Editing John Frost (Chartist) (section)

== Trial and sentencing ==
[[File:Dramatisation of the trial of the Chartists at Shire Hall, Monmouth, including background information 1 of 7.ogv|thumb|Dramatisation of the trial of the Chartists at [[Shire Hall, Monmouth]], including background information]]

A reward of £100 was offered for Frost's capture and he was arrested by solicitor and clerk Thomas Jones Phillips (an ancestor of [[Jack Whitehall]] and [[Michael Whitehall]]) and charged with [[high treason]]. Early in 1840, along with Jones and Williams, was tried at [[Shire Hall, Monmouth|Monmouth's Shire Hall]].<ref>[http://www.newportpast.com/nmg/chartists/n06frost.htm John Frost], NewportPast.com, accessed October 2011.</ref> All three were found guilty and became the last men in Britain to be sentenced to be [[hanged, drawn and quartered]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newportpast.com/nfs/strands/frost/part2.htm |title=Strands – John Frost |publisher=Newport Past |access-date=28 January 2012}}</ref> The Chartists stood up as one man for the Newport leaders under sentences of death. O'Connor, O'Brien, Harney Taylor and other Chartists leaders free on bail rose to speak on their behalf. O'Connor offered one week's income of the Northern Star for a Frost fund and retained one of the best lawyers of the time, [[Sir Frederick Pollock, 1st Baronet|Sir Frederick Pollock]] as defence counsel. Following a huge public outcry, however, these sentences were discussed by the Cabinet and on 1 February the Prime Minister, [[Lord Melbourne]], announced that the executions would be commuted to [[Penal transportation|transportation for life]].

On reaching [[Van Diemen's Land]] (modern [[Tasmania]]), Frost was immediately sentenced to two years' hard labour for making a disparaging remark about [[Lord John Russell]], the Colonial Secretary. Frost was indentured to a local storekeeper in [[New Town, Tasmania|New Town]] after his probation term ended in November 1843. He spent three years working as a clerk, before being sent to [[Bothwell, Tasmania|Bothwell]] in May 1846 and receiving his ticket of leave in November 1846. He worked as a school teacher in various locations around Tasmania for almost eight years until he received a conditional pardon on 27 Jun 1854.<ref name="Convict record">{{cite web |title=Frost, John |url=https://stors.tas.gov.au/NI/1393810 |website=Tasmanian Archives |date=March 1840 |publisher=Government of Tasmania |access-date=26 January 2022}}</ref><ref name="ADB" />

Chartists in Britain continued to campaign for the release of Frost. Thomas Duncombe pleaded Frost's case in the House of Commons but his attempt to secure a pardon in 1846 was unsuccessful. Duncombe refused to be defeated and in 1854 he persuaded the Prime Minister, [[Lord Aberdeen]], to grant Frost a pardon on the condition that he never returned to Britain. Frost sailed for the United States six months after receiving his conditional pardon, with his daughter, Catherine, who had joined him in Tasmania,<ref name="ADB" /> and toured the country, organised by [[William Prowting Roberts]], lecturing on the supposed unfairness of the British system of government.