1/2 Penny Middlesex - Newgate / LCS

The London Corresponding Society, founded by shoemaker Thomas Hardy in 1792, was among the most radical working-class political organizations in British history — pushing for universal male suffrage and annual parliaments at a moment when the government considered such demands seditious. By 1794, Hardy himself had been arrested and charged with high treason, tried at the Old Bailey, and ultimately acquitted to enormous public celebration. The society issued these tokens partly as a fundraising instrument during precisely that period of state repression.

Newgate Prison, referenced on this piece, was where Hardy and his co-defendants were held awaiting trial.