Priestley Riots

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The Priestley Riots were a set of riots, which took place in Birmingham, England, in 1791, and were named after scientist and clergyman Joseph Priestley, one of their targets.

On July 14, of that year, the Constitutional Society of Birmingham arranged a dinner at a hotel on Temple Row in the centre of Birmingham to celebrate the second anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. Priestley, according to his own account, had little to do with it. However, his sympathies for the French Revolution were notorious, and the well-organised mob seized the occasion to attack the homes of several dissenters, including burning Priestley's chapel, the New Meeting, and sacking his house at Fairhill in Sparkbrook, destroying his library and laboratory, before setting off to other houses. He and his family escaped, but his material possessions were lost and the labour of years annihilated. Priestley afterwards moved to London.

Other targets of the rioters included:

John Ryland's house in Easy Row
Bordesley Hall, home of John Taylor (of Taylor and Lloyds Bank)
William Hutton, commissioner of the Court of Requests (small claims court), whose shop and House on High Street were ransacked, and then his house at Washwood Heath. He wrote a history of Birmingham and account of the riots.
Moseley Hall, owned by Lady Carhampton, which was burned down