Pardon Captain William Kidd

We want to thank the Kidd Society for featuring our movement in their recent newsletter!

The Kidd Society is a group dedicated to helping folk with the family lineage of Kidd, Kide, Kydd, Kyd, Kyde, Kedd, Keddie, McKeddie, McKiddie, Kiddie (and many more) connect with their roots and gain an understanding of that lineage. The ancient "family of names connected to the surnames", a celebration of the names. From name bearers to extended family - all are welcome. They also have an ongoing project involving tracing of ancient lineage and documentation!

You learn more on their website: linktr.ee/KiddSociety

August 1701 - “Sarah Kidd waited in vain for her husband to return from London. The news of his hanging arrived instead, followed by a warrant issued for the confiscation of Captain Kidd’s estate. Authorities forced Sarah and her daughter to move out of the family mansion on Pearl Street; their other properties were seized, as well as household furniture and other goods.

Sarah Kidd, however, did not curtsey and hand over the properties; she hired a lawyer and fought, arguing that these lands were hers from her first husband, and weren’t the property of Captain Kidd. The case dragged through the courts.” - Richard Zacks, The Pirate Hunter.

It would not be until May 2, 1704 that Queen Anne granted back the title to the mansion on Pearl Street, as well as to Sarah Kidd’s brother Samuel’s house on Wall Street and the 38 ½ acres on Saw Mill Creek which were also seized.

You can see a comparison of Pearl Street in the 17th century vs the corner of Pearl Street today where their mansion would have sat.

The petition to grant any sort of pardon to the Kidd name, however, was overlooked. Sarah Kidd had fought long and hard to recover the damage done to her family after she lost her husband.

May 9, 1701. Captain Kidd’s trial continued and it was clear to Kidd already that he would be executed for murder and piracy. Kidd attempted to stall his trial and demand evidence to prove him innocent of piracy – asking that he have his papers (the french passes he seized from the ships he captured) to argue his case. Kidd lacked a lot of knowledge on law and jury, and the court played him by forcing him to wait for this demand until after they stated what he was charged for. When he tried to request this evidence again during the trial, he was told it was too late to bring evidence to the jury. Even if the court had allowed him this chance to request for these papers… would they have been able to appear in court? The last anyone had seen of them was in a letter from Bellomant that he had sent to London prior to Kidd’s arrival for trial. Those passes had conveniently been misplaced.

At this point, all Kidd hoped for now was to save his family name and his honor. As Richard Zacks quoted it in The Pirate Hunter, “ If he did well, maybe the name William Kidd would go down in history as a martyr, a Scottish man of New York City betrayed by English lords.”

Unfortunately for him, Kidd was remembered as an infamous, terrifying pirate. This can be changed and we can rewrite history to state the truth. Captain Kidd was not a pirate and nor was he a villain.

May 8, 1701. Today was the day that the trial of Captain William Kidd began. The court opened with his charges, starting with the Murder of William Moore on the high seas. This caught Captain Kidd off guard - he thought he was going on trial for just piracy. Due to this, he was wildly unprepared to make his defense. Despite his attempts to prove the death was accidental and not intended murder, members of his previous crew testified against him. There has been plenty of evidence that shows Kidd’s crew was plotting mutiny for several months and go pirating. William Moore had acted as the leader to rally the crew against their captain, and when Kidd confronted him to stop, he lashed out to silence Moore. This immediately discouraged his crew from abandoning ship at that moment and committing piracy. Kidd’s tactic may not have been the best, but he certainly fulfilled his duty as a captain to keep his men from breaking the law. His intent was to protect himself and the crew from committing piracy, not to murder a man.

The fact that Kidd’s first charge in his trial was for murder appears to be a set up to ensure he received a guilty charge and sentenced to death, in the case that something went wrong and he couldn’t be convicted for piracy. However, Kidd should not have been given a guilty verdict for murder when it cannot be proven that it was intended.

