In Defence of the Protestant Religion

This chapter addresses the Gordon Riots, which revealed a shocking reality: British Protestants had died fighting against their government's attempt to relieve Catholics while their nation was at war with France and Spain. In May of 1778, as Britons rallied to the flag on news of the Franco-American alliance, Parliament passed the English Catholic Relief Act, and proposed similar bills for both Scotland and Ireland. The legislation repealed several longstanding penal laws against Catholic subjects so that they could fight in the expanded war. Like the American response to the Quebec Act four years earlier, the passage of pro-Catholic legislation (especially while the nation was at war with France) convinced many Britons that their government was conspiring to topple the Protestant nation they now so desperately sought to defend. This new war led to new explanations of loyalty and Britishness. Britons continued to depend on traditional fears of Catholic tyranny to make sense of the war, but they also expressed a greater commitment to popular understandings of Protestant Whig liberty.

Immobilizing the Catholic Foe: A 'Popery' of Protestation in London 1780

The Gordon Riots of 1778 were one of the most violent public demonstrations of the century in London, and represent the culmination of an explosive religious and political climate in late 18th century England. This paper examines the nature and extent of the riots as well as details of specific rioters to shed light on the fact that even among London’s lower orders there existed a deep and complex set of beliefs about how British society should be structured. While on the surface the riots may appear to be simply yet another expression of xenophobia, they were connected to a growing nationalism tied to religion, global economics, and a strained domestic situation. I argue that the methodical, discriminate nature of the riots reflects the deeply held belief in the rightful supremacy of Protestantism as essential to the identity and security of Britain and demonstrates that anti-Catholicism could unify different social classes under a single cause.