The Incendiary: The Misadventures of John the Painter, First Modern Terrorist

John Abbott is a professor of history at Laurentian University’s Algoma University College. He is the co-author of The Border at Sault Ste Marie and The History of Fort St. Joseph.

This is a rattling good tale, set in the third quarter of the 18th
century, drawn from a script that might have been drafted by Hogarth.
The central character is a poor Scottish lad, educated above his station
in a good charity school, who misses the cut for university and is
streamed into a dead-end trade (house painting). Lacking the gumption
and integrity that characterized Horatio Alger’s young heroes a
century later, James Aitken neglected his trade, drifted south to London
and took up highway robbery, seasoned with dashes of petty crime.
Fearful of arrest and death at the end of a rope, he took passage to
America in 1773, paid his way by signing an indenture, skipped out on
his master, and, after two years, returned to England. There, in an
Oxford pub, he overheard men agreeing that the arch of England’s
policy to crush the American Revolutionaries was provided by the Royal
Navy, and that the keystone in that arch consisted of the Navy’s
dockyards, with their workshops and arsenals. Aitken, energized by the
opportunity to become a celebrity, determined to set on fire dockyards
at Portsmouth, Plymouth, Chatham, Woolwich, and Deptford, using
incendiary devices of his own design that would delay ignition, thus
allowing him to burn the several premises simultaneously. He managed to
destroy the rope house at Portsmouth and a few buildings near the docks
in Bristol, after which his semi-demented behaviour, the good police
work of Sir John Fielding, and a large reward got him arrested,
incarcerated, interrogated, and finally hanged on March 10, 1777.

Jessica Warner has completed an admirable job of historical
reconstruction. Her grasp of the period’s social and political
environments, along with her deft literary skills, bring James Aitken
and his times to life. Where Aitken’s own record is spotty or
contradictory, she draws on cognate experiences and her knowledge of
Aitken’s character to suggest circumstances, itinerary, and
motivation.

While the life and death of “John the Painter” are a mere mote in
the historical record, this is a story made fascinating by character and
circumstance. Readers who appreciate well-researched, well-written
historical novels will thoroughly enjoy this work of historical
reconstruction.