Major John Andre

1751-1780

John André was born and educated at Geneva, and came to Bath when he was nineteen, living for a time with his family at 22 the Circus. He joined the army and served in America; and after being involved in negotiations with the American traitor Benedict Arnold, who was planning the betrayal of West Point to the British, he was captured by the Americans and hanged as a spy. Strong pleas for mercy were made on his behalf, on the grounds that he was unaware of the extent of his complicity; but they all failed, and even his request to die by the bullet, like a soldier, was refused.

André, we are told, was handsome, chivalrous and highly intelligent, and his untimely death provoked a good deal of anger and resentment in England. In America, too, there were many who believed that his involvement in the plot was minimal, and that he should not have been condemned to death. A monument to his memory was later erected in Westminster Abbey.