The Gordon Riots 1780
The Gordon Riots of 1780 began as an anti-Catholic protest against the Papists Act of 1778 and evolved to include assaults on ruling class property and power. The Popery Act 1698 had imposed a number of penalties and disabilities on Roman Catholics in England; the 1778 Act eliminated some of these. An initial peaceful protest led on to widespread rioting and looting and was the most destructive of the 18th century in London. Painted on the wall of Newgate prison was the proclamation that the inmates had been freed by the authority of "His Majesty, King Mob". The term "King Mob" ever after denoted an unruly and fearsome proletariat. The Riots came at the height of the American War of Independence with Britain fighting American rebels, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic. They led to unfounded fears that they had been a deliberate attempt by France to destabilise Britain before an imminent French invasion.
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