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Porteous Riots
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The Porteous Riots surrounded the activities of John Porteous, Captain of the City Guard of Edinburgh, Scotland, who was lynched by a mob for his part in the killing of innocent civilians while ordering the men under his command to quell a disturbance during a public hanging in the Grassmarket, Edinburgh in April 1736. Although the rioters were generally supportive of the convicted smugglers, Porteous seems to have been a somewhat overbearing official, despised by the mob and the underclasses of Edinburgh society.
Riot
[edit]
In April 1736 three convicted smugglers, Andrew Wilson, a "notorious smuggler", William Hall and George Robertson, had been tried and condemned to death. While Hall's sentence was commuted to exile, Wilson and Robertson awaited their fate in the condemned cell at Edinburgh's notorious Tolbooth Prison next to St Giles Cathedral. A few days before their execution the pair tried to escape. Wilson removed a bar from the cell window but became stuck "being a very stout man" and blocked Robertson's escape.[1]
On 14 April 1736, Andrew Wilson and George Robertson were publicly hanged in the Grassmarket. However, when the body of Wilson was cut down by a sailor, Captain Porteous of the City Guard reacted by grabbing a musket and firing at the sailor. Unfortunately he missed and killed a man standing behind in the crowd. Porteous ordered the City Guards to fire on the enraged crowd, killing a further five people. In the ensuing riot, the hangman, Porteous, and the city guards sought refuge in the City Guardhouse on the Royal Mile where the situation worsened. This prompted the Lord Provost of Edinburgh to instruct Captain Porteous to call out the entire City Guard, furnish them with powder and shot, and ensure the guardhouse was not stormed by the rioters.
Accounts of events that followed are confusing but what is certain is that Captain Porteous initially instructed his troops to fire above the heads of the crowd. However, in so doing, they wounded people in the windows of the surrounding tenement buildings which just made the crowd even more violent. As panic set in, Porteous ordered the City Guard to shoot directly into the mob which led to the deaths of another six people. However, the rioters retreated and the streets quietened.
Conviction and deferment of execution
[edit]Porteous was arrested the same afternoon and charged with murder. On 5 July 1736, he was tried at the High Court of Justiciary. A majority of witnesses testified that Porteous had personally fired into the crowd on 14 April, although sixteen others said they had not seen him do so. Feelings were running high in Edinburgh when the jury unanimously found Porteous guilty of murder. He was sentenced to death and the execution was set to take place in the Grassmarket on 8 September 1736. Porteous was imprisoned in the same condemned cell in the Tolbooth that had earlier held Wilson and Robertson.
Events in Scotland alarmed the government in London, and Sir Robert Walpole attempted to influence events by asking his representative in Edinburgh to become involved. A formal appeal was petitioned to Queen Caroline, who ordered the execution to be deferred by six weeks, pending the return of the king from Hanover. But Walpole had miscalculated, underestimating the depth of feeling in Scotland.[2][3]
Public lynching
[edit]
The deferment of the sentence caused public resentment in Edinburgh, with people mistakenly believing that Porteous had been fully reprieved. The city authorities increased the guard at the Tolbooth prison when they learned that there was a plot to lynch the imprisoned Captain. However, the evening before it was due to happen, a mob of more than four thousand gathered at Portsburgh, west of the city. They made their way across the Grassmarket to the Cowgate and up to the High Street before converging on the Tolbooth. Eventually the mob was able to overpower the guards and Porteous was dragged from his cell up the Lawnmarket to the West Bow and down to the Grassmarket. It was there that he was hanged from a dyer's pole using a rope taken from a local draper's shop.[2][3]
After a short while Porteus was pulled down and stripped naked. His nightgown and shirt were then wrapped around his head before he was hanged again. However, as his hands were untied, he was able to struggle free. Some of the mob began beating him savagely, breaking his arm and shoulder and an attempt was made to set his naked foot alight. He was hauled up again and hung and died a short while later just before midnight on 7 September 1736. He was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh, the following day.
Aftermath
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The events in Edinburgh heightened the sense of alarm in London, where the government was concerned about its control of Scotland. Prime Minister Robert Walpole, Queen Caroline and the Secretary of State Duke of Newcastle thought that Porteous had been unnecessarily sacrificed to appease the mob and there were even rumours that the local city magistrates had been involved in the conspiracy.
