ABSTRACT
Food riots, impressment riots, and anti-Byng protests ran concurrently, each revealing patterns of crowd behaviour that were unique to themselves. For example, when food riots turned violent, property was often targeted. In contrast, people, mostly navy gangs, were the typical targets by rioters who defended their perceived British liberties. But what of Byng riots? In this chapter, food riots demonstrated an economic system that encouraged exports. Engrossers, regrators, forestallers, and badgers worked a bounty system that sent local produce elsewhere. Naval impressment gangs turned inland during the Seven Years’ War, a first. However, evidence demonstrates that much of the violence yet remained along coastal towns and cities, and at sea where merchant ships resisted boarding and impressment tenders were mutinied. Evidence of rioting over Admiral John Byng, however, is sparse. No violence against property or persons but rather instructive street theatre affairs, planned and choreographed much like the Thomas Paine burnings of the 1790s. A turn towards anthropology further fleshes out anti-Byng crowd behaviour.
