This token commemorates the acquittal of Thomas Hardy, tried...

Hammer

£10

This token commemorates the acquittal of Thomas Hardy, tried for high treason, in November 1794.
The treason trials of 1794, arranged by William Pitt's government, were initiated to curb the British radical movement of the 1790s. Over thirty radicals were initially arrested; three of them were actually tried for high treason: Thomas Hardy, John Horne Tooke and John Thelwall. Out of distrust of government policy, they were acquitted by three independent juries in November 1794, to the great satisfaction of the public. The treason trials were an extension of the sedition trials of 1792 and 1793 against reforming parliamentarians in England and Scotland.