Sussex, Rowfant, Henry Hunt, Shilling, 1811 (D 14). Brightly cleaned, otherwise fine, very rare (£30-40)

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, 19th Century Tokens formed by David Litrenta.

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Provenance:
Bowers & Merena Auction, 5-6 June 2002, lot 1774 (part).

Henry Hunt (1773-1835), farmer and radical orator from Upavon, Wiltshire, bought the 20,000 acre estate at Rowfant in 1810; he was about to speak at the large public meeting in Manchester on 16 August 1819 when the local magistrates ordered the yeomanry to disperse the crowd in what became known as the Peterloo Massacre. Hunt and others were found guilty of holding an ‘unlawful and seditious assembling” and sentenced to two and a half years in Ilchester gaol. He later served as MP for Preston, 1830-3. Sold with much further biographical detail