History of London minor crimes. Public hangings were common in London, and were popular public events. In 1780, London was rocked by the Gordon Riots, an uprising by Protestants against Roman Catholic emancipation led by Lord George Gordon. Severe damage was caused to Catholic churches and homes, and 285 rioters were killed. In the year 1787, freed slaves from London, America, and many of Britain's colonies founded Freetown in modern-day Sierra Leone. Up until 1750, London Bridge was the only crossing over the Thames, but in that year Westminster Bridge was opened and, for the first time in history, London Bridge, in a
London Evening Post Meres died in 1761, his son (also John) took over the business. The younger Meres was called before the House of Lords in 1764 to explain a "vague and slightly anti-Scottish remark" regarding Lord Hertford. After Richard Nutt died in 1780, the paper also reportedly folded, though there are archives of the paper in the same name that date past 1780. John Miller (c. 1744-1807), who was printer of the "Post" in 1770s, was charged with libel five times and at times jailed for it; he later moved to South Carolina in 1783 and started newspapers there. London Evening Post