| |
More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
|
Gordon Riots
|
|
|
(2–8 June 1780)
A week of violence in London which involved much destruction of property and ended with some 300 deaths. The disorder began with a huge march to the House of Commons, led by Lord George Gordon (1751–93), to protest against the measures of Catholic *emancipation which had been enacted in a bill of 1778 (they were minimal, being mainly concerned with rights of ownership). Parliament deferred its response and the crowd began burning Catholic premises. Their attention later turned to other establishments, including the Bank of England and various prisons (they released the inmates of *Newgate, after which looting became the main concern of the mob).
|
|
|
|
|
The effective terrorizing of London ended only when troops were brought in, causing deaths and injury among the rioters. Gordon himself was an eccentric and unstable character, but there was no proof that he approved of the violence and he was acquitted of a charge of high treason. Ironically he himself spent the last five years of his life in Newgate, on other charges, living in extravagant ease, entertaining his friends to daily dinners and fortnightly dances. The riots feature prominently in Dickens' novel Barnaby Rudge (1841).
|
|
|
|