In February 1737 a parliamentary inquiry was held in the House of Lords, It initially proposed the disbanding of the City Guard and removal of Netherbow Port, but these proposals were subsequently dropped. Eventually, the only punishments enforced were a £2,000 fine imposed on the city (used to support Porteous' widow) and the disbarment from all offices of the Lord Provost, Alexander Wilson.[4]
It was variously thought that Porteous' murder was carried out by friends of those who had been shot and killed, revenge by the smugglers, a Jacobite plot, or even a conspiracy by Presbyterian extremists. However, the organisation of events seems to imply a degree of planning, thought to be the work of James Maxwell, an Edinburgh journeyman carpenter, together with a small group of city tradesmen and journeymen.
Despite a reward of £200 being made available by the government for information, those responsible for the murder of Porteous were never found.
Legacy
[edit]
The final resting place of John Porteous in Greyfriars Kirkyard had for more than two hundred years been marked by a small square stone engraved with the single letter "P" and the date 1736. More recently, this has been replaced with a headstone of Craigleith stone, bearing the inscription "John Porteous, a captain of the City Guard of Edinburgh, murdered September 7, 1736. All Passion Spent, 1973."
The spot where Porteous died in the Grassmarket is today marked by a memorial plate. The site of the notorious Tolbooth prison is marked by paving stones arranged in the form of a heart, known as the Heart of Midlothian. Even today, passers-by will spit on the spot, a tradition originally intended to demonstrate their contempt for the hated Tolbooth.
A fictionalised account of the lynching forms part of the early chapters of the novel The Heart of Mid-Lothian by Sir Walter Scott (1818).
See also
[edit]- John Porteous (soldier)
- Porteous family
- The Heart of Mid-Lothian (work by Sir Walter Scott)
References
[edit]- ^ Edinburgh and its Environs: Wardlock Guide
- ^ a b "Porteous, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/22557. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ a b Melvin, Eric (2014). A Walk Down Edinburgh's Royal Mile. p. 42. ISBN 978-1499518061.
- ^ Gray, W. F. (1949). "Edinburgh in Lord Provost Drummond's Time". The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club. 27: 9.
Sources
[edit]- Scott, Sir Walter.The Heart of Mid-Lothian, (1818) includes a fictionalised account of the lynching.
- The Encyclopædia Britannica (1911)
- Lever, Sir Tresham. Sir Walter Scott and the Murder of Porteous (1971)
- Porteous, Barry. The Porteous Story, (Porteous Associates, 1975)
- K. J. Logue. "John Porteous" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: University Press, 2005)
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Porteous Riots
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Historical Context
Smuggling Crisis and Enforcement Challenges
Following the Act of Union in 1707, Scotland was subjected to the British fiscal regime, which imposed excise duties on goods such as tea, brandy, tobacco, and salt at rates far higher than those prevailing under the pre-Union Scottish Parliament, fueling widespread resentment and a boom in smuggling as a means of evasion.[5] These duties, enacted to finance British wars and national debt, were viewed by many Scots as an alien burden, exacerbating economic hardships in a population already strained by the loss of parliamentary autonomy and leading to smuggling as both economic necessity and symbolic resistance. By the 1730s, smuggling had evolved into a substantial organized enterprise across Scotland's coasts and borders, with contraband trade in French brandy and East India Company tea dominating, as official import figures paled against evident domestic consumption levels. Enforcement proved acutely challenging due to the scale of popular complicity, geographic advantages for evaders, and direct violence against revenue officers. Customs personnel were chronically understaffed relative to the vast coastline and rugged terrain, which smugglers exploited through fast vessels and hidden coves, while inland networks distributed goods via sympathetic locals who viewed excise men as oppressors rather than lawful agents.[6] Attacks on officers became routine, including assaults on their homes and seizures of confiscated contraband, as seen in the 1736 robbery of an excise collector's premises by smugglers seeking to recover impounded tea and brandy.[7] In Edinburgh, the urban hub of enforcement, the city's Town Guard supplemented excise efforts but often met with hostility, as smuggling resonated with broader anti-fiscal sentiment tied to post-Union grievances. The case of Andrew Wilson exemplified these tensions: a former baker who turned to smuggling, Wilson was arrested in late 1735 alongside William Hall and George Robertson for breaking into the home of excise officer James Stark to reclaim seized contraband, an act that underscored smugglers' audacity and the risks to enforcers.[8] Convicted of robbery and smuggling offenses, Wilson's impending execution in April 1736 galvanized public sympathy, portraying him not as a criminal but as a defender against overzealous taxation, thereby highlighting how enforcement alienated communities and sowed seeds for violent backlash. Such incidents revealed the limits of coercive measures, as fiscal policies inadvertently fostered a culture where smugglers enjoyed folk-hero status, undermining official authority without addressing underlying economic drivers.[9]Role of the City Guard and John Porteous
