William Frend, Cambridge University, 1793
Only two people, t o the best of my knowledge, have been prosecuted for heresy in Cambridge University since 1689. In 1710 William Whiston was the first, then William Frend in 1793. ( Wiki ) Cambridge, like the rest of the country, had been upskittled by the French Revolution in 1789, and its destabilising aftermath. In 1792 Revolutionary France went to war against the Austrian empire; the English gave the Austrians financial and material aid. On 1 February 1793 France declared war against England. In Cambridge there was some minor rioting in which dissenters were targeted and some windows broken. At one point the Riot Act was read. This should not be over-interpreted. The authorities were undoubtedly worried but the majority of residents were probably more concerned with growing insecurity and rising prices. I think this is the only heresy case where inflation has explicitly been a complicating factor. Frend had studied at the University from 1776, aged 20, graduating in 1780. In t