Wikipedia

John Wilkes

Not to be confused withJohn Wilkes Booth.
For other people named John Wilkes, seeJohn Wilkes (disambiguation).

John WilkesFRS(17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an Englishradicaljournalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In theMiddlesex election dispute,he fought for the right of his voters – rather than theHouse of Commons– to determine their representatives. In 1768, angry protests of his supporters were suppressed in theMassacre of St George's Fields.In 1771, he was instrumental in obliging the government to concede the right of printers to publishverbatimaccounts of parliamentary debates. In 1776, he introduced the firstbillfor parliamentary reform in theBritish Parliament.

John Wilkes
MPFRS
John Wilkes byRichard Houston(1769)
Parliamentary offices
1757–1764Member of ParliamentforAylesbury
1768–1769Member of ParliamentforMiddlesex
1774–1790Member of ParliamentforMiddlesex
Civic offices
1754–1755High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire
1771–1772Sheriff of London
1774–1775Lord Mayor of London
Personal details
Born
John Wilkes

(1725-10-17)17 October 1725
Clerkenwell,London, Great Britain
Died26 December 1797(1797-12-26)(aged 72)
Westminster,London, Great Britain
Resting placeGrosvenor Chapel
Political partyRadical
Spouse
Mary Meade
​
​
(m.1747;sep.1756)​
Children3
RelativesMary Hayley(sister)
Alma materLeiden University
Military service
Battles/warsGordon Riots
Writing career
LanguageEnglish
Literary movementRadicalism
Notable worksAn Essay on Woman
The North Briton

During theAmerican War of Independence,he was a supporter of the rebels, adding further to his popularity withAmerican Whigs.In 1780, however, he commandedmilitiaforces which helped put down theGordon Riots,damaging his popularity with many radicals. This marked a turning point, leading him to embrace increasinglyconservativepolicies which caused dissatisfaction among the radical low-to-middle incomelandowners.This was instrumental in the loss of his Middlesexparliamentary seatin the1790 general election.At the age of 65, Wilkes retired from politics and took no part in the social reforms following theFrench Revolution,such asCatholic Emancipationin the 1790s. During his life, he earned a reputation as alibertine.

Early life and character

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Born in theClerkenwellneighborhood of centralLondon,John Wilkes was the third child of distiller Israel Wilkes Jr. and Sarah Wilkes,néeHeaton. His siblings included: eldest sister Sarah Wilkes, born 1721; elder brother Israel Wilkes III (1722–1805); younger brother Heaton Wilkes (1727–1803); younger sisterMary Hayley,néeWilkes (1728–1808); and youngest sister Ann Wilkes (1736–1750), who died from smallpox at the age of 14.

John Wilkes was educated initially at an academy inHertford;this was followed by private tutoring and finally a stint at theUniversity of Leidenin theDutch Republic.There he metAndrew Baxter,aPresbyterianclergyman who greatly influenced Wilkes' views on religion.[1][2]Although Wilkes remained in theChurch of Englandthroughout his life, he had a deep sympathy fornon-conformistProtestants and was an advocate of religious tolerance from an early age.[3][4]Wilkes was also beginning to develop a deep patriotism for his country. During theJacobite rebellionof 1745, he rushed home to London to join aLoyal Associationand readied to defend the capital. Once the rebellion had ended after theBattle of Culloden,Wilkes returned to the Netherlands to complete his studies.

In 1747, he married Mary Meade (1715–1784) and came into possession of an estate and income inBuckinghamshire.[1]They had one child, Mary (known as Polly), to whom John was utterly devoted for the rest of his life. Wilkes and Mary, however, separated in 1756, a separation that became permanent. Wilkes never married again, but he gained a reputation as arake.He was known to have fathered two other children, John Henry Smith and Harriet Wilkes.[5]

Wilkes was elected aFellow of the Royal Societyin 1749 and appointedHigh Sheriff of Buckinghamshirein 1754. He was an unsuccessful candidate forBerwickin the 1754 parliamentary elections but was elected forAylesburyin 1757 and again in 1761.[6]Elections took place atSt Mary the Virgin's Church, Aylesburywhere he held a manorialpew.He lived at thePrebendal House, Parsons Fee,Aylesbury.