April 23, 1700. Captain Kidd has only been imprisoned in Newgate for over a week when he had come down with a fever. The Admiralty knew his trial wasn’t going to happen for a while and they worried about keeping him alive until then. But he was still isolated, barely fed and kept in darkness. His mind was going and he would only get sicker for sometime. His only company was Dundee, the young Malagasy slave who barely could speak any English, and some very occasional visits with Admiralty members, a priest and one visit from Sarah Kidd’s extended family. Kidd spent a lot of his time teaching Dundee more English, and it probably helped him from losing himself completely.

Kidd would be stuck in Newgate Prison in these conditions for over a year, making it 2 years and one month of total imprisonment. In May, 1701… he would face a rigged trial.

Today is a celebration of love. But love is more than just affection, flowers, sweets and other gifts. Love is dedication and trust. Which is why we would like to take some time to share the history, love and dedication between Captain William Kidd and his beloved wife Sarah Kidd.

William married Sarah Bradley in 1691, despite the terrible rumors/misfortune that followed her. In that same year, he shifted his career to a merchant so that he could remain close and provide for his wife. After the death of Sarah’s second husband John Oort, William worked hard to settle the debt he had put on Sarah, helping her and her brother Samuel reclaim their ownership of their land.  William cherished Sarah and Samuel, and Samuel became like a son to him. Despite his restlessness to go to sea, William stayed within the New York area for ten years, helping Sarah raise their daughter. When news spread far and wide that Captain Kidd had turned pirate and was wanted, William did everything he could to protect his wife and daughter from that danger/disgrace. He hid them away among friends they had in the colonies, and debated taking his family and running for Caledonia to the south to ensure they wouldn’t be entangled in his affairs. He remained because he was convinced he could prove he was innocent, unaware that so much was stacked and rigged against him.

Sarah’s dedication to her husband matched his own - when William brought the idea to her for him to pursue a better career, he went to her and they made the agreement together. He left for London, seeking a position in the Royal Navy. When this failed and he was offered a privateer commission to hunt Pirates and French ships, she supported his career move all the same. When he finally returned home, over a year late on that voyage and now the most wanted man in England, she stood by his side and believed his innocence. She moved her family to Boston during the time period he was stuck in jail, working with their local friends to try and get him out. This went on for over a year until a ship finally arrived to take him to London for trial. To the bitter end, she could not free her husband, but still tried to bribe the captain with her valuable golden ring in exchange for his freedom. After Captain Kidd’s death, she remained her fourth husband. Despite finding new happiness with another, she named one of her sons after Kidd to honor his memory.

We have news to share - The Ministry of Justice has responded with a denial for Captain Kidd’s Royal Prerogative of Mercy application. 

This does NOT mean we are done here! Mr./Ms. E Peck was kind enough to provide an outline when cases like this typically are approved:

“Use of Royal Prerogative powers are subject to the common law duties of fairness and reason and to support effective administration. There are a number of longstanding conventions that I consider when reviewing an application. These are:  

it is impractical for the case to go to court, or all other judicial routes have been exhausted. 

new evidence has come to light which demonstrates conclusively that either no offence was committed or that the defendant did not commit the offence. 

taking into account all the circumstances in the grant of a full pardon, that the person was morally and technically innocent of the crime.”

With this in mind, the Pardon Captain Kidd movement can confidently state that new evidence HAS indeed come to light proving Captain Kidd did not commit piracy. 

Additionally, E Peck was helpful in providing their thoughts on this movement and suggestions of other revenues we can take:

“I have considered whether to recommend to the Secretary of State that he exercise his powers under section 16 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 to refer your application on behalf of Captain Kidd for an exercise of the RPM to the CCRC. However, I have not found a compelling reason to make such a recommendation and I am mindful of the Commission’s finite resources which in my view are better utilised in considering current cases rather than a case which concluded 300 years ago and where there appears to be no public interest in the Commission devoting its limited resource investigating it at the expense of current cases.” “Until the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has been approached and made a finding on Captain Kidd’s case, the full range of judicial routes cannot be held to have been exhausted. It is convention that no recommendation of RPM will be made whilst there remains a judicial route available.”