The Edinburgh City Guard served as the principal instrument of law enforcement and public order in the Scottish capital throughout the 18th century, operating in a period when no formalized police force existed. Originating in watch systems post the 1513 Battle of Flodden and evolving into a standing unit by the late 17th century, it comprised approximately 120 men, predominantly aged Gaelic-speaking Highland ex-soldiers armed with Lochaber axes and partisans, remunerated at sixpence per day.[10] Their responsibilities included nocturnal patrols, curfew enforcement via drumbeat at 8 p.m., and the apprehension and punishment of offenders, extending to the suppression of smuggling—a pervasive activity driven by resentment toward high excise duties imposed after the 1707 Union, which affected staples like tea, brandy, and salt.[10][11] Amid the 1730s smuggling crisis, the Guard's role intensified as they confronted networks evading customs, exemplified by their involvement in the January 1736 arrest of Andrew Wilson, William Hall, and George Robertson for smuggling and robbing an excise collector.[11] This enforcement clashed with popular sympathy for smugglers, viewed as resisters to overtaxation, rendering the Guard symbols of unwelcome authority; their frequent recourse to force, coupled with internal issues like alcoholism, fostered perceptions of brutality and unreliability among the lower orders.[10][11] John Porteous, circa 1695–1736, son of Canongate tailor Stephen Porteous, forsook his father's trade—marred by his own violent temper and instability—for army enlistment, serving in Flanders under the Earl of Stair and advancing to sergeant-major. By 1715, he trained the City Guard, ascending to captain-lieutenant around 1726 via provostial patronage and marriage to his employer's former housekeeper, commanding the force until his death.[3] Porteous's leadership emphasized strict discipline, leveraging his athletic prowess in exercises like golf, but his insolent manner and rigorous tactics—amid claims of licentiousness and graft—incurred deep animosity from Edinburgh's populace, amplifying the Guard's contentious role in quelling disorder.[3]Prelude to the Riots
Trial and Execution of Andrew Wilson
Andrew Wilson, George Robertson, and William Hall were arrested in late 1735 following an incident in Pittenweem, Fife, where they assaulted and attempted to rob excise collector James Stark while smuggling tea and brandy.[11] The group had been intercepted by excisemen enforcing post-Union customs duties, leading to a violent confrontation that underscored widespread resentment toward excise taxes perceived as burdensome to Scottish trade.[3] In early 1736, the three men were tried in Edinburgh's High Court of Justiciary on charges of smuggling and robbery.[11] Wilson and Robertson were convicted and sentenced to death by public hanging, while Hall's penalty was reduced to transportation after he provided evidence for the crown.[3] The trial highlighted the tensions between local smugglers, often viewed sympathetically as resisters to English-imposed fiscal policies, and the authorities tasked with enforcement.[12] Confined in Edinburgh's Tolbooth prison, Wilson and Robertson attempted an escape on April 9, 1736, by sawing through window bars; Robertson succeeded and fled to the Netherlands, but Wilson became stuck and was recaptured.[11] Wilson's prior aid in a fellow prisoner's breakout had already garnered public admiration, fostering a perception of him as a folk hero amid anti-excise sentiment.[12] On April 14, 1736, Wilson was led to the Grassmarket for execution before a large, sympathetic crowd estimated in the thousands.[13] The hanging proceeded with initial order, but as the body was cut down, spectators pelted the executioner and guards with stones, prompting Captain John Porteous of the City Guard to order his men to fire into the throng—killing at least six civilians, including women and a boy, and wounding many others.[11] [3] This excessive response, rather than a measured dispersal, intensified outrage and set the stage for further unrest, though Wilson's execution itself was completed.[12]Crowd Disturbance and Guard's Response
