George Gordon (politician)

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Lord George Gordon (born December 25, 1751 in London , † November 1, 1793 ibid) was a British politician . He was the leader of the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots . The Australian cultural historian Iain McCalman wrote of him that with him "Great Britain [...] apparently produced the first man of modern terror ."

Life

Lord George Gordon, President of the Protestant Association

Gordon was the youngest son of Cosmo Gordon, 3rd Duke of Gordon (1720–1752) and his wife Catherine Gordon (1718–1779), who was a stepdaughter of his sister. He had two other brothers and three sisters. When his father died, the 34-year-old mother had to look after six children. So she married State Long Morris, an officer who served in the British Army during the American Revolution . His eldest brother Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon was company commander of several regiments named after him, including the "92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot". Middle brother William Gordon also served in the British Army . George Gordon, however, began a military career in the Royal Navy , where he rose to the rank of lieutenant . From 1766 to 1769 he was employed in the American colonies. He resigned in 1772 because John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich , the head of the Admiralty, refused to promise that he would be in command of his own ship. So he was not used in the American War of Independence .

In 1774 he became a member of the House of Commons as a member of the House of Commons as a member of the Pocket borough Ludgershall in Wiltshire , having previously run unsuccessfully as a member of Parliament for Inverness-shire .

When the Papists Act 1778 granted Catholics greater freedom, he joined the Protestant association and organized a general meeting on June 2, 1780 on St. Georgsplatz, in which around 100,000 people attended. A petition to repeal the law was drafted, and with it Gordon led the movement to march outside the House of Parliament.

Lord Gordon after converting to Judaism

A trial date was set for June 6, 1780. However, riots broke out as early as June 4th, during which churches, houses and other Catholic buildings were set on fire and which lasted until June 8th. Many prisoners were released from the prisons and the bank and the customs office were attacked. Gordon was also arrested, charged with high treason, and locked in the Tower for eight months .

Gordon was defended and acquitted by Lord Thomas Erskines in February 1781 because it could not be proven that his petitions led to the revolt of the masses and the excesses that followed. His conversion to Judaism was one of his other undertakings . He was excommunicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1786 for abuse. In June 1787 he was on trial for two defamations. In 1788 he was convicted of a pamphlet against the Queen and he spent nearly six years in Newgate prison , where he eventually died. He wasn't married.

literature

  • The History of the right honorable Lord George Gordon. To which is Added, Several of His Speeches in Parliament; and His Most Remarkable Letters to the Eighty-Five Societies in Glasgow . James Murray, Edinburgh 1780 ( books.google.de ).
  • Lord George Gordon . In: Brockhaus Conversations-Lexikon . tape 2 . Amsterdam 1809, p. 119-120 ( zeno.org ).
  • Israel Solomons: Lord George Gordon's Conversion to Judaism . In: Transactions (Jewish Historical Society of England) . tape 7 , 1911, ISSN  2047-2331 , pp. 222-271 , JSTOR : 29777669 .
  • Gordon, Lord George . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 12 : Gichtel - harmonium . London 1910, p. 253 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
  • Gordon, 9. Lord George G. In: Theodor Westrin (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 9 : Fruktodling – Gossensass . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1908, Sp. 1480–1481 (Swedish, runeberg.org - In the family article ).
  • John Malcolm Bulloch: Lord George Gordon, the Rioter . In: Bibliography of the Gordons. Section I. (A. to Augusta. - “Chinese Gordon”. - Lord George Gordon.) . Aberdeen, 1924, p. 176–218 ( Text Archive - Internet Archive - Including Bibliography).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Iain McCalman: The Last Alchemist. ISBN 3-458-17199-1 , p. 199.
  2. ↑ Lord George Gordon. National Portrait Gallery, accessed May 26, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Bulloch: Lord George Gordon, the Rioter. In: Bibliography of the Gordons. Section I., p. 176.
  4. ↑ Bulloch: Lord George Gordon, the Rioter. In: Bibliography of the Gordons. Section I., p. 177.
  5. ↑ Speech for Lord George Gordon . In: James L. High (Ed.): Speeches Of Lord Erskine . tape 1 . Callaghan & Company, Chicago 1876, p. 86–155 ( Text Archive - Internet Archive ).
  6. ↑ George Pierce Baker: Argument in General. Lord Erskine . In: Specimens of argumentation; modern . 2nd Edition. Holt, New York 1893, pp. 86–153 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
personal data
SURNAME Gordon, George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1751
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH November 1, 1793
Place of death London