ABSTRACT
On 7 December 1795 the Society held its second general meeting, in Mary-le-bone Fields, since the bills were introduced, with the focus of the speeches on the unconstitutional nature of the government’s legislation. The gathering was advertised as a formal LCS meeting, however William Frend, who spoke at the meeting was not a member, nor was the chairman, Matthew Campbell Browne, the former actor and Sheffield radical. The meeting was also addressed by the prominent orator and LCS recruit, John Thelwall, and the clerk, John Richter. The Society was able to procure the signatures of some 15,000 people on the petition to the king, and while no official account of the meeting was published, the Morning Post, the Morning Chronicle and the Whitehall Evening Post each carried reports of the gathering.
