Mr Monkey trotted through Queen Square, named in honour of Queen Anne after she'd been to Bristol in 1702. It's the second largest town square in England. Mr Monkey admired the statue of William III pretending to be Marcus Aurelius. A French tricolour was draped over this statue in a major riot in 1831. The rioters, enraged at the House of Lords preventing electoral reform, also burned down the buildings on two sides of the square, and created mayhem throughout the rest of the city. Around 130 people died during the rioting, and five alleged ringleaders were sentenced to be hanged afterwards, though one of them was sent to Australia instead, when they found out he was an idiot.
You can read about the 1831 riot, and a 2004 audio recreation of it, at the BBC Bristol website.
Copyright Rik Shepherd and Mr Monkey. This page last modified 14 May 2006