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Lord George Gordon
Lord George Gordon (26 December 1751 – 1 November 1793) was a British politician best known for lending his name to the Gordon Riots of 1780. An eccentric and flighty personality, he was born into the Scottish nobility and sat in the House of Commons from 1774 to 1780. His life ended after a number of controversies, notably one surrounding his conversion to Judaism, for which he was ostracised. He died in Newgate Prison.Gordon, Charles The Old Bailey and Newgate', ch.XVIII, pp.204–219, T. Fisher Unwin, London 1902 Early life George Gordon was born in London, England, third and youngest son of Cosmo George Gordon, 3rd Duke of Gordon, and his wife, Catherine, and the brother of Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon. In 1759 he had been bought an Ensign's commission in the army's 89th (Highland) Regiment of Foot, then commanded by his stepfather Staats Long Morris, but after completing his education at Eton, he entered the Royal Navy in 1763 at the age of 12. He received pr ...
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American War Of Independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of the United States, fighting began on April 19, 1775, followed by the Lee Resolution on July 2, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The American Patriots were supported by the Kingdom of France and, to a lesser extent, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Empire, in a conflict taking place in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. Established by royal charter in the 17th and 18th centuries, the American colonies were largely autonomous in domestic affairs and commercially prosperous, trading with Britain and its Caribbean colonies, as well as other European powers via their Caribbean entrepôts. After British victory over the French in the Seven Years' War in 1763, tensions between the motherland and her ...
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St George's Fields
St George's Fields was an area of Southwark in south London, England. History Originally the area was an undifferentiated part of the south side of the Thames, which was low-lying marshland unsuitable even for agricultural purposes. There is evidence of Roman occupation. As at Lambeth Marsh, the settlement was built on raised through roads over the marsh lands. These were likely summer residences, for in winter the land was under water. A monastery is known to have existed at Bermondsey before 715 AD. Bermondsey is likely to have been a higher, drier spot in an otherwise marshy area. The area was part of the king's demesne. In 1082, according to the " Annales Monasterii de Bermundeseia", Alwinus Child obtained a royal license to found a monastery dedicated to St Saviour, most likely on the site of the earlier one. In 1086, the monastery became part of the Cluniac network under the Priory of St Mary's of La Charité-sur-Loire. Bermondsey Priory later acquired additional pr ...
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Papists Act 1778
The Papists Act 1778 is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (18 George III c. 60) and was the first Act for Roman Catholic relief. Later in 1778 it was also enacted by the Parliament of Ireland. Before the Act, a number of "Penal laws" had been enacted in Britain and Ireland, which varied between the jurisdictions from time to time but effectively excluded those known to be Roman Catholics from public life. The timing of the Act was partly based on the fact that the Papacy had stopped recognising the Jacobite cause on the death of the "Young Pretender" in 1766, and also the possibility that the ongoing American rebellion of 1775 might inspire a rebellion by Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland. Effect of the Act By this Act, an oath was imposed, which besides a declaration of loyalty to the reigning sovereign, contained an abjuration of the Pretender, and of certain doctrines attributed to Roman Catholics, such as that excommunicated princes may lawfully be murdered, ...
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1780 British General Election
The 1780 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 15th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election was held during the American War of Independence and returned Lord North to form a new government with a small and rocky majority. The opposition consisted largely of the Rockingham Whigs, the Whig faction led by the Marquess of Rockingham. North's opponents referred to his supporters as Tories, but no Tory party existed at the time and his supporters rejected the label. Summary of the constituencies See 1796 British general election for details. The constituencies used were the same throughout the existence of the Parliament of Great Britain. Dates of election The general election was held between 6 September 1780 and 18 October 1780. At this period elections did not take place at the same time in every constituency. The returning officer i ...
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Tory
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The Tory ethos has been summed up with the phrase "God, King, and Country". Tories are monarchists, were historically of a high church Anglican religious heritage, and opposed to the liberalism of the Whig faction. The philosophy originates from the Cavalier faction, a royalist group during the English Civil War. The Tories political faction that emerged in 1681 was a reaction to the Whig-controlled Parliaments that succeeded the Cavalier Parliament. As a political term, Tory was an insult derived from the Irish language, that later entered English politics during the Exclusion Crisis of 1678–1681. It also has exponents in other parts of the former British Empire, such as the Loyalists of British America, who opposed US secession duri ...
