Editing Rayner Stephens (section)

==Imprisonment==
In December 1838, Stephens was arrested, charged with having participated in a tumultuous assembly at [[Leigh, Greater Manchester|Leigh]] on 13 November 1838 and having incited the meeting to violence against inhabitants of the neighbourhood.<ref>{{cite news|title=Apprehension and Examination of the Rev J R Stephens|work=Manchester Times|date=29 December 1838}}</ref>  A Lancashire grand jury returned a true bill both for the Leigh meeting and for sermons preached in Ashton-under-Lyne: however Stephens was eventually tried at [[Chester]] in connection with a meeting at [[Hyde, Greater Manchester|Hyde]] (then in Cheshire) on 14 November 1838.<ref>{{cite news|title=State Prosecution of the Rev J R Stephens|work=Northern Liberator|date=4 May 1839}} - the prosecution witnesses for the Leigh meeting had Stephens saying he would establish a republic by force: Stephens was not a Republican</ref> Stephens was charged with attending "an unlawful meeting , seditiously and tumultuously met together by torch-light, and with fire-arms disturbing the public peace" and two counts of speaking at the meeting.  Witnesses said attendance at the meeting had been about 5,000 mostly from outside Hyde, {{efn| the total population of Hyde in 1851 was not much over 11,000}} firearms had been discharged, banners with slogans such as "Tyrants, believe, and tremble" and "BLOOD" had been displayed and the meeting had not broken up until midnight.<ref name=TrialMC>{{cite news|title=''Nisi Prius'' court Thursday - Trial of the Rev J R Stephens|work=Manchester Courier|date=17 August 1839}}</ref>  It had been successfully argued (to secure the conviction of Orator Hunt in the aftermath of the [[Peterloo massacre]]) that to be unlawful a meeting need only be ''one such that taking all the circumstances into consideration  cannot but endanger the public peace, and raise fears and jealousies among the king's subjects''.<ref name=TrialMC/>  Stephens was convicted and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment.<ref name=TrialMC/>  He served his sentence in Chester Castle, under far from onerous conditions, and was released eight days early, to allow him to attend his father's funeral.<ref>{{cite news|title=Political Intelligence|work=Leeds Times|issue=20 February 1841}}</ref>