John Wilkes, the son of Israel Wilkes, a malt distiller, was born
on 17th October 1725. In 1747 he married Mary Meade, an heiress who
owned a large estate at Aylesbury. It was a marriage of convenience
and Wilkes spent most of his time with his friends at the Hell Fire
Club. After ten years he permanently separated from his wife. Bored
by his life of pleasure, Wilkes decided to become involved in politics
and in 1757 he was elected MP for Aylesbury.
In 1762, the new king, George III, arranged
for his close friend, the Earl of Bute, to
become prime minister. This decision upset a large number of MPs who
considered Bute to be incompetent. John Wilkes became Bute's leading
critic in the House of Commons. In June
1762 Wilkes established The North Briton,
a newspaper that severely attacked the king and his Prime Minister.
After one article that appeared on 23rd April 1763, George
III and his ministers decided to prosecute Wilkes for seditious
libel. He was arrested but at a court hearing the Lord Chief Justice
ruled that as an MP, Wilkes was protected by privilege from arrest
on a charge of libel. His discharge was greeted with great popular
acclaim and Wilkes left the court as a champion of liberty.
Wilkes returned to attacking the king and his government. Samuel Martin,
a supporter of George III, challenged
Wilkes to a duel. Martin had been busy at target practice that summer
and some suspected it was part of a government plot to kill Wilkes.
On 16th November, 1763, Wilkes was seriously wounded by Martin by
a shot in the stomach. A week later, Parliament voted that a member's
privilege from arrest did not extend to the writing and publishing
of seditious libels. Before Wilkes could be detained by the authorities,
a group of his friends arranged for him to be taken to Paris.
John Wilkes returned to England in 1768 and stood as Radical candidate
for Middlesex. After being elected Wilkes was arrested and taken to
King's Bench Prison. For the next fortnight
a large crowd assembled at St. George's Field, a large open space
by the prison. On 10th May, 1768 a crowd of around 15,000 arrived
outside the prison. The crowd chanted 'Wilkes and Liberty', 'No Liberty,
No King', and 'Damn the King! Damn the Government! Damn the Justices!'.
Fearing that the crowd would attempt to rescue Wilkes, the troops
opened fire killing seven people. Anger at the Massacre
of St. George's Fields led to disturbances all over London.
On 8th June Wilkes was found guilty of libel and sentenced to 22 months
imprisonment and fined £1,000. Wilkes was also expelled from
the House of Commons but in February, March
and April, 1769, he was three times re-elected for Middlesex, but
on all three occasions the decision was overturned by Parliament.
In May the House of Commons voted that Colonel Henry Luttrell, the
defeated candidate at Middlesex, should be accepted as the MP. John
Horne Tooke and other supporters of Wilkes formed the Bill
of Rights Society. At first the society concentrated on forcing
Parliament to accept the will of the Middlesex electorate, however,
the organisation eventually adopted a radical programme of parliamentary
reform.
John Wilkes was released from prison in April 1770. Still banned from
the House of Commons, Wilkes joined the campaign for the freedom of
the press. In February, 1771, the House of Commons attempted to prevent
several London newspapers from publishing
reports of its debates. Wilkes decided to challenge this decision
and the government reacted by ordering the arrest of two of his printers.
A large crowd soon surrounded the House of Commons and afraid of what
would happen, the government ordered the release of the two men and
abandoned attempts to prevent the publication of reports of its debates.
In 1774 John Wilkes was elected Lord Mayor of London. He was also
elected to represent Middlesex in the House of Commons. Wilkes campaigned
for religious toleration and on 21st March, 1776, he introduced the
first motion for parliamentary reform. Wilkes called for the redistribution
of seats from the small corrupt boroughs
to the fast growing industrial areas such as Manchester,
Birmingham, Leeds
and Sheffield. Although not a supporter
of universal suffrage, Wilkes argued that working men should have
a share in the power to make laws.
During the American War of Independence Wilkes condemned the Government's
policy towards America. Wilkes was also a passionate opponent of the
harsh criminal code. As Wilkes grew older he became more conservative.
Radicals grew dissatisfied with Wilkes and in the 1790 general election
he was defeated at Middlesex. Wilkes now retired from politics and
took no part in the growth of radicalism in the 1790s. John Wilkes
died on 29th December 1797.
(1)
John Wilkes, The North Briton (25th April 1763)
The government have sent the spirit of discord through the land,
and I will prophesy, that it will never be extinguished, but by the
extinction of their power. A nation as sensible as the English, will
see that a spirit of concord, when they are oppressed, means a tame
submission to injury, and that a spirit of liberty ought then to arise,
and I am sure ever will, in proportion to the weight of the grievance
they feel.
(2) John Wilkes, speech in the House of Commons
(23rd March 1775)
That every free agent in this kingdom should, in my wish, be represented
in Parliament. That the metropolis, which contains in itself a ninth
part of the people, and the counties of Middlesex, York, and others,
which so greatly abound with inhabitants, should receive an increase
in their representation. That the mean and insignificant boroughs,
so emphatically stiled the rotten part of our constitution, should
be lopped off, and the electors in them thrown into the counties;
and the rich, populous trading towns, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield,
Leeds and others, be permitted to send deputies to the great council
of the nation.
John Wilkes by William
Hogarth (1763)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
