The flash Gordon Riots
QUESTION Why did it take the authorities almost a week to get the 1780 Gordon Riots (mentioned in the Charles Dickens novel Barnaby Rudge) under control?
Conditions in early industrial Revolution Britain were for many unsanitary and overcrowded, and costly foreign wars had led to high taxes and soaring food prices.
Most British had no right to vote and both Whigs and tories were denigrated in newspapers and pamphlets. Without the vote, political opinion was expressed in a direct manner and rioting was familiar in 18th-century Britain.
in 1780, Lord George Gordon (1751-1793) called for the repeal of the Papists Act of 1778.
the Act had reduced official discrimination against Roman Catholics, including excusing them from swearing the oath of allegiance (with its implicit recognition of the Church of England) on joining the Army in a pragmatic move to try to increase recruitment into the military.
intolerance of Catholics was deeply ingrained in Protestant England. on June 2, 1780, Gordon led a crowd of 60,000 to the House of Commons to present a petition stating the legislation encouraged ‘popery’ and was a threat to the Church of England.
Anti-Catholic riots broke out across the capital as the masses vented their anger. Catholic houses and chapels were pulled down, the Bank of England came under attack and prisoners were released from London’s gaols.
the Army was called in to restore order, but it took until June 7 to amass the 15,000 troops needed to quell the disturbances. By the time the riots ended two days later, nearly 300 rioters had been shot dead by soldiers.
the riots highlighted the problems Britain faced with its thinly stretched Army and its lack of a professional police force, a notion that had been opposed as foreign and absolutist.
the day after the riots started, the Earl of shelburne shocked many by proposing in Parliament that Britain should implement a system of policing based on France’s permanent officers.
the Gordon Riots are considered the closest Britain came to the revolutions experienced across Europe at that time. However, unlike on the continent, Britain’s social classes were mainly stable. industrialists recognised the importance of the working classes to the industrial Revolution and their rights and customs were usually respected.
By the 1790s, working- class protests were also channelled through more formal political organisations that proved highly effective in bringing about political change by peaceful means.
Alan B. Moore, Leeds.
QUESTION Has the character Molly Button in Radio 4’s The Archers ever spoken?
THE Archers is famous for its silent characters who help drive the narrative, but are never heard. they also provide a bit of fun for the scriptwriters.
Molly Button and her younger sister tilly are mischievous schoolgirls introduced to Ambridge in 2006. seemingly ageless, Molly appears to be a good dancer and is mentioned in the context of village performances.
Another silent character is the Glebeland estate’s arch-nimby, cat-hater and gnome-lover derek Fletcher, who in a standing joke is often described as excessively talkative (ironic, given his status as a silent character).
others include snatch Foster, a former friend of Eddie Grundy, who was jailed for selling condemned meat; Fat Paul, a dim-witted friend of Eddie; Bob Pullen, a nonagenarian resident of Manorfield Close famed for his weak bladder; and Freda Fry, who died of pneumonia after the Great Ambridge Flood of 2015.
Finally, there’s the sloaney sabrina thwaite, whose skimpy outfits delight the chaps and have the likes of Linda snell twitching the curtains.
Jessica Walters, Winchester, Hants.
QUESTION Why is Babington’s leek so called?
BABinGton’s leek ( Allium
ampeloprasum babingtonii) is an attractive and rare plant endemic to the British isles.
Found in clefts of rocks and sandy places near the coast of Cornwall, dorset and western ireland, Babington’s leek is closely related to Allium ampeloprasum, the ‘wild leek’, but tends to have more bulbils. they are good in a garden, as the purple flower head grows up to two metres tall and are beloved of bees.
Charles Cardale Babington (1808-95) was a botanist and entomologist who studied at st John’s College, Cambridge. His studies overlapped with those of Charles darwin, with whom he is said to have fallen out over who should have the pick of beetle specimens from a local dealer.
in 1833, shortly after completing his MA, Babington was present at the foundation of the Royal Entomological society. He became Chair of Botany at the University of Cambridge in 1861.
He continued to study and write. His works include the Manual of British Botany (1843), Flora of Cambridgeshire (1860) and the British Rubi (1869). His papers and specimens are held by the University of Cambridge.
in 1840, he wrote about the differences between true leeks, Allium porrum, and
Allium ampeloprasum in the Annals of natural History, where he writes that on Guernsey he had seen Allium
ampeloprasum reproducing from bulbils (like a topset) produced on the flower head. it is thought that he specified this very local allium species at that time.
Mary Thompson, Hartlepool, Northumberland.
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