The 1668 Bawdy House Riots were among the largest popular disturbances in Restoration London, combining religious grievance with anti-monarchical sentiment.
Key Facts
- Duration
- Several days in Easter Week, March 1668
- Estimated peak rioters
- Up to 40,000 (likely exaggerated)
- Districts targeted
- Poplar, Moorfields, East Smithfield, Shoreditch, Holborn
- Rioters indicted for high treason
- 15
- Ringleaders hanged
- 4
- Prior Shrove Tuesday riots (1603–1642)
- At least 24 recorded instances
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Dissenters resented Charles II's proclamation banning private lay worship (conventicles) while the crown tolerated illegal brothels. This double standard, combined with anti-royal sentiment over the King's public debauchery and extra-marital affairs, created widespread anger among working-class apprentices and Nonconformists in London.
Beginning on Easter Monday, 23 March 1668, thousands of young men attacked and demolished brothels across London's East End, including in Poplar, Moorfields, East Smithfield, Shoreditch, and Holborn. Rioters were armed with iron bars, axes, and staves, organised into regiments under captains. The unrest lasted three days, with crowds reportedly numbering in the tens of thousands at their peak.
Fifteen rioters were indicted for high treason and four convicted ringleaders were hanged. The riots produced notable satirical literature, including The Poor Whores' Petition, which mocked the royal court's licentiousness. Brothel keeper Damaris Page appeared as a victim-witness in subsequent trials, and her testimony was given unusual legal weight despite her status.
Political Outcome
Riots suppressed; fifteen indicted for high treason, four ringleaders hanged; satirical petitions circulated mocking crown and church hypocrisy over religious toleration.