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The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth - As Revealed in the Writings of Gerrard Winstanley, the Digger, Mystic and Rationalist, Communist and Social Reformer by Lewis Henry Berens
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resulted "in some thirty of the soldiers seizing the colours and
refusing to leave their quarters." It was not till Cromwell and Fairfax
appeared on the scene that they submitted. Fifteen of their number were
carried to Whitehall, where, on the 26th, a Court-martial condemned six
of them to death. "Cromwell, however, pleaded for mercy, and in the end
all were pardoned with the exception of Robert Lockyer, who was believed
to have been their leader." Lockyer, Gardiner continues, "though young
in years, had fought gallantly through the whole of the war. He was a
thoughtful, religious man, beloved by his comrades, who craved for the
immediate establishment of liberty and democratic order. As such he had
stood up for _The Agreement of the People_ on Corkbush Field," when
another trooper of a similar character, named Arnold, had been shot to
death, "and he now entertained against his commanding officers a
prejudice arising from other sources than the mere dispute about pay,
which influenced natures less noble than his own.... On the 27th,
Lockyer, firmly believing himself to be a martyr to the cause of right
and justice, was led up Ludgate Hill to the open space in front of St.
Paul's, and there, after expostulating with the firing party for their
obedience to their officers in a deed of murder, he was shot to death."

Lockyer's funeral took place on the 29th, and was the occasion of a
remarkable demonstration, of which we take the following account from
the pages of Whitelocke's _Memorial of English Affairs_ (p. 399):

"Mr. Lockier a Trooper who was shot to death by Sentence of the
Court Martial was buried in this manner. About one thousand went
before the Corps, and five or six in a file, the Corps was then
brought with six Trumpets sounding a Soldier's Knell, then the
Trooper's Horse came clothed all over in mourning and led by a
Footman. The Corps was adorned with bundles of Rosemary, one half
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