Lord George Gordon
Lord George Gordon (26 December, 1751 – 12 November, 1793), third and youngest son of Cosmo George Gordon, 3rd Duke of Gordon, and the brother of Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, was a politician in the United Kingdom. He was a member of parliament for Ludgershall. A colourful personality, he was born into the Scottish nobility. His life ended after a number of controversies, as well as surrounding his conversion to Judaism for which he was ostracised. He died in prison.
Early life
George Gordon was born in London, England. After completing his education at Eton, he entered the Royal Navy, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant in 1772. Lord Sandwich, then at the head of the Admiralty, would not promise him the command of a ship however, and he resigned his commission shortly before the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. In 1774 the pocket borough of Ludgershall was bought for him by General Fraser, whom he was opposing in Inverness-shire, in order to bribe him not to contest the county. He was considered flighty, and was not looked upon as being of any importance.
The "Gordon Riots"
In 1779 he organised, and made himself head of, the Protestant associations, formed to secure the repeal of the Catholic Relief Act of 1778. On June 2, 1780 he headed a mob that marched in procession from St George's Fields to the Houses of Parliament in order to present a huge petition against Emancipation. After the mob reached Westminster the "Gordon Riots" began. Initially, the mob dispersed after threatening to force their way into the House of Commons, but reassembled soon afterwards and, over several days, destroyed several Roman Catholic chapels, pillaged the private dwellings of Catholics, set fire to Newgate Prison, broke open all the other prisons, and attacked the Bank of England and several other public buildings. The army was finally brought in to quell the unrest and killed or wounded around 450 people before they finally restored order. For his role in instigating the riots, Lord Gordon was charged with high treason. However, thanks to a defence by Baron Erskine, he was acquitted on the grounds that he had no treasonable intent.
Imprisonment
In 1786 he was excommunicated by the archbishop of Canterbury for refusing to bear witness in an ecclesiastical suit; and in 1787 he was convicted of defaming Marie Antoinette, the French ambassador and the administration of justice in England. He was, however, permitted to withdraw from the court without bail, and made his escape to the Netherlands. On account of representations from the court of Versailles he was commanded to leave that country, and, returning to England, was apprehended, and in January 1788 was sentenced to five years imprisonment in Newgate.
Conversion to Judaism
In 1787, at the age of 36, Lord George Gordon converted to Judaism in Birmingham, something unheard of in the England of his day. He took the name of Yisrael bar Avraham Gordon ("Israel son [of] Abraham" Gordon -- since Judaism regards a convert as the spiritual "son" of the Biblical Abraham) and underwent brit milah ("circumcision"). Gordon thus became what Judaism regards as, and Jews call, a "Ger Tsedek"—a righteous convert.
Not much is known about his life as a Jew in Birmingham, but the Bristol Journal of Dec. 15, 1787 reported that Gordon had been living in Birmingham since August, 1786 (its incorrect perceptions and interpretations of Judaism notwithstanding):
Unknown to every class of man but those of the Jewish religion, among whom he has passed his time in the greatest cordiality and friendship... he appears with a beard of extraordinary length, and the usual raiment of a Jew... his observance of the culinary (kashrut) laws preparation is remarkable.
...
He was surrounded by a number of Jews, who affirmed that his Lordship was Moses risen from the dead in order to instruct them and enlighten the whole world... It appears that (he) has officiated as a chief of the Levitical Order...
While in jail, Gordon lived the life of an Orthodox Jew, and he adjusted his prison life to his circumstances. He put on his tzitzit and tefillin daily. He fasted when the halakha (Jewish law) prescribed it, and likewise celebrated the Jewish holidays. He had kosher meat and wine, and Shabbat challos. The prison authorities permitted him to have a minyan on Shabbat and to affix a mezuza to his room. The Ten Commandments were also hung on his wall for Shabbat to transform the room into a synagogue.
Lord George Gordon associated only with pious Jews; in his passionate enthusiasm for his new faith, he refused to deal with any Jew who compromised the Torah's commandments. Although any non-Jew who desired to visit Gordon in prison (and there were many) was welcome, he requested that the prison guards admit Jews only if they had beards and wore head coverings.
He would often, in keeping with Jewish chesed (Mercy and Charity) Law, go into other parts of the prison to comfort prisoners by speaking with them and playing the violin. In keeping with tzedaka (Charity) laws, he gave what little money he could to those in need.
Charles Dickens, in his novel Barnaby Rudge, which centres around the "Gordon" riots of 1780, describes Gordon as a true Tzadik (Pious Man) among the prisoners as follows:
- The prisoners bemoaned his loss, and missed him; for though his means were not large his charity was great, and in bestowing alms among them he considered the necessities of all alike, and knew no distinction of sect or creed ...
Death
On the 28th of January, 1793, Lord George Gordon's sentence expired and he had to appear to give claim to his future good behaviour. When appearing in court he was ordered to remove his hat, which he refused to do. The hat was then taken from him by force, but he covered his head with a night cap and bound it with a handkerchief. He defended his behaviour concerning his kippah by quoting the Hebrew Bible "in support of the propriety of the creature having his head covered in reverence to the Creator." Before the court, he read a written statement in which he claimed that "he had been imprisoned for five years among murderers, thieves, etc., and that all the consolation he had arose from his trust in God."
Since he had brought as guarantors two Jews, whom the court would not accept as witnesses, Gordon was again remanded to his prison cell. Although his brothers; the 4th Duke of Gordon and Lord William, the future Vice-Admiral; and his sister, Lady Susan; offered to cover his bail; Gordon refused their help saying that to "sue for pardon was a confession of guilt."
In October of the same year, Gordon caught the typhoid fever that had been raging in Newgate throughout 1793. Christopher Hibbert, another biographer, writes that scores of prisoners waited outside his door for news about his health; friends, regardless of the risk of infection, stood whispering in the room and praying for his recovery - but George Gordon died on November 1, 1793 at the age of 42.
A serious defence is undertaken in The Life of Lord George Gordon, with a Philosophical Review of his Political Conduct, by Robert Watson, M.D. (London, 1795). The best accounts of Lord George Gordon are to be found in the Annual Registers from 1780 to the year of his death.
He figured as a character in Charles Dickens' historical novel Barnaby Rudge.
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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