Broadside entitled 'Most Shameful Riot'

Commentary

This broadside, printed on March 18th 1841, begins: 'Seldom has our city been the scene of such a disgraceful riot as that which took place last night. The following are a few particulars connected with it, as they have reached us; but the whole will of course soon undergo a judicial investigation.' The sheet was published by Sanderson of Edinburgh.

In Roxburgh Street Chapel in Edinburgh's south side, a man named Leckie had, for several weeks, been delivering lectures against the Roman Catholic religion. The meetings were normally well-attended and, although some debate between people of different faiths occurred, there was very little trouble. However, on this occasion fighting broke out and 'considerable damage' was done to the church.

The anti-popery movement gathered pace in the early part of the nineteenth century, as Evangelical revivalists sought to gain superiority. In 1852, the anti-Papist 'Scottish Reformation Society' had 38 branches scattered throughout Scotland.

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