On 10 May 1768, the imprisonment in King's Bench Prison of the radical John Wilkes (for writing an article for The North Briton, that severely criticised King George III) prompted a riot at St George's Fields. After the reading of the Riot Act, six or seven people were killed by troops, starting with a young man named William Allen. The event became known as the Massacre of St George's Fields. Allen was pursued to the "Horse-shoe Inn," Stones End, and shot in the inn-yard. He was buried in the churchyard at Newington, where a monument was erected to his memory.^[2] The Irish playwright and government supporter Hugh Kelly made a defence of the government's right to use force against Wilkes' supporters. This in turn led to a riot at the production of Kelly's new play A Word to the Wise at the Drury Lane Theatre, forcing the production to be abandoned.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre of St George's Fields