Gordon, Lord George, 1751–93, English agitator, whose activities resulted in the tragic Gordon riots of 1780 in London. In 1779, Gordon assumed leadership of the Protestant Association, an organization formed to secure repeal of the Catholic Relief Act of 1778 (see Catholic Emancipation Catholic Emancipation, term applied to the process by which Roman Catholics in the British Isles were relieved in the late 18th and early 19th cent. of civil disabilities.
..... Click the link for more information. ). On June 2, 1780, he led a huge crowd to present a petition to Parliament, and the demonstration rapidly turned into an orgy of destruction and plunder that lasted a week. The jails were broken open, and probably more than 800 people were killed and injured. Some 21 rioters were executed, but Gordon was acquitted through the efforts of his lawyer, Thomas Erskine. Dickens vividly described the riots in Barnaby Rudge.

Gordon, Lord George

(born Dec. 26, 1751, London, Eng.—died Nov. 1, 1793, London) English instigator of the anti-Catholic Gordon riots. The third son of the 3rd duke of Gordon, he entered Parliament in 1774. In 1779 he organized the Protestant associations formed to secure the repeal of the Catholic Relief Act (1778). In 1780 he led a mob to Parliament to present a petition against the act. The ensuing riot lasted a week, causing great property damage and nearly 500 casualties. Gordon was charged with, but was acquitted of, high treason. Convicted of libeling the queen of France in 1787, he was imprisoned in Newgate, where he died.

Gordon, Lord George

leader of the anti-Catholic riots of 1780, in which the idiot Barnaby is caught up. [Br. Lit.: Dickens Barnaby Rudge]

See : Riot