Brewer's: Gordon Riots

Riots in 1780, headed by Lord George Gordon, to compel the House of Commons to repeal the bill passed in 1778 for the relief of Roman Catholics. Gordon was undoubtedly of unsound mind, and he died in 1793, a proselyte to Judaism. Dickens has given a very vivid description of the Gordon riots in Barnaby Rudge.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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