On 14 April 1736, Andrew Wilson, convicted of robbing an excise officer amid Scotland's smuggling crisis, was executed by hanging in Edinburgh's Grassmarket alongside accomplice George Robertson.[3] A substantial crowd assembled, many sympathizing with Wilson as a folk hero opposing post-Union tax enforcement.[12] Following the execution at around 4 p.m., unrest erupted as spectators pelted the hangman with stones while he cut down Wilson's body, a reaction to perceived delays or broader grievances against authority.[12] Some in the crowd surged forward, attempting to interfere with the proceedings and escalating the disturbance toward potential rescue of the corpse.[4] Captain John Porteous, leading a detachment of the City Guard to maintain order, instructed his men to load their muskets and advance on the mob.[3] He first ordered warning shots fired over the heads of the crowd; as the agitation continued with stone-throwing directed at the Guard, Porteous commanded a volley into the throng to compel dispersal.[3][4] The gunfire killed six civilians, including bystanders, and wounded at least ten others, provoking immediate horror and cries of murder from onlookers.[3] Subsequent trial testimonies diverged, with some witnesses alleging Porteous personally discharged his weapon into the crowd and exceeded necessary force, while others maintained the action quelled an imminent threat to public order.[3]Prosecution of Porteous
Arrest, Charges, and Trial Proceedings
Following the shooting on 24 April 1736, during which Captain John Porteous ordered his guards to fire on the crowd and personally discharged his weapon, resulting in six deaths and multiple injuries, Porteous was arrested that same afternoon by order of the Lord Provost of Edinburgh.[3] He was charged with murder, specifically for the killings of Charles Husband, Patrick Cranston, James McPherson, Matthew Millar, George Calder, and an unidentified boy, or being art and part in those murders through his commands and actions.[14] Porteous was detained in the Tolbooth prison pending trial. The indictment accused him of unlawfully firing his musket and directing his men to do the same without legal authority, constituting willful murder amid a crowd disturbance following Andrew Wilson's execution.[14] Defense arguments centered on the necessity of force to restore order against a violent mob attempting to rescue Wilson or seize his body, claiming the actions prevented greater chaos.[3] The trial commenced on 5 July 1736 before the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, presided over by Lords of Justiciary including Duncan Forbes of Culloden as Lord Advocate. Prosecution witnesses, including bystanders and guardsmen, testified to the indiscriminate firing into the densely packed Grassmarket square, contradicting claims of targeted restraint.[14] Porteous and his subordinates maintained the volley was a measured response to imminent threats, but the jury, after deliberation, returned a unanimous guilty verdict on the murder charges.[3]Conviction and Sentencing
Captain John Porteous was tried before the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh on 5 July 1736, charged with murder for directing the City Guard to fire on unarmed spectators during the unrest following Andrew Wilson's execution on 14 April, resulting in six deaths and several injuries.[15] The indictment detailed that Porteous had personally fired his weapon and issued commands such as "level their pieces and be damned to them," inciting the lethal volley despite no proclamation of the Riot Act. [3] Prosecution evidence relied on eyewitness accounts from bystanders and guardsmen, including testimony from Dr. Alexander Carlyle, who observed Porteous's inflamed expression and threatening gestures urging hesitant soldiers to shoot. Porteous's defense maintained that he had not ordered the firing and that subordinates acted without authorization, emphasizing the chaotic crowd's threat to public order. The Lords of Justiciary convicted Porteous of murder, rejecting his account in favor of the preponderance of witness statements establishing his command responsibility. [3] He was sentenced to death by hanging, with execution scheduled for 8 September 1736 at the Grassmarket, the site of the original incident.[3] The verdict reflected the court's assessment that Porteous's actions constituted deliberate homicide rather than justifiable suppression of disorder, underscoring failures in restraint under Scottish criminal law.Deferred Execution and Mob Action
Royal Intervention and Public Outrage
