The Hanging of the Hartlepool Monkey

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Hanging-of-the-Hartlepool-Monkey/ ^ | revised November 27, 2023 | Ben Johnson

[SunkenCiv]

Legend has it that during the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, a shipwrecked monkey was hanged by the people of Hartlepool, believing him to be a French spy! To this day, people from Hartlepool are affectionately known as 'monkey hangers'.

A French ship was spotted floundering and sinking off the Hartlepool coast. Suspicious of enemy ships and nervous of possible invasion, the good folk of Hartlepool rushed down to the beach, where amongst the wreckage of the ship they found the only survivor, the ship's monkey which was apparently dressed in a miniature military-style uniform.

Hartlepool is a long way from France and most of the populace had never met, or even seen, a Frenchman. Some satirical cartoons of the time pictured the French as monkey-like creatures with tails and claws, so perhaps the locals could be forgiven for deciding that the monkey, in its uniform, must be a Frenchman, and a French spy at that. There was a trial to ascertain whether the monkey was guilty of spying or not; however, not unsurprisingly, the monkey was unable to answer any of the court's questions and was found guilty. The townsfolk then dragged him into the town square and hanged him.

So is the legend true? Did the good folk of Hartlepool REALLY hang a poor defenceless monkey?

There could perhaps be a darker side to the tale – maybe they didn't actually hang a 'monkey' but a small boy or 'powder-monkey'. Small boys were employed on warships of this time to prime the canons with gunpowder and were known as 'powder-monkeys'...

Whatever the truth, the legend of Hartlepool and the hanged monkey has endured for over 200 years.

[SunkenCiv]

The Hanging of the Hartlepool Monkey

[SunkenCiv]

source s/b Historic UK

[Chode]

beats cheese eating surrender monkeys...

[TigersEye]

Monkey? Frenchman? Monkey? Frenchman?

It’s a common mistake.

[skr]

Talk about unfathomable ignorance if the poor creature was actually just a monkey.

[BenLurkin]

[mitch5501]

Yep.
Makes one wonder what Ota Benga
might have to say about that!

[silent majority rising]

I thought Macron was the Hartlespool monkey..

[TigersEye]

ROTFL

“A Frenchman an organ grinder and a minkey in a gendarme uniform met outside a cafe ...”

[SunkenCiv]

This article brings to mind The Police song, goes like “Oooh oooh oooh, ahhh ahhh ahhh, is all I want to say to you”.

[SunkenCiv]

The lesser-known historian Edward Rome wrote about in his work “The Fall of Gibbon”.

[SunkenCiv]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Mg0NLoSUU

[broken_clock]

Harambe was unavailable for comment…

[unclebankster]

The lesser-known historian Edward Rome wrote about in his work “The Fall of Gibbon”.

**********

Lol

Well done.👍

[No name given]

I thought it was truedolt.

[Chode]

yup, and it’s just as funny today as it was then...

[BipolarBob]

Cher and Bonobo were not amused.

[SunkenCiv]

:^) Thanks!

[SunkenCiv]

[TigersEye]

LOL