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
HMS Monsieur (1780) On 22 January 1780, the "Lively" was sailing from London to Liverpool when she fell victim to the Irish pirate vessel "Black Prince". "Lively" escaped only to fall victim to "Monsieur" two days later. "Monsieur" took all the crew out of "Lively", except for three boys, and put a 13-man prize crew aboard. On 4 February, the boys recaptured the ship while almost the entire prize crew was asleep. The next day they sailed to Kinsale where the letter of marque "Hercules" took possession. On 12 March 1780 the Third Rate "Alexander", under the command of Captain Lord Longford, was