George Mealmaker

Who was George Mealmaker?

George Mealmaker was a Scottish radical organiser and writer, born in Dundee, Scotland. Like his father before him he was a weaver by trade.

In the 1780s Mealmaker, along with Thomas Fyshe Palmer formed the Dundee Friends of Liberty group. In 1793 Mealmaker wrote Dundee Address to the Friends of Liberty in which he criticised the tyranny and despotism of the British government, for which Palmer was arrested as being the writer. Despite Mealmaker admitting that it was he, and not Palmer who had written the pamphlet the court found Palmer guilty om the grounds that he had prepared the text for publication and circulated it, and sentenced him to 14 years penal transportation. Other persons arrested in relations to the political activities of the Edinburgh Society of the Friends of the People and associated groups like The Dundee Friends of Liberty were Thomas Muir, William Skirving, Maurice Margarot and Joseph Gerrald. These five were transported to Australia in 1794 and 1795 and were collectively known as the Scottish Martyrs to Liberty.

Mealmaker continued his radical activities and became involved in the Society of the United Scotsmen. He continued to write treatises critical of the government and in 1797 he wrote The Moral and Political Catechism of Man for which he was arrested. Tried for sedition and found guilty in 1798 he was transported for 14 years to Australia.