15. Martyrs, Churches and Vestries

Saull’s more positive public persona was achieved by his committee work for the repatriation of the transported Dorchester farm labourers, the ‘Tolpuddle Martyrs’. In this he acted as radical M.P. Thomas Wakley’s deputy, and he was, as with so many causes, the committee’s treasurer—his City merchant status being the guarantor of his trustworthiness. We look at the differing perceptions of the committee according to the political slant of the reportage. The radicalism of the City of London allowed the merchant Saull great latitude. Other examples of his treasurer’s roles and his City campaigning for Parliamentary reform, his vestry resistance to tithes and church rates, and his radical and republican activities in Aldersgate ward, are examined.