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Lord North
Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (13 April 17325 August 1792), better known by his courtesy title Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, was 12th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most of the American War of Independence. He also held a number of other cabinet posts, including Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. North's reputation among historians has swung back and forth. It reached its lowest point in the late nineteenth century, when he was depicted as a creature of the king and an incompetent who lost the American colonies. In the early twentieth century, a revised view emerged emphasising his strengths in administering the Treasury, handling the House of Commons, and in defending the Church of England. Historian Herbert Butterfield, however, argued that his indolence was a barrier to efficient crisis management; he neglected his role in supervising the entire war effort. Early life (1732–1754) North wa ...
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Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was the arch-rival of the Tory politician William Pitt the Younger; his father Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, a leading Whig of his day, had similarly been the great rival of Pitt's famous father, William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham ("Pitt the Elder"). Fox rose to prominence in the House of Commons as a forceful and eloquent speaker with a notorious and colourful private life, though at that time with rather conservative and conventional opinions. However, with the coming of the American War of Independence and the influence of the Whig Edmund Burke, Fox's opinions evolved into some of the most radical to be aired in the British Parliament of his era. Fox became a prominent and staunch opponent of King George III, whom he regarded as an aspiring tyrant. He ...
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British America
British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which became the British Empire after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, in the Americas from 1607 to 1783. Prior to the union, this was termed ''English America'', excepting Scotland's failed attempts to establish its own colonies. Following the union, these Colony, colonies were formally known as British America and the British West Indies before the Thirteen Colonies declared their independence in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and formed the United States, United States of America. After the American Revolution, the term ''British North America'' was used to refer to the remainder of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain's possessions in North America. The term British North America was used in 1783, but it was more commonly used after the ''Report on the Affairs of British North America'' (1839), generally known ...
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Inverness-shire (UK Parliament Constituency)
Inverness-shire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1918. There was also a burgh constituency called Inverness Burghs, 1708 to 1918, and a county constituency called Inverness, 1918 to 1983. Creation The British parliamentary constituency was created in 1708 following the Acts of Union, 1707 and replaced the former Parliament of Scotland shire constituency of Inverness-shire. History The constituency elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system until the seat was abolished in 1918. Boundaries The Inverness-shire Member of Parliament (MP) represented, nominally, the county of Inverness minus the Inverness parliamentary burgh, which was represented as a component of Inverness District of Burghs. However, by 1892 the boundaries of the county had been redefined for all purposes except parliamentary representation, and ...
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General Simon Fraser Of Lovat
Simon Fraser of Lovat (19 October 1726 – 8 February 1782) was a son of a notorious Jacobite clan chief, but he went on to serve with distinction in the British army. He also raised forces which served in the Seven Years' War against the French in Quebec, as well as the American War of Independence. Simon was the 19th Chief of the Clan Fraser of Lovat. Master of Lovat Simon's mother was Margaret Grant, and his father Simon "the Fox" Fraser, Lord Lovat, chief of the Clan Fraser. As the first born boy (after several sisters) he was his father's heir, and hence the Master of Lovat. He grew up in the ancestral home of Castle Dounie, near Beauly, and was educated in Edinburgh and St Andrew's University. The '45 Simon 'would not have had any concern in this rebellion, had he been entirely left to himself', according to one of his father's secretaries of the period. This was confirmed by another, who noted that his father was a 'very strict man' with great power over his chil ...
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Pocket Borough
A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorate and could be used by a patron to gain unrepresentative influence within the unreformed House of Commons. The same terms were used for similar boroughs represented in the 18th-century Parliament of Ireland. The Reform Act 1832 abolished the majority of these rotten and pocket boroughs. Background A parliamentary borough was a town or former town that had been incorporated under a royal charter, giving it the right to send two elected burgesses as Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. It was not unusual for the physical boundary of the settlement to change as the town developed or contracted over time, for example due to changes in its trade and industry, so that the boundaries of the parliamentary borough and of the phys ...
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