In the summer of 1780, at the height of the Gordon Riots, a London mob raised a cry of ‘kill the lawyers’ and headed for the Inns of Court.
In the summer of 1780, at the height of the Gordon Riots, a London mob raised a cry of ‘kill the lawyers’ and headed for the Inns of Court. A militia of several hundred barristers, equipped with muskets but doubtful aim, assembled to guard the Middle Temple. At the 11th hour they were spared by the intervention of the army, whose firing into the crowd quelled the mayhem.
Sir William Jones — soon to be appointed a judge of the supreme court in Bengal, but also a linguist, poet, orientalist and politician — was among the defenders. Afterwards he composed a pamphlet demanding that ‘every man in the City and in the country will carry his firelock and will know how to use it.’
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