Following Porteous's conviction for murder in late July 1736 and his sentencing to execution by hanging on 7 September 1736 in Edinburgh's Grassmarket, petitions from supporters, including military figures, sought royal clemency.[16] Queen Caroline, acting on behalf of King George II, granted a last-minute reprieve on or just before 7 September, deferring the execution indefinitely to permit consideration of a potential pardon or retrial under English oversight.[16] [17] This intervention, influenced by Prime Minister Robert Walpole's administration amid concerns over procedural irregularities in the Scottish trial, effectively placed Porteous's fate under London’s authority rather than Edinburgh's justiciary.[1] The deferral ignited immediate and intense public outrage across Edinburgh, where Porteous was reviled for ordering the fatal shooting of at least six civilians during the April disorders following Andrew Wilson's execution.[16] Residents viewed the royal stay as an egregious overreach by the Hanoverian government, emblematic of post-Union erosion of Scottish judicial autonomy and favoritism toward an English-appointed officer accused of killing Scots.[1] Pamphlets and public discourse amplified fears that Porteous would ultimately escape justice entirely, fueling anti-Union and latent Jacobite sentiments that framed the reprieve as tyrannical interference.[17] By the evening of 7 September, word of the respite had spread, galvanizing a crowd estimated at 3,000 to 4,000 to assemble, arm themselves, and march on the Tolbooth prison, bypassing minimal resistance from the underprepared City Guard.[16] This resentment transformed the deferred execution date into a flashpoint for vigilante action, underscoring deep-seated distrust of central authority.[1]Planning and Execution of the Lynching
Following Queen Caroline's reprieve of Porteous's death sentence on August 31, 1736, which deferred his execution indefinitely pending royal review, widespread resentment in Edinburgh fueled preparations for vigilante action over the subsequent week. Rumors circulated of organized groups assembling arms and planning retaliation, with reports of men patrolling streets and calling for "avengers of innocent blood" as early as September 2.[16] On the evening of September 7, 1736, between 9 and 10 p.m., a mob estimated at 3,000 to 4,000 strong, many disguised and marching in disciplined ranks, converged on central Edinburgh. They seized weapons from city guards, shut the Netherbow Port gate to prevent external interference, and posted sentinels at key points, demonstrating coordinated premeditation rather than spontaneous disorder. Town officers attempting to read the Riot Act were pelted with stones and repelled with pikes, underscoring the mob's determination.[16][18][19] The group advanced on the Tolbooth prison, where Porteous was held under light guard. They ignited the outer door with combustibles, confining the fire to that area to avoid broader destruction, then forced entry with tools and overwhelming numbers. Ignoring other inmates, the mob targeted Porteous's cell, battering it open and dragging him out half-dressed despite his pleas and offers of money for mercy. No other prisoners or guards were seriously harmed, reflecting the operation's focused intent.[16] Porteous was hauled through the streets to the Grassmarket, a site associated with public executions, where the mob broke into a dyer's shop to procure rope. They hanged him from a prominent signpost or pole, but he twice slipped the noose; on the third attempt, a rioter struck his head with an axe to ensure death. The body hung overnight before being cut down. The mob then dispersed orderly without looting or further violence, leaving the city intact and evading immediate capture.[16][20]Immediate Aftermath
Government Investigation and Indemnity
Following the lynching of Captain John Porteous on September 7, 1736, the British government, under Prime Minister Robert Walpole, expressed outrage at the perceived breakdown of order in Edinburgh and initiated a formal parliamentary inquiry to examine the local authorities' failure to prevent the mob's actions.[1] The inquiry, conducted primarily in the House of Lords beginning in February 1737, involved examinations of witnesses, correspondence from Scottish officials, and reviews of events leading to the riot, revealing evidence of negligence by the city's magistrates who had not adequately mobilized forces or barriers despite warnings of unrest.[21] [18] This probe concluded that Edinburgh's leadership had either connived in or willfully overlooked the lynching, attributing the success of the mob to a lack of decisive intervention by the Lord Provost and bailies.[1] The inquiry's findings prompted immediate punitive measures against Edinburgh's civic government, including the dismissal of Lord Provost John Drummond and the entire town council on August 2, 1737, for their culpability in maintaining public order.[17] Parliament imposed a fine of £2,000 on the city—equivalent to significant annual revenues—to serve as compensation for the crown's losses and as a deterrent against future insubordination, with the funds directed toward covering military expenses incurred during the crisis.