In the early evening of Friday 18th August 1848 the black leader of London Chartism William Cuffay was arrested at an address off Wardour St in London’s West End. He was alleged to have played a role in an attempted armed Chartist rising in nearby Seven Dials on 16th August.
Newspaper reports suggest that aside from a Chartist banner, a gun was also found at Cuffay’s residence.
He was eventually found guilty and transported to Tasmania where he continued to be an active radical and labour organiser until his death in 1870.
Cuffay left no diary or written record that we know of although he was certainly literate. He was on the left of London Chartism and after the failure of Chartist rallies on 10th April and 12th June he may well have played some part in committees, secret or otherwise that planned the August rising.
Whether his role as leader was to promote it or urge constraint we don’t know. The key source of information we have comes from the Government Spycop and provocateur Powell, one of several Spycops involved.
It seems likely that Cuffay was aware of Spycop infiltration if not by whom. Judging by his responses at the first Court hearing he expected arrest and accepted it as the leader, whatever specific role he may have played.
Given that the Seven Dials attempted rising was at least in part provoked by Government Spycops it seems likely that the Government intended to arrest and prosecute Cuffay and get him out of the way
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