Lord George Gordon
5 of 7 portraits of Lord George Gordon







© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Lord George Gordon
after Unknown artist
line engraving, circa 1780
6 3/4 in. x 4 3/8 in. (170 mm x 110 mm) paper size
Given by Henry Witte Martin, 1861
Reference Collection
NPG D2794
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1780back to top
Current affairs
Anti-Catholic mob led by Lord George Gordon marches on Parliament to protest against the Catholic Relief Act, leading to the outbreak of the Gordon Riots in London. Six days of rioting are ended by the intervention of troops, with 285 people shot dead.Dunning's Motion in Parliament attacks the influence of the crown, suggesting that it has increased and ought to be diminished.
Art and science
Royal Academy moves to Somerset House on The Strand, London.Mrs E. Johnson's British Gazette and Sunday Monitor, the first Sunday newspaper in Britain, begins publication.
Potter Josiah Wedgwood invents the pyrometer; a device used for measuring high temperatures.
International
American War of Independence: British troops under Charles Cornwallis defeat American army under Horatio Gates at Camden, South Carolina. The capture of British army officer and spy John André yields proof that US general Benedict Arnold is in the pay of the British. André is executed in as a spy.Second Anglo-Mysore War in India between Hyder Ali and the East India Company.
Bolshoi Theatre of opera and ballet is founded in Moscow.
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