Representations of Riot: The Transformation of the Gordon Riots from History into Cultural Myth Yevgeniya Zbrizher An honors thesis submitted to the History Department of Rutgers University, written under the supervision of Professor Alastair Bellany. Rutgers University New Brunswick, New Jersey April 2011 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ii Introduction 1 Chapter One: Prologue to Riot 12 Chapter Two: ―A Time of Terror‖: Contemporary Witnesses‘ Representations of the Riots 25 Chapter Three: The Making of a Myth of Riot: Transition from History to Cultural Legend 55 Chapter Four: Romantic Riot: Dickens‘ Barnaby Rudge 88 Chapter Five: Scholarly Interpretations of the Gordon Riots 110 Conclusion 133 Appendix: The Rabble‘s Orgy 139 Bibliography 140 i Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to thank several people who assisted with the production of this thesis, to whom I am extremely grateful. Professor Peter Silver‘s classes were a model for the way that history should be taught and studied; they provided a framework for me to learn about and appreciate primary source research. Professor Silver helped me to focus my research interests as I prepared to write a thesis; I had been interested in studying crowd violence, and he suggested the Gordon riots to me as a potential thesis topic because they were fascinating and historically neglected. As I began to research them, I appreciated the fascination and mystery that they held, as well as the opportunity to delve deeper into a topic that has not been overly-researched. I am grateful to Professor Silver for his suggestions and encouragement. I also want to thank Professor Masschaele for organizing the history honors program and providing a structured environment in which to research and write a thesis. He facilitated the process of applying to the honors program while I was studying abroad during my junior year, and encouraged me and my fellow thesis writers throughout the research and writing process. Looking backwards, I am grateful for all the deadlines he set for us and the structure provided through the thesis seminar. If not for these, I imagine that the research and writing process would have been significantly more painful and chaotic. I owe a great deal of gratitude to my advisor, Professor Alastair Bellany. He provided a great breadth of knowledge which helped to guide the development of my research; encouragement and suggestions when the direction of my thesis began to change halfway through the year; and a great deal of patience and support throughout the entire process. I am ii indebted to him for his careful readings of my draft material and helpful and insightful suggestions along the way. I feel really fortunate to have had the opportunity to write my thesis under his guidance. I would also like to give thanks to Professor Jennifer Jones, who was my second reader. She was extremely generous and accommodating, and helped me to see aspects of my thesis from a different perspective. I am grateful to her for her perceptive questions and comments, and her encouragement. I am grateful for my family for always supporting me and encouraging me to be the best person I could be. Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank Keith Dobbs. He supported me through every step of this process, cooked me many a dinner, and generally kept me sane. I could not have done this without him. iii Introduction The day was Wednesday, June 7th, 1780 and London was on fire.1 In the neighborhood of Holborn, near the grounds of Thomas Langdale‘s distillery, men, women and children knelt on the ground and lowered their mouths to pools of burning alcohol that had collected in the streets and ran down the gutters, licking up whatever they could salvage. Around them, houses burned and Langdale‘s distillery, which had covered a two block stretch of land and had contained an estimated 120,000 gallons of gin, lay in ruins from the shots that had been fired at it by an unruly crowd, igniting the great vats of liquor stored inside and throwing into the air ‗a pinnicle of flame resembling a volcano‘2. In the East End of London, members of the mob raided pubs in Golden Lane and Whitechapel and destroyed them while drinking whatever spirits they could get their hands on. Elsewhere, in Broad Street, the Honourable Artillery Company and the London Military Association fired on the mob, killing several. Chaos reigned across the city; both the King‘s Bench prison and the Fleet prison were set on fire and its inhabitants set loose on the city, and throughout the afternoon, groups of rioters attempted to make two assaults on the Bank of England. All throughout the city, houses, shops and offices that were occupied by Catholic merchants, businessmen and shopkeepers were attacked and either destroyed completely or damaged. Meanwhile, Hyde