On 14 July 1791, political reformers and religious dissenters met at the Royal Hotel in Birmingham. Their dinner marked the second anniversary of the fall of the Bastille and expressed support for the early French Revolution.

The diners had left when a crowd gathered outside the hotel. The building was attacked, and the violence soon moved elsewhere.

Birmingham was an important centre of manufacturing, science and religious dissent. Dissenters were Protestants who worshipped outside the Church of England. The Test and Corporation Acts excluded many of them from public office. Some also supported parliamentary reform and the principles announced by the French revolutionaries.

Joseph Priestley was the best-known local figure associated with these causes. He was a Unitarian minister, political writer and experimental scientist. Although he had not attended the dinner, he had publicly defended the French Revolution and argued for religious liberty.

The crowd attacked the New Meeting House, where Priestley preached, followed by the Old Meeting House. Both were set on fire. The rioters shouted ‘Church and King’ as they moved against people regarded as religious or political enemies.

Priestley left his house at Fair Hill before the crowd arrived. The rioters broke in, drank from his wine cellar and burned the building. His books, manuscripts, scientific instruments and laboratory were destroyed.

The attacks extended to other dissenters and reformers. Their homes were looted or burned. Some of the victims were associated with Birmingham’s Lunar Society, whose members included manufacturers, doctors and natural philosophers.

The local authorities failed to control the disorder. The rioting continued for several days and ended after military forces reached the area. Several rioters were later tried, but few received serious punishment.

Priestley and his family did not resume their former life in Birmingham. They moved to Hackney, near London, and emigrated to the United States in 1794.

The riots took Priestley’s name because he was their most prominent victim. Their targets were much wider. The violence was directed at a local community associated with religious dissent, political reform and support for events in France.