William Frend (social Reformer) - Accounts of The Trial

Accounts of The Trial

The proceedings attracted wide attention. One of Frend's supporters was Samuel Taylor Coleridge, then an undergraduate. Henry Gunning, in his Reminiscences (i. 280–309), reprints an account of the trial, and, while condemning the tone of the pamphlet, describes the proceedings as a party move and vindicates the tract from the accusation of sedition. He adds that the vice-chancellor was biased against the accused, and that the undergraduates, among whom Coleridge was conspicuous, were unanimous in his favour. Augustus De Morgan wrote that chalked graffiti "Frend for ever" appeared; bishop-to-be Herbert Marsh was apprehended, while two other future establishment pillars, John Singleton Copley and William Rough escaped. Milner later wrote identifying Frend and his "party" in the university as "Jacobinical", and commenting that the trial had been a turning point for them.

His trial was described by Frend himself in 'An Account of the Proceedings in the University of Cambridge against William Frend,' 1793, and in 'A Sequel to the Account,' &c., which dealt with the application to the court of king's bench in 1795. John Beverley also published accounts of the proceedings in 1793. Two letters from Richard Farmer to Samuel Parr on this trial are in Parr's Works (i. 447–8), and in the same set (viii. 30–2) is a long letter from Frend on the treatment which Thomas Fyshe Palmer, another reformer, had just received.

Many years later, in 1837, Frend gave Henry Crabb Robinson some anecdotes about his trial; and said that the promoters wished to expel him from the university, but that he had demanded a sight of the university roll, and on reference to the original document it was discovered that an informality existed which made his expulsion invalid.