Gordon, Lord George (1751–1793)

British anti-Catholic activist. He organized the so-called Gordon Riots of 1780, a protest against removal of penalties imposed on Roman Catholics in the Catholic Relief Act of 1778; he was acquitted on a treason charge.

Gordon and the ‘No Popery’ riots figure in Charles Dickens's novel Barnaby Rudge 1841.

He was the son of the 3rd Duke of Gordon. After some years in the navy, in 1774 he entered Parliament, where he was conspicuous for his indiscriminate attacks on both Whigs and Tories. He died insane in Newgate jail, where he was imprisoned 1787 for libel against Queen Marie Antoinette of France, the French ambassador in London, and the British judiciary.