William Davidson

William Davidson (c. 1781 – May 1, 1820) was a British African-Caribbean radical executed for his role in the Cato Street Conspiracy against Lord Liverpool's government in 1820.

Early years Davidson was the illegitimate son of Robert Sewell (1751 – 30 April 1828), the Attorney General of Jamaica, and a local black woman. At the age of 14, Davidson travelled to Glasgow to study law. In Scotland he became involved in the movement for parliamentary reform. He was apprenticed to a Liverpool lawyer but ran away to sea. Later, he was press-ganged into the Royal Navy. Davidson had been acting as look-out.

When the co-conspirators tried to escape, Benjamin Gill hit Davidson on the wrist with his truncheon, and he dropped his blunderbuss. Four conspirators, Thistlewood, John Brunt, Robert Adams and John Harrison escaped through a window. However, their identities were given to the police by Edwards and they were quickly arrested.

Eleven men were charged with involvement in the Cato Street Conspiracy. Robert Adams testified against the other men, and charges against him were dropped. Davidson pleaded innocence and claimed the court was prejudiced against black people. However, his presence at the scene with a blunderbuss led to his conviction.

On 28 April 1820, William Davidson, James Ings, Richard Tidd, Arthur Thistlewood, and John Brunt were found guilty of high treason, and sentenced to death. John Harrison, James Wilson, Richard Bradburn, John Strange and Charles Copper were also found guilty. However their death sentences were subsequently commuted to transportation for life.

William Davidson, with his four fellow conspirators, was publicly hanged and decapitated outside Newgate Prison on 1 May 1820.

Representation in media William Davidson is featured in the short animation Cato Street to Newgate, written and directed by Jason Young. It was screened as part of Southwark Black History Month in 2020.