Brackley Kennett was a British merchant who served as Sheriff of London in 1765 and Lord Mayor of London from 1779 to 1780. During his time in office the Gordon Riots broke out and his response to the rioting proved controversial. He failed to read the Riot Act, or to offer additional protection to threatened communities, and it was even alleged that he was broadly sympathetic to the rioters.
In 1781 Kennett was convicted of criminal negligence for his conduct during the Riots and fined £1,000. [1]
Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, was a British Army officer and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the British Army. Amherst is credited as the architect of Britain's successful campaign to conquer the territory of New France during the Seven Years' War. Under his command, British forces captured the cities of Louisbourg, Quebec City and Montreal, as well as several major fortresses. He was also the first British Governor General in the territories that eventually became Canada. Numerous places and streets are named for him, in both Canada and the United States.
The Gordon Riots of 1780 were several days of rioting in London motivated by anti-Catholic sentiment. They began with a large and orderly protest against the Papists Act 1778, which was intended to reduce official discrimination against British Catholics enacted by the Popery Act 1698. Lord George Gordon, head of the Protestant Association, argued that the law would enable Catholics to join the British Army and plot treason. The protest led to widespread rioting and looting, including attacks on Newgate Prison and the Bank of England and was the most destructive in the history of London.
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, was a British historian and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster-General between 1846 and 1848, who by his Minute on Indian Education of February 1835 was primarily responsible for the introduction of Western institutional education to India.
Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford, better known by his courtesy title Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most of the American War of Independence. He also held a number of other cabinet posts, including Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Fleet Prison was a notorious London prison by the side of the River Fleet. The prison was built in 1197, was rebuilt several times, and was in use until 1844. It was demolished in 1846.
Lord George Gordon was a British politician best known for lending his name to the Gordon Riots of 1780.
Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty is a historical novel by British novelist Charles Dickens. Barnaby Rudge was one of two novels that Dickens published in his short-lived (1840–1841) weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock. Barnaby Rudge is largely set during the Gordon Riots of 1780.
Lord North was appointed to lead the government of the Kingdom of Great Britain by George III from 1770 to 1782. His ministry oversaw the Falklands Crisis (1770), the Gordon Riots (1780) and the outbreak of the American War of Independence.
White Kennett was an English bishop and antiquarian. He was educated at Westminster School and at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where, while an undergraduate, he published several translations of Latin works, including Erasmus' In Praise of Folly.
Events from the year 1842 in the United Kingdom.
Events from the year 1780 in Great Britain.
General William Gordon, of Fyvie, was a British general and courtier. He was several times returned to Parliament by the interest of the Duke of Marlborough, and precipitated a family quarrel with his nephew, the Duke of Gordon, by commandeering a regiment that the latter was raising.
Field Marshal Thomas Grosvenor was a British Army officer. After serving as a junior officer defending the Bank of England during the Gordon Riots he took part in the Flanders Campaign including the retreat into Germany during the French Revolutionary Wars. He served as a brigade commander at the Battle of Copenhagen and was then deployed to Walcheren in the Netherlands where he served as deputy commander of a division led by Sir Eyre Coote during the disastrous Walcheren Campaign.
Lieutenant-General James Murray, was a Scottish soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1773 to 1794.
Barnaby Rudge is a 1915 British silent drama film directed by Thomas Bentley and Cecil M. Hepworth and starring Tom Powers, Stewart Rome and Violet Hopson. It was an adaptation of the 1841 novel Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens which was set amidst the 1780 Gordon Riots in London.
The Trial of Lord George Gordon for high treason occurred on 5 February 1781 before Lord Mansfield in the Court of King's Bench, as a result of Gordon's role in the riots named after him. Gordon, President of the Protestant Association, had led a protest against the Papists Act 1778, a Catholic Emancipation bill. Intending only to hand in a petition to Parliament, Gordon riled the crowd by postponing of the petition, denouncing Members of Parliament and launching "anti-Catholic harangues". The crowd of protesters fragmented and began looting nearby buildings; by the time the riots had finished a week later, 300 had died. Gordon was almost immediately arrested, and indicted for levying war against the King.
Major General Thomas Twisleton, 13th Baron Saye and Sele was a British Army officer and peer.
Anthony Patrick Babington was a British author, judge and Army officer.
Thomas Thoroton, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons for 25 years between 1757 and 1782.
Frederick Bull was Lord Mayor of London and a radical politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1773 to 1784.