Sir William

Sir William is a literary novel based on the true story of the celebrated Kent lunatic, Sir William Courtenay, who led a rural rebellion in Hernhill in 1838, culminating in what has been dubbed 'the last battle fought on English soil'. If you can call over 100 well-armed soldiers facing 30 farm labourers armed only with sticks and farm implements a battle? The outcome was as one might expect. The story is seen from the point of view of Adman Packman, an unfulfilled ex-soldier, who gets caught up in Sir William's seductive personality cult. It touches on contemporary themes about the ignored and dissatisfied which we can see in the followers of popular politics, from Trump to Brexit to Isis. And in common with those it mixes a form of liberation politics with religious fundamentalism and messianic dreams - the need to have something, no matter how crazy, to believe in.