stood in their way. Spitalfield riots In September 1769, an attempt was made to arrest an entire meeting of weavers. An officer with a party of soldiers invested a pub, the "Dolphin", in Spitalfields, "where a number of riotous weavers, commonly called cutters, were assembled to collect contributions from their brethren towards supporting themselves in order to distress their masters and oblige them to advance their wages". Meeting with resistance, the soldiers fired on the weavers and killed two, and captured four. The remainder fled and lay concealed in cellars of houses and in the vaults of the churches throughout the night of terror not only for them but also for their womenfolk. Trials John Doyle, who had an Irish surname, and John Valline, of French origin, were arrested for being involved. They were convicted on the evidence of two Irish weavers, Thomas and Mary Poor, who also gave evidence in the trial of William Horsford, an Irish weaver. At the latter trial, it emerged that a master weaver, Lewis Chauvet (Huguenot), had paid money for them to give evidence at both trials and that the same master had paid money for Daniel Clarke to inform against William Eastman. Horsford and Eastman were also executed. Execution On 6 December 1769, the two men were hanged in Bethnal Green, in front of the "Salmon and Ball" pub, which still exists. A newspaper reporter recorded the words that John Doyle spoke to the crowd, as he stood on the hangman's ladder with the rope round his neck: "I John Doyle do hereby declare, as my last dying words in the presence of my Almighty God, that I am as innocent of the fact I am now to die for as the child unborn. Let my blood lie to that wicked man who has purchased it with gold, and them notorious wretches who swore it falsely away." Doyle's companion, Valline, also swore his innocence of the crime for which the two of them were hanged. References and notes 1769 in England 1760s riots 1760s in London Huguenot history in the United Kingdom Riots in London History of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Spitalfields