A Turbulent City – London and Riot since the Eighteenth Century

Talk on the history of riot & disorder in London, followed by debate with Brian Paddick.

Speaker: Professor Jerry White (London Historian and lecturer at Birkbeck University)
This lecture looks at three moments of turbulence in modern London history: the Gordon Riots of June 1780 that began as a protest against Roman Catholics being granted certain religious freedoms and ended as an attack on London’s institutions of law and order; the Hyde Park riots of July 1855, protesting against a move to limit Sunday trading and entertainments for working-class Londoners; and the Brixton Disorders of April 1981, predominantly an anti-police riot by young people, most of them black. It will look at the very big differences between these three events and focus on the feature that most plainly links them: a fury against injustice.

Deabte: Is London still a turbulent city? Or potentially so?
Panel: Brian Paddick (ex-Met Police Commissioner, Liberal Democrat Politian and running for London Mayor 2012) other members TBC.

Riot has played a large part in the political, religious and social life of London over the past three centuries, and the disturbances leading to the jailing of Charlie Gilmour show that it continues to do so. The origin and cause of each event might be different, but are there features common to all or most significant disorders in the metropolis? What are the current elements in London life that might tend to produce disorder or militate against it? Can exemplary punishments actually prevent riots occurring? Can riots have good effects as well as bad?

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