He was a member of the Knights of St Francis of Wycombe, also known as theHellfire Clubor theMedmenham Monks,and was the instigator of a prank that may have hastened its dissolution. The club had many distinguished members, includingJohn Montagu, 4th Earl of SandwichandSir Francis Dashwood.Wilkes reportedly brought amandrill,dressed in a cape and horns and his natural features made even more striking with daubs of phosphorus, into the rituals performed at the club, producing considerable mayhem among the inebriated initiates.[7]

Wilkes was notoriously ugly, being called the ugliest man in England at the time. He possessed an unsightly squint and protruding jaw, but he had a charm that carried all before it. He boasted that it "took him only half an hour to talk away his face", though the duration required changed on the several occasions Wilkes repeated the claim. He also declared that "a month's start of his rival on account of his face" would secure him the conquest in any love affair.

He was well known for his verbal wit and his snappy responses to insults. For instance, when told by a constituent that he would rather vote for the devil, Wilkes responded: "Naturally." He then added: "And if your friend decides against standing, can I count on your vote?"[8]

In an exchange withJohn Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich,where the latter exclaimed, "Sir, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or of the pox," Wilkes is reported to have replied, "That depends, my lord, on whether I embrace your lordship's principles or your mistress." Fred R. Shapiro, inThe Yale Book of Quotations(2006), disputes the attribution based on a claim that it first appeared in a book published in 1935,[9]but it is ascribed to Wilkes inHenry Brougham'sHistorical Sketches(1844), related fromBernard Howard, 12th Duke of Norfolk,who claims to have been present,[10]as well as inCharles Marsh'sClubs of London(1828).[11]Brougham notes the exchange had in France previously been ascribed toHonoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeauand CardinalJean-Sifrein Maury.[10]

Radical journalism

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Lord Bute,prime minister between 1762 and 1763, and a major target for Wilkes' paperThe North Briton.It angered Wilkes that Bute had displacedPitt the Elder,and he attacked the terms of theTreaty of Paris (1763).
"John Wilkes Esq.",a satirical engraving byWilliam Hogarth,who shows him with a demonic-looking wig,crossed eyes,and two editions of hisThe North Briton:Numbers 17 (in which he attacked, among others, Hogarth) and the famous 45

Wilkes began his parliamentary career as a follower ofWilliam Pitt the Elderand enthusiastically supportedBritain's involvement in the Seven Years Warof 1756–1763. When the ScottishJohn Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute,came to head the government in 1762, Wilkes started aradicalweekly publication,The North Briton,to attack him, using an anti-Scots tone. Typical of Wilkes, the title made satirical reference to the pro-government newspaper,The Briton,with "North Briton" referring toScotland.Wilkes became particularly incensed by what he regarded as Bute's betrayal in agreeing to overly generous peace terms with France to end the war.[7]

On 5 October 1762, Wilkes fought aduelwithWilliam Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot.Talbot was theLord Stewardand a follower of Bute; he challenged Wilkes to a pistol duel after being ridiculed in issue 12 ofThe North Briton.[12]The encounter took place atBagshot– at night to avoid attracting judicial attention. At a range of eight yards, Talbot and Wilkes both fired their pistols but neither was hit. Somewhat reconciled, they then went to a nearby inn and shared a bottle of claret. When the affair later became widely known, some viewed it as comical, and a satirical print made fun of the duelists. Some commentators even denounced the duel as a stunt, stage-managed to enhance the reputations of both men.[13]

Wilkes faced a charge ofseditious libelover attacks onGeorge III's speech endorsing theParis Peace Treatyof 1763 at the opening of Parliament on 23 April 1763. Wilkes was highly critical of the King's speech, which was recognised as having been written by Bute[citation needed].He attacked it in an article of issue 45 ofThe North Briton.The issue number in which Wilkes published his critical editorial was appropriate because the number 45 was synonymous with theJacobite Rising of 1745,commonly known as "The '45". Popular perception associated Bute – Scottish, and politically controversial as an adviser to the King – with Jacobitism, a perception which Wilkes played on.

