Riots and reform: burgh authority, the languages of civic reform and the Aberdeen riot of 1785

Mackillop, A. (2017) Riots and reform: burgh authority, the languages of civic reform and the Aberdeen riot of 1785. Urban History, 44(3), pp. 402-423. (doi: 10.1017/S096392681600078X)

Abstract

This article explores the understudied riots which occurred in Aberdeen in mid-October 1785. It charts the climate of politicization that characterized the burgh’s civic life in the immediate aftermath of the American Revolution and before the outbreak of the equivalent process in France. In doing so, it challenges interpretations of the socially exclusive nature of the Scottish reform movement, the dynamics of continuity and change between this phenomenon and later political ‘radicalism’ and the role of Aberdeen as a ‘provincial’ metropolis in the Age of Revolution.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Mackillop, Dr Andrew
• Authors: Mackillop, A.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > History
• Journal Name: Urban History
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• ISSN: 0963-9268
• ISSN (Online): 1469-8706
• Published Online: 18 October 2016
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 Cambridge University Press
• First Published: First published in Urban History 44(3): 402-423
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy