Gordon, Lord George 1751-93
English anti-Catholic agitator

Born in London, he became an MP in 1774. With the aim of repealing the Catholic Relief Act of 1778, Lord George, as president of a Protestant association, led a mob of 50,000 to the House of Commons to present a petition for its repeal (1780). For five days, serious rioting took place during which many Catholic chapels and private houses, Newgate, and the house of the Chief Justice, Lord Mansfield, were destroyed. Five days later the troops were called out, and almost 300 of the rioters were killed, 21 being executed. Lord George was tried for high treason, but Thomas Erskine's defence earned his acquittal. He subsequently converted to Judaism, and was known as Israel Abraham George Gordon. In 1787 he was convicted for a libel on Marie Antoinette, and taken to Newgate Prison, where he died.