John Wilkes's Contribution Of Londoners To Riots

The aim of rioting is possibly to garner support from the wider public for a specific cause. However, there are instances where eighteenth century Londoners took a more aggressive and forceful approach to achieve their desired outcome. Another demagogue that inspired Londoners to riot was John Wilkes, a radical Member of Parliament. Believing in liberty as well as freedom of speech and action, Wilkes “campaigned for wider parliamentary representation and the "liberty" of bourgeois Englishmen.” (Mullan) Londoners were a fan of Wilke’s beliefs and actively supported him on the streets, which was one of the causes for ministerial instability. In 1768, Wilkes wrote an article in his the 45th issue of his newspaper, North Briton, that openly condemned King George III’s speech about the 1763 Paris Peace Treaty; the government, who was already displeased with Wilke and his ongoing public criticisms, made use of the opportunity to have him arrested for seditious libels (Cavendish).

Supporters also wanted homes to be illuminated, an eighteenth-century celebratory tradition of lighting up buildings, and if they came across households that were not willing to comply, supporters threatened to destroy property (Inglis). During the course of the two week long riot, the crowd amassed to 15,000 and military was called in to prevent the mob from rescuing Wilke from prison. In order to control the crowd, soldiers opened fire and this event unfortunately ended as the Massacre of St George’s