[17] [18] Initial proposals from the inquiry advocated harsher penalties, such as disbanding the Edinburgh City Guard and demolishing the Netherbow Port gate, but these were moderated amid concerns over escalating anti-Union sentiment in Scotland, influenced by interventions from figures like the Duke of Argyll.[1] In tandem with these sanctions, Parliament enacted 10 Geo. II c. 35 on June 21, 1737, titled "An Act for the more effectual bringing to Justice any Persons concerned in the Murder of Captain John Porteous," which empowered special commissions to prosecute rioters without standard jury trials in Edinburgh, offering rewards for informants and streamlined procedures to overcome local resistance.[21] This legislation effectively shifted authority from Scottish courts to Westminster-appointed judges, underscoring the government's intent to reassert central control, though it yielded few convictions due to community solidarity and evidentiary challenges.[18] The combined investigation and indemnity measures strained Walpole's administration politically, eroding support among Scottish MPs and highlighting tensions in post-Union governance.[1]Trials of Suspected Rioters
Following the lynching of Captain John Porteous on September 7, 1736, the British government swiftly initiated efforts to identify and prosecute those involved in the mob action. On September 8, 1736, authorities offered a reward of £200—equivalent to a substantial sum at the time—for information leading to the apprehension of the ringleaders, alongside promises of pardon for accomplices who turned evidence.[3] [4] This incentive, proclaimed publicly in Edinburgh, aimed to encourage informants amid widespread local sympathy for the rioters, who viewed Porteous's death as retribution for the earlier Grassmarket shootings. Investigations focused on suspected participants, including reports of organized elements within the crowd of approximately 4,000, some disguised as women or in coal-bunker attire to evade recognition. Witnesses described leaders directing the mob with military precision, breaking into the Tolbooth prison and marching Porteous to the Grassmarket for hanging, but specific identifications proved elusive. Government agents, including military detachments, conducted inquiries, yet the rioters' anonymity and community solidarity thwarted progress; no credible leads emerged despite the reward.[11] [22] Ultimately, no suspected rioters faced trial or conviction for Porteous's murder. The absence of prosecutions stemmed from evidentiary challenges and pervasive public approval in Edinburgh, where the mob's actions resonated as resistance to perceived English overreach and miscarriage of justice in Porteous's deferred execution. This impunity fueled parliamentary outrage, prompting broader punitive measures against the city rather than individual accountability.[3] [23]Long-Term Consequences
Punitive Reforms Imposed on Edinburgh
In response to the Porteous lynching on September 7, 1736, the British government conducted a parliamentary inquiry in 1737, culminating in punitive measures designed to discipline Edinburgh's magistrates for their perceived failure to prevent or suppress the mob.[18] The city was fined £2,000, with the funds allocated as a pension to Porteous's widow, reflecting the administration's intent to compensate the victim's family from public coffers as a deterrent against collective inaction.[23] Lord Provost John Drummond was dismissed from office and permanently barred from holding any future civic positions, a direct sanction against city leadership accused of inadequate enforcement of royal authority.[23][24] Parliament enacted two specific acts to enforce accountability and prevent recurrence. The first mandated that a £200 reward for information leading to the conviction of the lynchers be proclaimed in every parish church across Scotland for one year, a measure intended to mobilize public cooperation but which provoked widespread clerical resistance and non-compliance, underscoring tensions between central directives and local Kirk influence.[24] The second, originally proposed to revoke Edinburgh's charter, demolish its defensive gates, and imprison the Lord Provost, was moderated through negotiation to instead require the permanent locking open of the Netherbow Port gates, symbolizing the erosion of the city's ability to barricade against external forces, while affirming the provost's removal.[24] These provisions collectively aimed to dismantle physical and administrative barriers to royal intervention, prioritizing centralized control over municipal self-defense. The reforms extended to heightened oversight of the City Guard, though not fully restructured at this stage; temporary troop deployments during the crisis foreshadowed longer-term reliance on regular army units for urban policing, diminishing the guard's independent role.[24] Overall, these impositions strained Edinburgh's finances and autonomy, fostering resentment among burghers who viewed them as overreach by a London-dominated Parliament, yet they succeeded in avoiding broader Jacobite mobilization while signaling the limits of tolerated disorder post-Union.[18]Erosion of Local Autonomy
