William Davidson (conspirator)

William Davidson (c. 1781 – May 1, 1820) was a British African-Caribbean radical executed for his role in the Cato Street Conspiracy against Lord Liverpool's government in 1820.

Davidson was the illegitimate son of Robert Sewell (1751 – 30 April 1828), the Attorney General of Jamaica, and a local black woman.

[citation needed] Davidson withdrew from study, moved to Birmingham, and started a cabinet-making business.

[citation needed] Following the Peterloo Massacre, William Davidson became involved in radical politics again.

In October 1819 Richard Carlile was found guilty of blasphemy and seditious libel, and sentenced to three years imprisonment.

Davidson relayed this information to Arthur Thistlewood, who believed that the servant was lying, and ordered the conspirators to proceed with the plot.

[3] When the co-conspirators tried to escape, Benjamin Gill hit Davidson on the wrist with his truncheon, and he dropped his blunderbuss.

On 28 April 1820, William Davidson, James Ings, Richard Tidd, Arthur Thistlewood, and John Brunt were found guilty of high treason, and sentenced to death.

William Davidson, with his four fellow conspirators, was publicly hanged and decapitated outside Newgate Prison on 1 May 1820.

[2][4] William Davidson is featured in the short animation Cato Street to Newgate, written and directed by Jason Young.