The King felt personally insulted and ordered the issuing ofgeneral warrantsfor the arrest of Wilkes and the publishers on 30 April 1763. Forty-nine people, including Wilkes, were arrested, but general warrants were unpopular and Wilkes gained considerable popular support as he asserted their unconstitutionality. At his court hearing he claimed thatparliamentary privilegeprotected him, as an MP, from arrest on a charge of libel.Chief Justice Prattruled that parliamentary privilege did indeed protect him and he was soon restored to his seat. Wilkes sued his arresters for trespass. As a result of this episode, people were chanting, "Wilkes, Liberty and Number 45", referring to the newspaper.[14]Parliament swiftly voted in a measure that removed protection of MPs from arrest for the writing and publishing of seditious libel.[15]

Bute had resigned (8 April 1763), but Wilkes opposed Bute's successor as chief advisor to the King,George Grenville,just as strenuously. On 16 November 1763,Samuel Martin,a supporter of George III, challenged Wilkes to a duel. Martin shot Wilkes in the belly.

Outlaw

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"John Wilkes Esq; before theCourt of King's Bench",engraving fromThe Gentleman's Magazinefor May 1768

Wilkes andThomas Potterwrote a pornographic poem dedicated to the courtesanFanny Murrayentitled "An Essay on Woman" as a parody ofAlexander Pope's "An Essay on Man".[16]

Wilkes's political enemies, foremost among themJohn Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich,who was also a member of theHellfire Club,obtained the parody. Sandwich had a personalvendettaagainst Wilkes that stemmed in large part from embarrassment caused by a prank of Wilkes involving the Earl at one of the Hellfire Club's meetings; he was delighted at the chance for revenge. Wilkes had frightened Sandwich during aseanceput on by the club. Sandwich read the poem to the House of Lords in an effort to denounce Wilkes's moral behaviour, despite the hypocrisy of his action. The Lords declared the poem obscene and blasphemous, and it caused a great scandal. The House of Lords moved to expel Wilkes again; he fled to Paris before any expulsion or trial. He was tried and found guiltyin absentiaof obscenelibelandseditiouslibel, and was declared anoutlawon 19 January 1764.[17]

Wilkes hoped for a change in power to remove the charges, but this did not come to pass. As his French creditors began to pressure him, in 1768 he had little choice but to return to England. He returned intending to stand as a Member of Parliament on an anti-government ticket; the government did not issue warrants for his immediate arrest as it did not want to inflame popular support.[18]

Wilkes stood in theCity of Londonand came in bottom of the poll of seven candidates, possibly due to his late entry into the race for the position. He was quickly elected as aRadicalMember of Parliament forMiddlesex,where most of his support was located. He surrendered himself to theKing's Benchin April. On waiving hisparliamentary privilegeto immunity, he was sentenced by JudgeJoseph Yatesto two years and fined £1,000; the Lords' sentence of outlawry was overturned.[19]

When Wilkes was imprisoned in theKing's Bench Prisonon 10 May 1768, his supporters gathered nearby onSt George's Fields,London, chanting "No liberty, no King." Troops opened fire on the unarmed men, killing several of them and wounding fifteen, an incident that came to be known as theMassacre of St George's Fields.The Irish playwrightHugh Kelly,a prominent supporter of the government, defended the right of the army to use force against rioters, which drew the anger of Wilkes' supporters and they began a riot at theDrury Lane Theatreduring the performance of Kelly's new playA Word to the Wise,forcing it to be abandoned.[20]

Middlesex election dispute

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Main article:Middlesex election affair
The Brentford Sweepstakes,drawing fromTown and Country Magazine(13 April 1769) satirising the election. Wilkes' riderless horse labelled "1143" indicating he got a majority of the vote, while his opponents founder.

Parliament expelled Wilkes in February 1769, on the grounds that he was an outlaw when returned. His Middlesex constituents re-elected him in the same month with the support ofJohn Wheble,editor of theMiddlesex Journal,only to see him expelled again and re-elected in March. In April, after his expulsion and another re-election, Parliament declared his opponent,Henry Luttrell,the winner.

Wilkes was said to hold his supporters in contempt during the election campaign. EP Thompson, in his celebratedThe Making of the English Working Classwrote:“‘Do you suppose’ it is said that he asked his opponent, Colonel Luttrell, while watching the cheering throngs on the hustings, ‘that there are more fools or rogues in that assembly?’”[21]

In defiance, Wilkes became anAldermanofLondonin 1769, using his supporters' group, theSociety for the Supporters of the Bill of Rights,[22] for his campaign. Wilkes eventually succeeded in convincing Parliament to expunge the resolution barring him from sitting. While in Parliament, he condemned Government policy towards the American colonies. In addition, he introduced one of the earliest radicalBillsto Parliament, although it failed to gain passage. On his release from prison in March 1770, Wilkes was appointed asheriffin London, and in 1771 the law on publicity of the parliamentary discussions was voted in Parliament, of which Wilkes was a great defender and who authorised the literal reproduction of the interventions of theParliament.

