Do you think that Dic Penderyn was unjustly hanged?
- Words:
- 1877
- Submitted:
- Tue Aug 19 2003

... Do you think that Dic Penderyn was unjustly hanged? In this essay I intend to examine the court case and subsequent execution of Richard Lewis alias Dic Penderyn. I will look at all the evidence presented to the court and decide whether he was guilty as charged or whether the case should have been acquitted for lack of substantial evidence. To begin I will give you a little information on why the Rising first took place. Richard Crawshay, the Iron Master, began sacking his skilled workers because he was unable to pay their wages. Gwyn A Williams, an historian who specialises in Merthyr said; " Merthyr was already hit by the slumps. Wages were falling, hundreds going on poor relief; the debtors' court (the Court of Requests), run by shopkeepers, was busy confiscating goods from destitute workmen. Crawshay, with his massive capital, was able to keep his wages up...but, in May, he, too, pushed













