Brackley Kennett was a British

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

who served as

Sheriff of London Two Sheriffs of the City of London are elected annually by the members of the City livery companies. Today's Sheriffs have only ceremonial duties, but the historical officeholders held important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ...

in 1765 and

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...

from 1779 to 1780. During his time in office the

Gordon Riots The Gordon Riots of 1780 were several days' rioting in London motivated by anti-Catholic sentiment. They began with a large and orderly protest against the Papists Act 1778, which was intended to reduce official discrimination against British ...

broke out and his response to the rioting proved controversial. He failed to read the

Riot Act The Riot Act (1 Geo. 1. St. 2. c. 5), sometimes called the Riot Act 1714 or the Riot Act 1715, was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain which authorised local authorities to declare any group of 12 or more people to be unlawfully assembled ...

, or to offer additional protection to threatened communities, and it was even alleged that he was broadly sympathetic to the rioters. In 1781 Kennett was convicted of

criminal negligence In criminal law, criminal negligence is an offence that involves a breach of an objective standard of behaviour expected of a defendant. It may be contrasted with strictly liable offences, which do not consider states of mind in determining c ...

for his conduct during the Riots and fined £1,000.Babington p. 27

References

Bibliography

* Babington, Anthony. ''Military intervention in Britain: from the Gordon riots to the Gibraltar Incident''. Routledge, 1990. * Hibbert, Christopher ''King Mob: The Story of Lord George Gordon and the Riots of 1780''. Dorset Press Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 18th-century lord mayors of London 18th-century English politicians Sheriffs of the City of London {{Lord-Mayor-of-London-stub