Later life

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Wilkes' popularity with radicals declined after he ledmilitiato protect theBank of Englandduring theGordon Riotsin 1780. Wilkes became a supporter ofWilliam Pitt the Youngerwho became prime minister in 1783, and severed most of his former radical connections.

In 1774 he becameLord Mayor of London;[23]he was simultaneously Master of theJoiners' Company,where he changed the motto from "GOD GRANNTE US TO USE JUSTICE WITHE MERCYE" to "JOIN LOYALTY AND LIBERTY", a political slogan associated with Wilkes.[24]That year Wilkes was re-elected to Parliament, again representing Middlesex. He was one of those opposed to war with the American colonies. He was also a supporter of theAssociation Movementand ofreligious tolerance.His key success was to protect thefreedom of the pressby gaining passage of a bill to remove the power ofgeneral warrantsand to end Parliament's ability to punish political reports of debates.[7]In 1779 he was elected to the position ofChamberlain of the City of London,a post of great responsibility which he was to hold until his death in 1797.

After 1780, his popularity declined as he was popularly perceived as less radical. During the uprising known as theGordon Riots,Wilkes was in charge of the soldiers defending theBank of Englandfrom the attacking mobs. It was under his orders that troops fired into the crowds of rioters. The working classes who had previously seen Wilkes as a "man of the people", then criticised him as a hypocrite; his middle-class support was scared off by the violent action. The Gordon Riots nearly extinguished his popularity.

While he was returned for the county seat of Middlesex in 1784, he found so little support that by 1790, he withdrew early in the election. TheFrench Revolutionof 1789 had proved extremely divisive in England, and Wilkes had been against it due to the violent murders in France. His position was different from that of many radicals of the time and was a view more associated with conservative figures, including expressed indifference as toCatholic Emancipation.Edmund Burke,who had also supportedAmerican Independence,made a similar switch.

Wilkes worked in his final years as amagistrate,campaigning for more moderate punishment for disobedient household servants.

Between 1788 and 1797 he occupied a property named "Villakin" inSandown,Isle of Wight. The site is marked by ablue plaque.[25]

Statue of John Wilkes (Fetter Lane,London)

He was a member of theOddfellows[26]and today, astatuein his memory stands atFetter LaneEC4.

Wilkes died at his home at 30Grosvenor Square,Westminster, London on 26 December 1797. The cause of death was a wasting disease known at the time asmarasmus.[27]His body was buried in a vault inGrosvenor Chapel,South Audley Street, London on 4 January 1798.[28]

Influence

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Wilkes was at one point a hero to radicals in Britain and North America, and the slogan "Wilkes and Liberty" was heard on both sides of the Atlantic.[29]

A radical contemporary Irish politicianCharles Lucas,who sat forDublin Cityin the Irish Parliament, was known as the "Irish Wilkes".[30]The Dutch politicianJoan van der Capellen tot den Pol(1741–1784), who advocatedAmerican independenceand criticised theStadtholderregime,was inspired by Wilkes.

British colonists in the American colonies closely followed Wilkes's career. His struggles convinced many colonists that the British constitution was being subverted by a corrupt ministry, an idea that contributed to the coming of theAmerican Revolution.Wilkes was widely admired in the American colonies as a political journalist, a radical politician, and a fighter for liberty. He greatly influenced the revolutionaries who fought for American independence and played a role in establishing the right to freedom of the press in the United States.[31]In reaction, after the Revolution, representatives included provisions in the newAmerican constitutionto prevent Congress from rejecting any legally elected member and to proscribe general warrants for arrest.