In response to the Porteous Riot and the subsequent acquittals of suspected participants in the 1737 High Court of Justiciary trials, the British Parliament enacted the Bill of Pains and Penalties on May 3, 1737, imposing direct punitive sanctions on Edinburgh's civic leadership and populace.[25] The legislation levied a £2,000 fine on the city's citizens to compensate Porteous's widow and heirs, while permanently disqualifying Lord Provost Alexander Wilson from holding any public office due to perceived complicity in failing to suppress the mob.[25] These measures bypassed local judicial processes, asserting Westminster's authority to punish municipal officials without Scottish parliamentary consent, thereby curtailing Edinburgh's independent administrative discretion.[26] Further encroachments included the establishment of a permanent military garrison of approximately 200 soldiers at Edinburgh Castle under central government command, replacing reliance on the local City Guard, which had been discredited by the events.[25] An accompanying act mandated that Scottish Presbyterian ministers publicly read a royal proclamation condemning the riot from their pulpits for six consecutive Sundays, infringing on ecclesiastical autonomy and compelling clerical endorsement of Unionist policy.[25] Proposals in the bill to revoke Edinburgh's royal burgh charter—potentially reducing it to a lesser status without privileges like the Netherbow Port gate and local guard control—were debated but ultimately moderated, yet the threat alone signaled vulnerability to central override.[27] These interventions exemplified post-Union tensions, as the Walpole ministry's actions prioritized imperial order over Scottish legal traditions, fostering resentment among elites who viewed them as an assault on residual devolved powers secured by the 1707 Treaty of Union.[25] By enforcing financial penalties and military presence without local input, Parliament effectively diminished Edinburgh's capacity for self-policing, setting a precedent for future centralizations that weakened burghal independence in maintaining civil authority.[28]Interpretations and Legacy
Contemporary Views: Law vs. Popular Justice
The British government and legal authorities condemned the Porteous lynching as a direct assault on the rule of law, arguing that it set a perilous precedent for vigilantism even against a convicted criminal whose sentence had been legally reprieved. The Westminster Parliament's response included the Porteous Indemnity Act of 1737, which fined Edinburgh £2,000, disbanded the Town Guard, stationed troops in the city, and mandated the public reading of royal proclamations offering rewards for identifying rioters—measures aimed at deterring future mob defiance and restoring centralized authority amid fears of broader sedition.[1] [24] In contrast, segments of Edinburgh's populace regarded the mob's actions as a righteous assertion of popular justice, compensating for perceived interference by London in Porteous's death sentence for the murders committed on April 14, 1736. Sympathizers highlighted the orderly nature of the September 7 operation—locking gates, sparing uninvolved parties, and even paying for the rope—as evidence that the crowd was executing deferred legal retribution rather than chaotic anarchy, a sentiment echoed in contemporary pamphlets like The Life and Death of Captain John Porteous (1736), which portrayed widespread public revulsion toward Porteous's brutality during the Andrew Wilson execution disturbances.[24] This divide was evident in the trials of suspects: despite indicting 22 individuals, only four minor figures faced court in 1737, all acquitted amid recanted testimonies and evident witness intimidation, underscoring grassroots endorsement of the mob over elite insistence on due process. Lord Advocate Duncan Forbes, who had secured Porteous's murder conviction in July 1736, exemplified official resolve by maintaining that "the law must be upheld, not defied by the multitude," yet even he navigated pressures from Scottish interests wary of excessive Union-imposed penalties.[19] [1]Jacobite and Anti-Union Dimensions
