In the immediate years following the Glorious Revolution, many Jacobite’s were tried and subsequently executed through the legal system. By executing them, it was hoped that support for the deposed James the II would slowly dwindle out of public opinion. One man, Sir John Friend, was convicted of high treason in 1696 for his role in a conspiracy against King William the III. As an English Protestant, Friend made for an unlikely ally to the young pretender, yet his military position held during the short reign of the ousted King made him fiercely loyal to the Jacobite cause. Following James the II’s exile to France, Friend authored multiple correspondence inviting an invasion of French forces to reinstate his monarch. Moreover, Friend also funded and organized an assassination attempt on William the III in order to vacate the throne. Friend found no sympathizers in the anti-Jacobite court of William the III, and on April 3rd, 1696, he was hung, drawn, and quartered. His body was put on display in London as a warning to those Jacobite’s who wished to further their cause. 

Friend, John, Sir, d. 1696. The arraignment tryal and condemnation of Sir John Friend, knight for high treason…London : Printed for Samuel Heyrick, at Grays-Inn-Gate in Holborn and Isaac Cleve, at Serjeants Inn-Gate in Chancery-Lane, 1696. Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library (s0416b16)

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