John Wilkes's brother Israel Wilkes (1722–1805) was the grandfather of U.S. Naval AdmiralCharles Wilkes.[32]

Eponyms

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John Wilkes plaque inGrosvenor Chapel,London. The plaque beneath is to his daughter.
  • The Wilkes Head (public house), Eastergate, West Sussex
  • The Wilkes Head (public house), Leek, North Staffordshire
  • The Three Johns (public house), Islington, London - named for John Wilkes,John GlynnandJohn Horne Tooke

References

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Notes

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  1. ^abSimkin 2011.
  2. ^Cash 2006,pp. 13–16.
  3. ^McCarthy 2006.
  4. ^Cash 2006,p. 9.
  5. ^"Almon's Correspondence of John Wilkes".The Monthly Review.R. Griffiths. 1806. p. 47.
  6. ^Bloy 2011.
  7. ^abcLynch 2003.
  8. ^Cash 2006,p. 211.
  9. ^Shapiro 2006,pp. 281–282.
  10. ^abBrougham 1844,p. 146.
  11. ^Marsh 1828,p. 17.
  12. ^Sainsbury 2006,p. 71.
  13. ^Sainsbury 2006,p. 73.
  14. ^Rudbeck, Jens (2012). "Popular Sovereignty and the Historical Origin of the Social Movement".Theory & Society.41(6): 588.doi:10.1007/s11186-012-9180-x.S2CID143513084.
  15. ^Rounce, Adam (2005). "'Stuarts without End': Wilkes, Churchill, and Anti-Scottishness ".Eighteenth-Century Life.29(3): 20.doi:10.1215/00982601-29-3-20.S2CID144944872.
  16. ^The definitive scholarly edition of the "Essay on Woman" is that of Arthur H. Cash, titledAn Essay on Woman by John Wilkes and Thomas Potter: A Reconstruction of a Lost Book, with a Historical Essay on the Writing, Printing, and Suppressing of This "Blasphemous and Obscene" Work,(NY: AMS Press), 2001. It includes Pope's text of the original poem with the Wilkes-Potter parody juxtaposed on the facing pages.
  17. ^Cash 2006,pp. 151–79.
  18. ^Cash 2006,pp. 179–208.
  19. ^Cash 2006,pp. 204–26.
  20. ^Cash 2006,pp. 216–26.
  21. ^Thompson, E.P. (1980).The Making Of The English Working Class.Pelican Books. p. 76.ISBN0140210008.
  22. ^ "The Society for the Supporters of the Bill of Rights (SSBR)".
  23. ^"History of the Mayoralty".City of London. Archived fromthe originalon 20 October 2013.
  24. ^Joiners 2008.
  25. ^Allan 2011.
  26. ^Dennis 2008,p. 90.
  27. ^Peter D. G. Thomas, 'Wilkes, John (1725–1797)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008accessed 19 February 2014
  28. ^An Essay On Woman In Three EpistlesGale Encyclopedia of Biography: John Wilkes entry. Accessed February 2014.
  29. ^Jensen, Merrill (2004) [1968].The Founding of a Nation: A History of the American Revolution, 1763–1776.Hackett. p. 155.ISBN0872207056.
  30. ^Thomas 2002,p. 111.
  31. ^Mellen, Roger P. (2015). "John Wilkes and the Constitutional Right to a Free Press in the United States".Journalism History.41(1): 2.doi:10.1080/00947679.2015.12059116.S2CID141817525.
  32. ^Israel Wilkes and his wife Elizabeth née de Ponthieu (1726–1802) had a son, John de Ponthieu Wilkes (1755–1818) who married Mary née Seton (1767–1802) wife, the parents of Charles Wilkes.
  33. ^Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975).Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins(PDF).Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 254.ISBN0-915430-00-2.
  34. ^Smith, Gene (1992).American Gothic: the story of America's legendary theatrical family, Junius, Edwin, and John Wilkes Booth.New York:Simon & Schuster.p.18.ISBN0-671-76713-5.

Sources

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Further reading

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Offices and titles

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Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Member of Parliament forAylesbury
1757–1764
With:John Willes1757–1761
Welbore Ellis1761–1764 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament forMiddlesex
1768–1769
With:George Cooke1768
John Glynn1768–1769 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament forMiddlesex
1774–1790
With:John Glynn1774–1779
Thomas Wood1779–1780
George Byng1780–1784
William Mainwaring1784–1790 		Succeeded by
Civic offices
Preceded by
Charles Woodnoth, of Maid's Moreton
 High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire
1754–1755 		Succeeded by
Henry Uthwaite, of Lathbury
Preceded by Sheriff of London
1771–1772
With:Frederick Bull 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Lord Mayor of London
1774–1775 		Succeeded by


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