The Gordon Riots

A new and controversial perspective on the causes, personalities and consequences of the most devastating urban riots in British history.

Contending visions -- The Elm Park Riot -- Portents of violence -- Teh Eighth Avenue Riot -- Judgment -- Aftermath -- Killed, injured and arrested in connection with the 1870 riot -- Killed, injured, and arrested in connection with the 1871 riot and a list of property damanges -- Sources of biographical information on selected committee of seventy members.

This is an account of the Gordon Riots, one of the most violent outbreaks of popular protest in British history. In 1780, Lord George Gordon MP led 50,000 people to present a petition calling for the repeal of the 1778 Roman Catholic Relief Act. The demonstration turned into a riot.

In the eighteenth century, the Catholics of England lacked many basic freedoms under the law: they could not serve in political office, buy or inherit land, or be married by the rites of their own religion. So virulent was the sentiment against Catholics that, in 1780, violent riots erupted in London—incited by the anti-Papist Lord George Gordon—in response to the Act for Relief that had been passed to loosen some of these restrictions. The Gordon Riots marked a crucial turning point in the fight for Catholic emancipation. Over the next fifty years, factions battled to reform the laws of the land. Kings George III and George IV refused to address the “Catholic Question,” even when pressed by their prime ministers. But in 1829, through the dogged work of charismatic Irish lawyer Daniel O’Connell and the support of the great Duke of Wellington, the watershed Roman Catholic Relief Act finally passed, opening the door to the radical transformation of the Victorian age. Gripping, spirited, and incisive, The King and the Catholics is character-driven narrative history at its best, reflecting the dire consequences of state-sanctioned oppression—and showing how sustained political action can triumph over injustice.