KESWICK CONVENTION, an annual summer reunion held at the above town for the main purpose of “promoting practical holiness” by meetings for prayer, discussion and personal intercourse. It has no denominational limits, and is largely supported by the “Evangelical” section of the Church of England. The convention, started in a private manner by Canon Harford-Battersby, then vicar of Keswick, and Mr Robert Wilson in 1874, met first in 1875, and rapidly grew after the first few years, both in numbers and influence, in spite of attacks on the alleged “perfectionism” of some of its leaders and on the novelty of its methods. Its members take a deep interest in foreign missions.
In the History of the C.M.S., vol. iii. (by Eugene Stock), the missionary influence of the “Keswick men” in Cambridge and elsewhere may be readily traced. See also The Keswick Convention: its Message, its Method and its Men, edited by C. F. Harford (1906).
KET (or Kett), ROBERT (d. 1549), English rebel, is usually called a tanner, but he certainly held the manor of Wymondham in Norfolk. With his brother William he led the men of Wymondham in their quarrel with a certain Flowerden, and having thus come into prominence, he headed the men of Norfolk when they rose in rebellion in 1549 owing to the hardships inflicted by the extensive enclosures of common lands and by the general policy of the protector Somerset. A feast held at Wymondham in July 1549 developed into a riot and gave the signal for the outbreak. Leading his followers to Norwich, Ket formed a camp on Mousehold Heath, where he is said to have commanded 16,000 men, introduced a regular system of discipline, administered justice and blockaded the city. He refused the royal offer of an amnesty on the ground that innocent and just men had no need of pardon, and on the 1st of August 1549 attacked and took possession of Norwich. John Dudley, earl of Warwick, marched against the rebels, and after his offer of pardon had been rejected he forced his way into the city, driving its defenders before him. Then, strengthened by the arrival of some foreign mercenaries, he attacked the main body of the rebels at Dussindale on the 27th of August. Ket’s men were easily routed by the trained soldiery, and Robert and William Ket were seized and taken to London, where they were condemned to death for treason. On the 7th of December 1549 Robert was executed at Norwich, and his body was hanged on the top of the castle, while that of William was hanged on the church tower at Wymondham.
See F. W. Russell, Kett’s Rebellion (1859), and J. A. Froude, History of England, vol. iv. (London, 1898).
KETCH, JOHN (d. 1686), English executioner, who as “Jack Ketch” gave the nickname for nearly two centuries to his successors, is believed to have been appointed public hangman in the year 1663. The first recorded mention of him is in The Plotters Ballad, being Jack Ketch’s incomparable Receipt for the Cure of Traytorous Recusants and Wholesome Physick for a Popish Contagion, a broadside published in December 1672. The execution of William, Lord Russell, on the 21st of July 1683 was carried out by him in a clumsy way, and a pamphlet is extant which contains his “Apologie,” in which he alleges that the prisoner did not “dispose himself as was most suitable” and that he was interrupted while taking aim. On the scaffold, on the 15th of July 1685, the duke of Monmouth, addressing Ketch, referred to his treatment of Lord Russell, the result being that Ketch was quite unmanned and had to deal at least five strokes with his axe, and finally use a knife, to sever Monmouth’s head from his shoulders. In 1686 Ketch was deposed and imprisoned at Bridewell, but when his successor, Pascha Rose, a butcher, was, after four months in the office, hanged at Tyburn, Ketch was reappointed. He died towards the close of 1686.
KETCHUP, also written catsup and katchup (said to be from the Chinese kôe-chiap or kê-tsiap, brine of pickled fish), a sauce or relish prepared principally from the juice of mushrooms and of many other species of edible fungi, salted for preservation and variously spiced. The juices of various fruits, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, and especially green walnuts, are used as a basis of ketchup, and shell-fish ketchup, from oysters, mussels and cockles, is also made; but in general the term is restricted to sauces having the juice of edible fungi as their basis.