Park had the appearance of an armed camp. Due to a shortage of barrack accommodation for the troops who had marched into the capital in the preceding week, now numbering in the several thousands, many were forced to make a temporary camp in the 1 This narrative of the riots is reconstructed from multiple sources: George Rudé, "The Gordon Riots: A Study of the Rioters and Their Victims" in Paris and London in the Eighteenth Century: Studies in Popular Protest, (New York: The Viking Press, 1970), 268-276; John Stevenson, Popular Disturbances in England, 1700-1831 (New York: Longman Publishing, 1992), 96-102; Ian Gilmour, Riot, Risings and Revolution: Governance and Violence in Eighteenth-Century England (London: Hutchinson, 1992), 342-356. 2 Nathaniel Wraxall, Historical Memoirs of My Own Time (Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, and Blanchard, 1837), 135. 1 largest and most famous of London‘s royal parks. All throughout the city, these regiments worked to quell the riots, resulting in a death toll of at least two hundred and eighty five people by the riots‘ conclusion. This day, known as ―Black Wednesday‖, marked the culmination of the Gordon Riots, one of the largest and deadliest civil disturbances in British history. Seven days previously, on May 31st, Lord George Gordon stood before the House of Lords during a session of Parliament and announced to the House that the following Friday, June 2nd, he would present for their consideration a petition of the Protestant Association of London, pushing for the repeal of ―late Act in Favour of Popery in England‖, the Catholic Relief Act of 1778. He also informed the House that the whole Association proposed to assemble in St. George‘s Fields on the morning of June 2nd and to accompany their petition to the House in ―the most humble, decent and respectable manner‖. Indeed, Gordon had been posting advertisements in London newspapers for the previous several days, calling all members of the Protestant Association, of which he was the president, to gather at St. George‘s Fields to support their petition, which opposed the Act that had granted Catholics living in England some minor relief from discrimination. On June 2nd, a crowd of 60,000 supporters of the Protestant Association showed up at St. George‘s Fields to oppose the small measure of Catholic relief. While awaiting the arrival of Gordon, the crowd, wearing the blue cockades on their heads which were the symbol of the Protestant Association, paraded with flags, chanted hymns and psalms, and arranged themselves into the prearranged four divisions for the march on Parliament. They then listened to a harangue from Lord George Gordon and paraded three or four times around the Field before marching out into the streets, singing hymns and heralded by blue banners. Using separate bridges, the sections of the Association moved to Palace Yard, outside the doors to the Houses of Parliament. The section that crossed Westminster Bridge was 2 preceded by a man carrying on his shoulder the great parchment roll containing upwards of 40,000 signatures. One of the sections, which passed over London Bridge and had the longest route, a three mile journey through the city, interrogated passers-by who were not wearing blue cockades and was apparently swollen by people recruited en route. Between two thirty and three o'clock in the afternoon, the crowd reassembled itself in Palace Yard. Some crowded into Westminster Hall, and seeing Dunning, the seconder of the Bill for Catholic Relief, addressing the Court of Kings' Bench, they interrupted his speech. They then blocked up the avenues to the Lords, from which they were rebuffed by the door-keepers. By now the crowd was getting boisterously unruly: Members of Parliament attending the House of Lords or Commons were forced to join in cries of 'No Popery‘; known supporters of the Protestant Association had their coaches drawn to the doors of the House, while opponents were pelted with mud, insulted and mistreated, usually to chaotic cries of 'No Popery' by the crowd. George Savile, the proposer of the Catholic Relief Bill, had his coach demolished; Lord Mansfield, the Chief Justice, had his coach windows smashed; and Lord Ashburnham was dragged into the House over the heads of the crowd, while other Members of Parliament had their wigs ripped off their heads, were covered with mud, and had their property stolen or damaged in various ways. Inside the House of Lords, Lord George Gordon informed members that he had a petition with 120,000 signatures and moved for it to be brought up. During the debate that ensued on the House floor, Gordon frequently left the chamber and addressed the crowd waiting outside from the gallery stairs, giving them news of how events were progressing and offering up the names of those who opposed the petition.