Massacre of St George's Fields

In May 1768, this open space was the site of a violent confrontation between thousands of protesters and government troops. A crowd of fifteen thousand people had gathered here to demand the release of the radical Member of Parliament John Wilkes, who was being held in the adjacent King's Bench Prison. The protesters chanted slogans against the King and the government, creating a tense atmosphere that led local magistrates to request military intervention. When soldiers arrived to secure the prison, they faced a barrage of insults and stones from the crowd. In the ensuing chaos, troops fired into the gathered mass, killing six or seven people and wounding fifteen others. This bloody episode earned the grim title, the Massacre of St George's Fields.