The following press release was circulated this evening, relating to Lincolnshire Day, tomorrow, 1st October 2013, which recognises the start of the Lincolnshire Uprising 477 years ago.

It is no coincidence at all that this day will be the launch of my novel Captain Cobbler which tells the story of the Lincolnshire Uprising from start to finish. I shall be doing a book-signing at Wright’s of Louth, between 11am and 1pm, for paper copies of the novel, or you can now buy them at iUniverse site or amazon.co.uk or other leading online bookshops. The e-book is priced at only $2.99 or £2 which is less than the price of a decent cappuccino! DONT hesitate – get one today.

Captain Cobbler:

The Lincolnshire Uprising1536

A Novel – by Keith M Melton 

Press Release – 1^st October 2013 

Celebrating Lincolnshire Day

Locally born author Keith M Melton is celebrating “Lincolnshire day” by signing copies of his novel at Wright’s bookshop in Louth, where the uprising began on Sunday 1^st October 1536. Keith’s namesake, Nicholas Melton, a shoemaker in the town of Louth confiscated the keys to the Church of St James in the town, to prevent Commissioners of Thomas Cromwell from stealing the church silverware.

It was a straightforward community protest but it rapidly escalated during the week to become a widespread uprising against the tyranny of the government of King Henry VIII,  and his chancellor, Baron Thomas Cromwell.

Keith has been researching and writing the novel to tell the story of his namesake, for over seven years, since his retirement from Nottingham Trent University, where he was the founding Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development in Business. Keith’s roots are deeply embedded in the county and he can trace his Melton family name back to about 1680 in North Lincolnshire… “but we have not been able to finally fill the gap back to Louth in 1536” Keith said today.

Keith is a member of the social networking site LinkedIn and has created a Group called “Meltons of the world” on the site, with the idea of, perhaps, being able to find the continuing family of Nicholas Melton if such exists.

“I now have about 100 Meltons linked with me on LinkedIn and none of them are known relatives of mine or Nicholas – but we shall be looking to see if we can find clues to such a link. There are still Meltons living in Louth now – so perhaps some of them may come along and buy a copy of the novel,” Keith added with unbridled optimism.

“My namesake, Nicholas Melton, would have been very surprised, I am sure, to know that his actions had been the cause of such local celebration 477 years later!”

The novel will be available, signed by the author, in Wright’s bookshop in Louth, Tim Smith’s bookshop in Horncastle on 3^rd of October and in W H Smith in Lincoln on Saturday 5^th October. But it is already available on the iUniverse website and from Amazon.co.uk as well as many other online bookshops.

“I have also made sure the e-book is easily available at less than the price of a decent cup of cappuccino. It is available for about £2 online because I wanted to make sure that the story was shared with as many people as possible all around the world. It is definitely part of our heritage here in Lincolnshire and is not yet widely known. I hope the novel will change all that for good!”

…ends

Previous press releases

Captain Cobbler:

The Lincolnshire Uprising1536

A Novel – by Keith M Melton 

Press Release – 30 Sept 2013 

The Politics of protest?

Former Liberal candidate for Lincoln (1979) and Cleethorpes (1997) in general elections and Lincolnshire(1994) in the European elections – Keith Melton – launches his debut novel this week, 477 years exactly from the date of the original Lincolnshire Uprising in the reign of King Henry VIII. The rebellion was started by the actions of a namesake of the author, a Louth cobbler called Nicholas Melton.

Speaking this week, just before the launch, Keith Melton said that the politics of protest in 1536 were obviously rather different than they are today.

“When I have been standing in elections for the Liberals, it was always possible there might be a bit of shouting or an occasional raised voice – but I don’t think I was ever in serious danger of being carted off to the Tower and hung as a traitor. I know that some of my opponents might have wished for that to happen when I irritated them but, in reality, I was a lot safer than my namesake was in the time of Henry VIII.”

“There was a lot of turbulence in 1536 and Henry was a real tyrant, known for his violence against foes, real or imagined. As well as executing a couple of wives and quite a few fairly close relations, historians believe he probably had something like 50,000 of his subjects executed during his reign. So to lead a protest against his decisions was a pretty brave thing to do!”

Henry’s chancellor, Thomas, Baron Cromwell (he only gained his title in 1536!) had closed over 50 religious houses in Lincolnshire alone that year and the rumours were that he would be coming after the church silverware next. Nicholas Melton and his friends decided enough was enough and, on Sunday 1^st October, took the keys to the church from the churchwardens and locked away the silver guarding the Church of St James in Louth day and night.

The protest escalated very quickly that week and before the week was out around 20,000 ‘rebels’ marched on the county town of Lincoln, where Keith Melton fought a rather gentler election in 1979. Rebels came from all over the County where Keith fought the European elections in 1994…

“…So I have a very personal sense of the history of the Lincolnshire Uprising which is why I have so much enjoyed telling the story of it in my new novel. I have this sense of place, I have the personal connection with the name, and I have real empathy for the actions of the rebels as the member of a radical party of protest! I hope this overlap has given the novel a certain something no-one else could have felt as they were writing, so I hope my readers will enjoy reading the story!”

….ends