called “rebellious colonists.”

In June 1780, that half-crazed fanatic, Lord George Gordon, was a prisoner in the Tower, charged with the instigation of the “No Popery” riots, which for a time had placed London in peril of mob-rule, and caused great loss of life and property by fire and pillage. After a trial which lasted twenty-one hours, Lord George was declared not guilty. A few years later, however, he was doomed to end his life in Newgate prison. At the same time that Lord George was a prisoner in the fortress, the Earl of Pomfret was committed there for having challenged the Duke of Grafton to fight a duel. In the following year a French spy, named Henry Francis de la Motte, was in the Tower on a charge of high treason. He was found guilty, and hanged at Tyburn on the 23rd of July. In 1794 the coalition between Pitt and the Whigs took place, and soon afterwards Pitt carried two Bills through Parliament, one of which was to the effect that mere writing, speaking, or preaching against the King’s authority was tantamount to treason; the other forbade all political meetings, unless advertised beforehand, and permitted their dispersal by any two justices of the peace. These very coercive measures over-reached themselves, and juries would not convict persons charged with offences under their clauses. Horne Tooke, “Parson Tooke,” as he was familiarly called, the celebrated wit, was the most brilliant of a set who desired more civil and religious liberty in England, and with this object they formed themselves into a society for the propaganda of their opinions, holding meetings, and making use of existing societies, clubs, and associations. Tooke, Jeremiah Joyce, a clergyman, and private secretary to Lord Stanhope, Thomas Hardy, a shoemaker, John Thelwall, Bonney, Richter, and Lovatt, were all arrested and placed in the Tower, and brought before the Privy Council on a charge of high treason. These so-called reformers were eight weeks in the fortress. At length the trials took place, Hardy being acquitted, to the great delight of the populace, the reformer shoemaker becoming the hero of the hour. Tooke was tried at the Old Bailey, and he also was acquitted, as were the rest of the prisoners. In 1798, Arthur O’Connor, the editor of the Press, an Irish Nationalist newspaper, with John Alley, John Burns, and James O’Coighley were placed in the fortress on a charge of maintaining a traitorous correspondence with the French Directory. O’Connor and his companions, it seems, had been entrusted by the Society of the United Irishmen with a mission to the French Directory in the month of March 1798, but on their way to Paris they were arrested at Margate by Bow Street runners, although they had bribed a fisherman with £150 to take them across the Channel. On their luggage being searched, uniforms, arms, and a large sum of money were found. They were immediately brought back to London, and lodged in separate prisons in the Tower, but the trial was held at Margate, and James O’Coighley, who seems to have been made the scapegoat, was hanged on Pennenden Heath. Lord Thanet, who was a friend of O’Connor’s, was present at the latter’s trial at Maidstone, and with him were Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Sir Francis Burdett, and Samuel Whitbread. During the trial O’Connor made a bolt for freedom, springing out of the dock, and forcing his way through the court; he almost succeeded in escaping. A free fight ensued, and in the melée Lord Thanet was arrested, and on the charge of aiding and abetting the prisoner O’Connor to escape, and with resisting the officers of the law, was sent off to the Tower. At his trial Lord Thanet remarked that, “he thought it only fair that O’Connor should have a run for it.” Lord Thanet was tried at the Court of King’s Bench in May 1799, and with him a barrister named Ferguson, who had also shown his sympathy with O’Connor during his trial. Both were found guilty. Lord Thanet was fined £1000, and sentenced to be imprisoned in the Tower for twelve months; Ferguson had to pay a fine of £500, and was ordered to be imprisoned in the King’s Bench prison. Sackville Tufton, Earl of Thanet, was the last peer who was imprisoned in the Tower.

Ten years after this another prisoner was brought to the Tower amidst wild scenes of popular excitement, such as the old fortress had not witnessed since the mob led by Wat Tyler had surged about its grey walls. This prisoner was Sir Francis Burdett, who was sent to the Tower on the 10th of April 1810, for an alleged libel on the House of Commons in a letter addressed to his constituents, the electors of Westminster, which had appeared in Cobbet’s “Political Register.” In this letter Sir Francis denied the power of the House of Commons to imprison delinquents, and this statement was voted by the House to be “libellous and scandalous.” Burdett had made himself obnoxious to the Ministers of his day by his strong Liberal politics, and they at once made this letter an excuse for venting their hatred upon him. The House of Commons during an all-night sitting passed an order for his attachment, and a warrant was drawn up and signed by Speaker Abbot to arrest the too popular baronet, and place him in the Tower. For some days Burdett refused to comply with the Speaker’s warrant, and the longer he refused to be arrested the greater became the excitement throughout London. Free fights took place between the military and the mob, the windows of the Tory Ministers’ houses were smashed, and the electors of Westminster mustered round Sir Francis’s house in Piccadilly (that now occupied by his noble-hearted and charitable daughter the Baroness BurdettCoutts) in their thousands. These protested their devotion to their beloved member, and their determination to prevent his being taken to prison. At length Burdett was obliged to surrender to the officers, who forced their way into his drawing-room, and being placed in a coach, was driven by way of the north of London, by Moorfields and the Minories, to the Tower. On Tower Hill the mob seemed inclined to attempt a rescue, but fortunately no conflict occurred, and Sir Francis was safely conducted to his prison, in a house near to that occupied by Colonel Mathew Smith, who was acting in the place of the Lieutenant of the Tower, General Vernon, the latter being too infirm to attend to his duties. Lord Moira, the Constable of the Tower, was present when Sir Francis arrived at the fortress. As the soldiers who had escorted the Liberal member for Westminster to the Tower were returning to their quarters there was a collision between them and the mob, and on Tower Hill the military were obliged to charge the people, many being killed; two more people were killed in Fenchurch Street, whilst riots broke out in several places in the metropolis. Burdett’s imprisonment lasted for ten weeks, he being set at liberty when Parliament was prorogued on the 21st of June. In order to avoid a fresh demonstration he was taken down the river to his villa at Wimbledon. In later years Sir Francis changed his politics and became a steady Whig, but for thirty years he was the most popular member of Parliament that ever sat for Westminster.

Ten years again elapsed before the Tower opened its gates to receive prisoners, these being Thistlewood, with his crew of cut-throats, Ings, Harrison, Davidson, Wilson, Tidd Kamment, and Brunt, who were imprisoned in the fortress in 1820, for plotting to assassinate the members of the Cabinet whilst they were dining at Lord Harrowby’s in Grosvenor Square. This was the plot known as the Cato Street Conspiracy, from the meeting-place of this band of desperadoes being in a house in that street, where they were taken after a stubborn resistance. Thistlewood was imprisoned in the Bloody Tower, and was the last prisoner to occupy its gloomy dungeon, for with him and his associates the Tower ceased to be a prison of State, and it is to be hoped will ever remain so. Ings and Davidson were placed in St Thomas’s Tower; the others in the Byward, Middle and Salt Towers. Thistlewood and five others were hanged in front of Newgate; the remainder were sentenced to transportation for life.