The Porteous Riot of 7 September 1736 was suspected by some contemporaries to involve Jacobite sympathizers intent on undermining the Hanoverian government's authority in Scotland. Government officials and Whig observers attributed the mob's lynching of Captain John Porteous to a possible Jacobite plot, viewing the coordinated attack on the Tollbooth prison as an effort to exploit public outrage over the earlier Grassmarket shooting to destabilize Whig control.[29][13] This interpretation gained traction amid lingering Jacobite networks following the failed 1715 rising, with the riot occurring just nine years before the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, during a period of heightened tensions over Hanoverian rule.[30] However, direct evidence of orchestration by Jacobite agents remains circumstantial, as primary accounts emphasize revenge motives tied to the deaths of six civilians shot by Porteous's guardsmen during Andrew Wilson's execution escape attempt on 14 April 1736, rather than explicit Stuart loyalism.[29] The anti-Union dimensions of the riot stemmed from broader Scottish resentments against the 1707 Acts of Union, which integrated Scotland into Great Britain but eroded local judicial and fiscal autonomy, fostering perceptions of London-imposed overreach. Porteous's death sentence, issued by the High Court of Justiciary on 5 July 1736, was reprieved by Queen Caroline on 4 September under royal prerogative—a move seen as emblematic of Westminster's interference in Scottish affairs, bypassing Edinburgh's magistrates and fueling accusations of eroded self-governance.[1] The City Guard, under Porteous's command, symbolized post-Union militarization of urban policing, resented as an alien force enforcing excise laws and suppressing smuggling, which many Scots viewed as resistance to burdensome Union-era duties like the malt tax.[17] Historians note the riot as a manifestation of proto-nationalist protest against the Union's centralizing effects, highlighting difficulties in governing Scotland remotely and questioning the treaty's stability, though popular participation appears driven more by immediate grievances than organized anti-Union agitation.[31][1] These Jacobite and anti-Union interpretations, while prominent in Whig narratives to justify punitive responses like the 1737 Disarming Act precursors, coexisted with views of the event as spontaneous mob justice against perceived tyranny, reflecting Scotland's divided loyalties two decades after the Union.[30] The lack of proven Jacobite leadership, combined with the rioters' focus on local symbols like the Grassmarket execution site, suggests opportunistic alignment rather than primary causation by Stuart partisans, yet the episode amplified fears of renewed rebellion.[29]Modern Scholarly Assessments
Historians such as H.T. Dickinson and Kenneth Logue have characterized the Porteous Riots as a profound breakdown in law and order within Edinburgh, stemming from widespread public sympathy for smuggler Andrew Wilson—viewed by many as a folk hero resisting excise enforcement—and escalating due to the City Guard's excessive use of force during his execution on April 14, 1736, which killed or wounded at least six bystanders.[1] Their analysis emphasizes how the subsequent lynching of Captain Porteous on September 7, 1736, by a mob of up to 4,000 participants demonstrated the fragility of central authority in post-Union Scotland, where local elites and populace alike prioritized customary justice over Westminster-imposed legal processes.[1] In broader historiographical terms, the riots exemplify extra-institutional popular participation, where crowds bypassed formal institutions to rectify perceived miscarriages of justice, such as Porteous's controversial death sentence reprieve orchestrated by political influence; Dickinson and Logue document how this reflected systemic distrust in the Anglo-Scottish judicial framework, exacerbated by economic grievances like smuggling taxes that burdened the urban poor.[32] Scholars note the event's role in underscoring governance challenges from London, with the government's punitive response—including a £2,000 indemnity demand and stationing of troops—fueling national resentment rather than restoring order, as Edinburgh's magistrates initially resisted compliance on October 2, 1737.[1] Debate persists on underlying ideological drivers, with some modern interpretations linking the riots to nascent Jacobite agitation; for instance, the crisis intensified Lowland Jacobite sentiment by exposing Walpole's administration's overreach, contributing to a political climate that presaged the 1745 rising, though direct evidence of organized Jacobite orchestration remains scant and contested among contemporaries.[33] Anti-Union undercurrents are more consensus views, as the riots crystallized opposition to eroded Scottish autonomy, with the mob's disciplined execution—sparing uninvolved parties and targeting symbols of authority—suggesting coordinated civic discontent rather than mere anarchy, a perspective reinforced by archival records of broad community involvement beyond the laboring classes.[1] Overall, recent assessments frame the episode not as random violence but as a causal flashpoint in Union strains, where empirical failures in riot suppression (e.g., the Guard's 120 ill-equipped men versus thousands) revealed institutional vulnerabilities persisting into the mid-18th century.[32]References
- https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_Account_of_the_Trial_of_Captain_John_Porteous