The Tayside Meal Mobs were episodes of civil unrest caused by the poverty of the people of Dundee in 1772 and 1773.
The riots were sparked from a series of events fuelled by the "spirit of overtrading" from the 1760s culminating in the collapse of Douglas, Heron & Company in 1772 and other small banks, whose activities led to the bankruptcy and/or ruin of multiple Scottish landlords which in turn led to widespread poverty amongst the population.
[1]: 26–31 The collapse of the Scottish linen industry from 1769 to 1772 chiefly affected Perthshire, Fife and Angus.
[3] Public riots began in the winter of 1772,[1]: 31–32 with desperate workers blocking transport of grain out of the harbour and raiding warehouses in Dundee in order to feed their families.
One man, a sailor named Richard Robertson, connected to a ship in the harbour stayed to stand trial, again defended by Boswell.