John Locke and the Rye House Plot

In recent years it has become widely accepted that John Locke was involved, perhaps deeply involved, in the Rye House plot of 1682–3. This article takes another look at the evidence for this, and in particular at Richard Ashcraft's claims that he was closely involved with many of the plotters, that he attended some of their meetings, that his letters contain coded references to their activities, and that he hastily left London immediately they realized they had been betrayed. These claims are found wanting. Locke was probably aware that Shaftesbury and others were planning (or at least talking about) an insurrection, but there is little to indicate that he was directly involved. An analysis of his movements during the autumn of 1682 suggests if anything that he was deliberately keeping out of the way. There is even less reason for thinking that he was involved in plans to assassinate Charles II.