Violent London: 2000 Years of Riots, Rebels and Revolts

631 Pages·8.488 MB·English

by  Clive Bloom (auth.)

Violent London
Also by Clive Bloom:
GOTHIC HORROR: A Reader’s Guide from Poe to King and Beyond
CULT FICTION: Popular Reading and Pulp Theory
LITERATURE, POLITICS AND INTELLECTUAL CRISIS IN BRITAIN TODAY
BESTSELLERS: Popular Fiction Since 1900
Violent London
2000 Years of Riots, Rebels and Revolts
Clive Bloom
Emeritus Professor, Middlesex University, UK
www.clivebloom.com
© Clive Bloom 2003, 2004, 2010
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identifi ed as the author of this
work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2003 by Sidgwick & Jackson and 2004 by Pan Books.
This revised paperback edition published 2010
by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers
Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United
States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-0-230-27559-1 ISBN 978-0-230-28947-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230289475
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from
fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and
manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the
environmental regulations of the country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bloom, Clive.
Violent London : 2000 years of riots, rebels, and revolts / Clive Bloom. —
Rev. pbk. ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. London (England)—History. 2. Riots—England—London—
History. 3. Violence—England—London—History. 4. Insurgency—
England—London—History. 5. Revolutions—England—London—
History. 6. Political violence—England—London—History.
7. Government, Resistance to—England—London—History. I. Title.
DA677.B65 2010
942.1—dc22
2010027487
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
FOR JOE
who had his glasses broken at Cable Street
and then got a clip from his father
1923–2001
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Acknowledgements to the Palgrave edition x
Permissions xii
List of Illustrations xiii
List of Plates xiv
Map xvii
Preface to the Palgrave Edition xviii
Preface to the First Edition xxxvii
1. A Desolation they called Peace:
The Destruction of London in AD 60 1
2. ‘Offence – A Londoner’: The Peasants’ Revolt
to Evil May Day 17
3. ‘We’ll no need the Papists noo!’: Criminalizing
Catholics from the Babington Plot to Guy Fawkes 30
4. Free-Born John: Levellers, Fifth Monarchy
Men and the Peace Women 55
5. Murderous Fantasies: The Great Fire to the Popish Plot 78
6. George’s War: From the Jacobites to the Gordon Riots 111
7. The Ape-Like Irish: The Aftermath of the Gordon Riots,
the Catholic Emancipation Act and the Garibaldi Riots 133
8. ‘Wilkes and Liberty’: The Political Riot 146
9. The United States of England: The English
Jacobins to the Cato Street Conspirators 170
10. Monster Rallies: The War with the Chartists, the ‘Sally
Army’ and the Rebellious Schoolchildren of London 189
11. Persecuting Pigeons: Trafalgar Square and Bloody Sunday 214
12. ‘Good Old Dynamite’: London’s War with the Bombers 226
13. Women Behaving Badly: The Suffragettes 255
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viii Contents
14. Huns and Hashish: The Yellow Peril to the
German Pogrom 271
15. Comrades All: Red London to Red Ken 281
16. Brave Boys of the BUF: The Origins of London Fascism 294
17. Not Quite Kosher: The Jews of London, Jeffrey
Hamm and the Return of Oswald Mosley 322
18. Alien Nation: Indian Assassins and Black Radicals 338
19. The Tiber Flowing with Much Blood: Enoch
Powell, Notting Hill and Hackney 351
20. Like Rorke’s Drift: Hackney, Brick Lane and Lewisham 365
21. Anarchy in the UK: Private Armies, Vigilantes
and the New Cross Fire 377
22. Living on the Front Line: Brixton to Broadwater
Farm; the Stephen Lawrence Case to the Soho Bomber 396
23. One, Two, Three, What Are We Fighting For?:
Grosvenor Square to Moon at the Monarchy 2000 422
24. Back to the Future: Poll Tax Rebels and
Tenant Strikers 443
25. The Free Republic of Wanstonia: The Fight
for London’s Green Spaces 457
26. Never Underestimate a Minority: Guerrilla
Gardeners and the Countryside Alliance 471
27. The Man in the Third Carriage: 7/7 and
its Consequences 481
28. Operation Glencoe: G20, Ian Tomlinson
and the Future of Street Protest 506
Appendix One: Shadow of a Warrior Queen
Boudicca and the Destruction of London:
Unanswered Questions 519
Appendix Two: The Huguenot and Italian Legacy 528
Appendix Three: Assassination Attempts on the
Royal Family 531
Notes 536
Index 553
Acknowledgements
Special thanks are due to Monty Kolsky and Michael Whine at the
Board of Deputies of British Jews; to Richard Bartlett of Harlow
Town Museum; to Francis Grew of the Museum of London; Chris
Myant of the Commission for Racial Equality; Graham Dalling of
the Palmers Green Local History Unit; Howard Bloch, formerly at the
Local Studies Department at Lewisham; Captain David Horn of the
Guards Museum; the archivists of the Public Records Office; British
Library; Royal Archives; London Metropolitan Archives; Imperial
War Museum; Archives of the House of Lords; Archives of the House
of Commons; National Army Museum; London Transport Museum;
Westminster Reference Library; Westminster Archives; Bruce Castle
Archives; local study units of Waltham Forest, Edmonton, Sutton,
Redbridge, Croydon, Brixton, Camden and Islington. Thanks must
also go to S. I. Martin, Gerry Gable, Jonathan Krego, John Nicholson,
Jerry White, Sherrie Ralton, Frances Kacher, Sasha Denton, James
Bloom, John Davis and Graham Macklin. Thanks are also due to
colleagues at Middlesex University, Vivien Miller, Alan Fountain and
Miriam Rivett for being so supportive. This work could not have been
completed without the skill of my copy editor, Nicholas Blake, the
devotion and care of my wife, Lesley, and the encouragement and
patience of my editors Gordon Scott-Wise and Ingrid Connell.
In reconciling primary sources and archival documents with the
scholarly investigations of previous historians a number of anoma-
lies in the records have come to light. Rather than offer the reader
long explanations, I have tried to clarify the evidence and provide
the most likely scenario. When this is not clear I have indicated so
that readers can decide for themselves.
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