This tells us that RPM does not consider this movement worth their time and resources. However, with both the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Secretary of State mentioned, we think gathering more general interest and precise delivery of the new evidence for Captain Kidd’s innocence is still a hopeful revenue. Additionally, the Law Centres Network was recommended as an outlet to us as well.

SO WHAT’S NEXT? The Pardon Captain Kidd movement has more letters to submit - to the Secretary of State and to members of the Law Centres Network. Follow us here for more updates on this!

HOW CAN YOU HELP? We are once again requesting anyone interested in showing their backing and interest in this movement to please submit their full names for letters to these revenues. You can do so by filling out our contact form on our site here.

January 22nd is Captain William Kidd’s birthday. We are taking some time today to toast cheers to the Captain as the pardon movement continues its next course of action!

To celebrate, a pork roast will be made tonight in his honor, just like last year. Roasted pork was a popular good choice for parties in the 17th century for the American colonies, and was something Kidd feasted on many times during his days. A particular cocktail inspired by the 'English Lemonade' will also be prepared with the pork roast - we like to keep things traditional! There will be no amber essence (ambergris) in this beverage, but a musky and floral substitute will be included nonetheless.

November is almost over, and we have one month left in the year. The Pardon Captain Kidd movement has still been working and planning its next courses of action. We also have a brief update to provide on our progress! As of today, the Ministry of Justice informed us that our inquiry is still pending and being reviewed. Additionally, Captain William Kidd is being considered for a Royal Prerogative of Mercy! In the meantime, we will be taking steps to reach out to individual members of the Ministry if need be. If you haven’t already and want to help out this movement by providing your name to support the pardon request on behalf of Captain William Kidd, now is the time! We will take the same names that have already been submitted in letters to King Charles, as well as new names.

Hired by the Crown Hanged for his Troubles!

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As of today, there still has not been a response (digital or physical) from the Ministry of Justice. Going forward, we are plotting and making preparations to explore other revenues of contact. One example being that we contact individual members of the Ministry directly. However, due to the holidays coming up next month, chances are we won’t be hearing any responses until January! In the meantime, we would like to share this new graphic that was made. A huge thanks to Peter Lucey for designing this for the Pardon Captain Kidd Movement! We have also updated our icon with it too. 

We still plan to share more updates in the last two months of this year - including a potential update on a filmed documentary about the captain! Follow us here if you haven’t already for more news on that.

Winter is almost upon us and we, the Captain Kidd Pardon Movement, hope everyone will be warm and safe this season. How many of you have had to withstand a cold winter with no fire or no electricity? 

October through February, 1699, Captain William Kidd was imprisoned in Boston’s gaol in the dead of winter. Lord Bellomont kept a strict watch on him and would not provide him any visitors, not even his own wife - he feared that Kidd plotted an escape. Due to this, Kidd’s health deteriorated by the brutal weather, lack of good food and warmth.  Kidd would not be removed from this prison until March 10th, 1700 when the HMS Advice finally arrived in Boston’s harbor to transport him back to London for trial. From there, he would have to sit and rot in a prison with far worse conditions.

Lord Bellomont, Governor of New York from 1698 to 1700, was a major financial backer of William Kidd's privateering commission to hunt for pirates and French ships. It was also Lord Bellomont that arrested and took Kidd in custody after he returned to the colonies to clear his name of piracy.

While Lord Bellomont likely had no intention of helping Kidd prove his innocence, the Governor at least provided documentation and evidence that would have helped Kidd's defense in his trial. Kidd had presented his French passes to Lord Bellomont, along with his testimony/reaccounting of his journey. These passes were vital to show that the ships Kidd and his crew captured were legal under his privateering commission. Lord Bellomont took those passes and sent them in a letter to London. It was at this point that the passes seemed to have vanished and could not be located during Kidd’s trial. These passes would not be relocated until many centuries later and can now be found in the Public Record Office in London.

