Background
Gordon was born in London, son of Cosmo George, third duke of Gordon.
Gordon was born in London, son of Cosmo George, third duke of Gordon.
Lord George Gordon served in the army and the navy, gaining an officer’s commission in 1772. He entered Parliament in 1774, representing a family borough, but no particular party.
An impassioned Protestant, in 1779 he became President of the United Protestant League and in 1780 fought in parliament for the repeal of the 1778 act by which Catholic disabilities in England had been removed, and even led a march to Parliament House to present the “No-Popery” petition. The crowd of about 50,000 was roused to a pitch of great excitement when he informed them that the petition would probably not be accepted. When the petition was rejected by Parliament, riots ensued (“the Gordon riots”), lasting several days. Criminals broke out of prison, shops and houses were plundered; 300 people were killed. 192 were convicted of crimes, and 25 were executed. Gordon was tried for treason and inciting to revolt, but was acquitted.
Gordon’s popularity did not wane after the trial. In 1781 he was nominated as candidate for the City of London, but declined, devoting himself to the cause of stemming the progress made by Roman Catholicism. He came to loggerheads with the established church and in 1786 was excommunicated by the archbishop of Canterbury.
In 1787, Gordon was charged with having written and published a pamphlet about a request by prisoners to prevent their banishment to Botany Bay, Australia. His criticism of the government was considered libelous and he was arrested. He was also charged with publishing a libelous article on the moral and political conduct of the queen of France. He was found guilty on both counts. He fled to Holland, but when he found he was unable to remain there he returned to England and retired to Birmingham.
After five years in prison he was due to be released but was unable to find guarantors and was returned to his cell. Within a few months, he died of jail fever. The Jewish community refused, or did not dare, to bury him; his own relations interred him in a Protestant churchyard in Hampstead, London, and the site of his grave was soon forgotten.
In January, 1788, he was imprisoned in the notorious Newgate jail, and lodged with the common prisoners in damp, cold conditions. He continued to write pamphlets and letters to people of note and submitted articles to newspapers on political and social developments. In time, he was able to better his prison conditions, thanks to help from his friends. The Christian theologian John Wesley, "I who paid him a visit, reported that his quarters were “more like the study of a recluse in a private house than a prison.” His fame attracted many visitors and he commented “I am become one of the shows of London.” Poorer Jews were said to have regarded him as “a second Moses who would lead them back to the promised land.” Even the royal princes, sons of George III, came to sec him and join his lavish meals. Once every two weeks he gave a formal dinner party, followed by music and dancing. When he had spare time, he played the violin or played ball with other prisoners, to whom he frequently extended generosity and financial help.
Throughout his imprisonment in Newgate he meticulously practiced the precepts of Judaism. Every morning he donned his phylacteries (teftllin) and prayer shawl (tallit) and prayed. Every Saturday he was joined by nine Polish Jews to make a j prayer quorum (minyan). His impressive beard reached down to his waist, the delight of contemporary portrait painters who frequently came to the jail to paint his striking likeness.
His character and appearance at the time has been recorded by many authors. Edmund Burke described him as a Don Quixote, Horace Walpole called him “The Lunatic Apostle,” and Dickens wrote in Barnaby Rudge “his face was suggestive of an air of indefinable uneasiness.”