THOMAS DANGERFIELD (1674)

Informer who falsely accused Roman Catholics of conspiracy during the panic created by the fictitious "Popish Plot" of 1678.

As a young man he robbed his father, a farmer, and was imprisoned several times for counterfeiting and other crimes,

Thus Dangerfield naturally sought to profit from the crisis created by Titus Oate´s allegations that Catholics were plotting to murder King Charles II and take over the government. Entering the pay of Mrs. Elizabeth Cellier, a Catholic, Dangerfield took on the job of aiding Catholic suspects by defaming their accusers. But he soon betrayed his employer and publicly charged that, through Mrs. Cellier, Catholic nobles had paid him to assassinate King Charles II and the Whig leader Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st earl of Shaftesbury. Although incriminating papers, planted by Dangerfield, were found in a meal tub at Mrs. Cellier´s house, his testimony at her trial was so suspect thar she was acquitted of treason. Dangerfiel continued to level charges against high-ranking Catholics, including Charles II´s brother James, duke of York. Finally in 1685 he was convicted of libel for his anti-Catholic tract Dangerfield´s "Narrative" (1679).

After being publicly pilloried and whipped, he was assaulted ans struck in the eye with a cane by a barrister Robert Frances; he died shortly afterward from the blow.