It is highly likely these passes were deliberately hidden away so that Kidd had no backing to his defense - many officials were needing his trial to sentence him with a guilty verdict. Captain Kidd did not deserve this injustice, and his name needs to be cleared in history - he was no pirate! -

It has been a month since our inquiry has been sent to the Ministry of Justice on behalf of Captain Kidd. We are hoping to hear something from them soon, as it was recommended to wait about 4 weeks to hear back. The pardon movement will provide an update when we hear from them!

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Trinity Church is the oldest church built in Manhattan, NY. Governor Benjamin Fletcher approved the budget to have the church built in 1696. Captain William Kidd had just settled his new life in New York at this time, and he personally assisted with the building of the church - providing supplies from his ship (the Antigua at the time) and labor.

Once Trinity Church was built, he and his wife Sarah Kidd purchased their own family pew (row 4) that would be reserved for their use for service and gatherings.

This church is still standing today on Broadway. The original pews have long since been replaced, but Sarah Kidd’s resting place remains here - among the other graves in the Trinity Church courtyard alongside other famous people such as Alexander Hamilton.

Has everyone been enjoying the live action of One Piece on Netflix? We thought we might use this opportunity to discuss some similarities and differences between Captain Kidd, and a character in One Piece inspired by him, Eustass Kid. Similarities ~ Both are rather large and intimidating by appearance! But what male pirate in One Piece isn’t built like that? The key difference with Eustass Kid lies entirely on his raw strength, which is a rarity for characters this late in the series and for those who are as wanted and as deadly as Kid. He wouldn’t get devil fruit abilities until late in his pirate career.  This was likely inspired by the fact that William Kidd was a very strong man thanks to his size and experience as a hard working sailor.

William Kidd and Eustass Kid had similar networking in their past. For Eustass Kid, he had large ties with other powerful allies being apart of a gang on the islands he lived. William Kidd’s networking in New York was thanks to his reputation as a war hero and he quickly became friends with other powerful merchants and governors. Being married to a wealthy and successful wife helped with this too.

Both Kidd and Kid have a big ego and crave success. Eustass Kid, like many pirates in One Piece, is strongly motivated by personal gain and seeking the One Piece. There is plenty of documentation that suggests William Kidd also was easily flattered and sought to claim fame and glory for himself, as his last voyage was an attempt to gain a higher ranking career since being a ship merchant Captain from New York was not enough for him. Differences ~ Eustass Kid is introduced with a very high bounty in the series due to the high amounts of casualties of civilians he was responsible for. While the real William Kidd did not have this experience, this could have been inspired by the infamous reputation about Captain Kidd, especially during the time right before his capture and execution - the world generally feared Captain Kidd due to many rumors that had spread across the seas. 

Eustass will eventually get a cybernetic left arm in the series. William never lost any limbs.

And the BIG difference - Eustass Kid is unquestionably a pirate. But William Kidd? He was no true pirate and was wrongfully accused of such!

Our inquiry/request has been sent out to the Ministry of Justice. The wait time for a response is on average four weeks - we will update again when we receive a response!

In the meantime, since we do not have a schedule for sending out letters at this moment, we will be using this time to post more facts about Captain Kidd. The One Piece live action show on Netflix was a hit, so perhaps we will make a post discussing the similarities and differences between one of the series’ characters and the Captain? Keep an eye out for that!

We officially received a response from Buckingham Palace! The letter was marked as confidential so we will not be able to disclose a picture of it or quote it. However, we are happy to share this update: On behalf of King Charles, His Majesty’s secretary has suggested to our movement to reach out to the Ministry of Justice for further advice on how to acquire a pardon for Captain William Kidd. The King cannot interfere with the matter. We gratefully appreciate the King and His Majesty’s secretary for taking the time to reach out to us and provide this guidance.

We will not be sending off a letter on September 22nd. However, please keep a lookout for our next update as we begin to work towards reaching out to the Ministry of Justice.