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To: King Charles III
We call of King Charles to pardon Dic Penderyn - "Oh Lord, here is injustice!"
We call on King Charles III to issue a pardon for Richard Lewis better known as Dic Penderyn. Correcting this terrible miscarriage of justice following your coronation would be a wonderful gesture to the people of Cymru.
On Saturday 13th August 1831 the twenty three year old Richard Lewis was led to the scaffold in Cardiff and hanged by the neck until dead for allegedly injuring a soldier in the Merthyr rising riots.
His trial was mired in controversy. The trial reports indicate that there was no reliable evidence proving Richard Lewis had caused any wounding and witnesses contradicted themselves. Nonetheless, he was found guilty due to the political climate of protest and revolt. We believe he was made a scapegoat so others did not follow in his example!
In 1874, a man named Ianto Parker confessed on his death bed, in the USA to the Reverend Evan Evans that he stabbed the soldier and then fled to America fearing capture by the authorities. Another man named James Abbot, who testified against Penderyn at the trial, also admitted to lying under oath.
We call on King Charles to right this cruel injustice!
Why is this important?
On Saturday 13th August 1831 the twenty three year old Richard Lewis was led to the scaffold in Cardiff and hanged by the neck until dead for allegedly injuring a soldier in the Merthyr rising riots.
His trial was mired in controversy. The trial reports indicate that there was no reliable evidence proving Richard Lewis had caused any wounding and witnesses contradicted themselves. Nonetheless, he was found guilty due to the political climate of protest and revolt. We believe he was made a scapegoat so others did not follow in his example!
In 1874, a man named Ianto Parker confessed on his death bed, in the USA to the Reverend Evan Evans that he stabbed the soldier and then fled to America fearing capture by the authorities. Another man named James Abbot, who testified against Penderyn at the trial, also admitted to lying under oath.
We call on King Charles to right this cruel injustice!
"O Arglwydd, dyma gamwedd." (O Lord, this is injustice.) Were the final words of Dic Penderyn, before being executed for a crime he didn't commit, the stabbing and wounding a soldier in the skirmishes between the starving workers of Merthyr Tudful and armed soldiers sent in to quell the Merthyr Rising of 1831. 191 yrs on, the original injustice is perpetuated by the lack of a pardon...time to put that right!
