118-519: George Grenville (14 October 1712 – 13 November 1770) was a British Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain , during the early reign of the young George III . He served for only two years (1763-1765), and attempted to solve the problem of the massive debt resulting from the Seven Years' War . He instituted a series of measures to increase revenue to the crown, including new taxes and enforcement of collection, and sought to bring
236-530: A Lord of the Treasury . In 1754 Grenville was made Treasurer of the Navy and Privy Councillor . Along with Pitt and several other colleagues he was dismissed in 1755 after speaking and voting against the government on a debate about a recent subsidy treaty with Russia which they believed was unnecessarily costly, and would drag Britain into Continental European disputes. Opposition to European entanglements
354-437: A lawyer . Grenville was educated at Eton College and at Christ Church, Oxford , but did not graduate. He entered Parliament in 1741 as one of the two members for Buckingham , and continued to represent that borough for the next twenty-nine years until his death. He was disappointed to be giving up what appeared to be a promising legal career for the uncertainties of opposition politics . In Parliament, he subscribed to
472-511: A "party" in the modern sense. They had no definite programme or policy and were by no means even united. Generally, they stood for reducing crown patronage, sympathy towards nonconformists , support for the interests of merchants and bankers and a leaning towards the idea of a limited reform of the voting system. Most Whig leaders, such as Lord Grey , Lord Grenville , Lord Althorp , William Lamb (later Lord Melbourne ) and Lord John Russell , were still rich landowners. The most prominent exception
590-563: A Tory and Fox as a Whig, Pitt always considered himself to be an independent Whig and generally opposed the development of a strict partisan political system. Fox's supporters saw themselves as legitimate heirs of the Whig tradition and they strongly opposed Pitt in his early years in office, notably during the regency crisis revolving around the King's temporary insanity in 1788–1789, when Fox and his allies supported full powers as regent for their ally,
708-628: A Tory-dominated House of Commons but upon the accession of William III in 1688 a new Act was passed that prohibited the importation of French goods. In 1704, the Whigs passed the Trade with France Act that renewed protectionism against France. In 1710, Queen Anne appointed the predominantly Tory Harley Ministry , which favoured free trade. When the Tory minister Lord Bolingbroke proposed a commercial treaty with France in 1713 that would have led to freer trade,
826-816: A central role in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and were the standing enemies of the Roman Catholic Stuart kings and pretenders . The period known as the Whig Supremacy (1714–1760) was enabled by the Hanoverian succession of George I in 1714 and the failure of the Jacobite rising of 1715 by Tory rebels. The Whigs took full control of the government in 1715 and thoroughly purged the Tories from all major positions in government,
944-674: A chance to die down. When it met in October 1680, an Exclusion Bill was introduced and passed in the Commons without major resistance, but was rejected in the Lords. Charles dissolved Parliament in January 1681, but the Whigs did not suffer serious losses in the ensuing election. The next Parliament first met in March at Oxford, but Charles dissolved it after only a few days, when he made an appeal to
1062-537: A clergyman who had criticised the party, in March 1710. In recognition of his service in the field, Temple was appointed colonel of the Princess Anne of Denmark's Regiment of Dragoons in April 1710. From 1711, he made dramatic changes to his family estate at Stowe; the work was carried out under the guidance of John Vanbrugh , a skilled architect , and the future royal gardener, Charles Bridgeman . In 1713,
1180-520: A government led by Lord Wilmington and Lord Carteret . Promoted to field marshal on 10 July 1742, Temple became colonel of the 1st Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards that same day, colonel of Viscount Cobham's Regiment of Horse in 1744 and colonel of Viscount Cobham's Regiment of Dragoons in June 1745. He died at Stowe on 13 September 1749 and was buried there. In September 1715 Temple married Anne Halsey, daughter of Edmund Halsey who had owned
1298-425: A growing resentment towards Pitt, and grew closer to the young Prince of Wales and his advisor Lord Bute who were both now opposed to Pitt. In 1758, as Treasurer of the Navy, he introduced and carried a bill which established a fairer system of paying the wages of seamen and supporting their families while they were at sea which was praised for its humanity if not for its effectiveness. He remained in office during
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#17327975291941416-418: A national network of newspapers and magazines as well as local clubs to deliver their message. The press organised petitions and debates and reported to the public on government policy, while leaders such as Henry Brougham (1778–1868) built alliances with men who lacked direct representation. This new approach to the grass roots helped to define Whiggism and opened the way for later success. Whigs thereby forced
1534-529: A new system emerged with two separate opposition groups. The Rockingham Whigs claimed the mantle of Old Whigs as the purported successors of the party of the Pelhams and the great Whig families. With such noted intellectuals as Edmund Burke behind them, the Rockingham Whigs laid out a philosophy which for the first time extolled the virtues of faction, or at least their faction. The other group were
1652-602: A number joining the government of Lord North . In the long-term, the Grenvillites were revived by William Pitt the Younger who served as prime minister from 1783 and dominated British politics until his death in 1806. Grenville's own son, William Grenville , later served briefly as prime minister. Grenville is buried at Wotton Underwood in Buckinghamshire George Grenville's post mortem
1770-636: A period of active opposition to the Chatham Ministry led by Pitt between 1766 and 1768, Grenville became an elder statesman during his last few years – seeking to avoid becoming associated with any faction or party in the House of Commons. He was able to oversee the re-election of his core group of supporters in the 1768 General Election . His followers included Robert Clive and Lord George Sackville and he received support from his elder brother Lord Temple . In late 1768 he reconciled with Pitt and
1888-551: A political mentor to the young William Pitt . Born the son of Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet , and his wife Mary Temple (née Knapp, daughter of Thomas Knapp), Temple was educated at Eton College and Christ's College, Cambridge , and was commissioned as an ensign in Prince George of Denmark's Regiment on 30 June 1685. After becoming a captain in Babington's Regiment in 1689, he fought under William III during
2006-592: A situation that subsequent governments were unable to reverse leading to Britain fighting several countries during the American War of Independence without a major ally. The King made various attempts to induce Pitt to come to his rescue by forming a ministry, but without success, and at last had recourse to Lord Rockingham . When Rockingham agreed to accept office, the king dismissed Grenville in July 1765. He never again held office. The nickname of "gentle shepherd"
2124-583: A song named "Doing It for the Whigs". Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham PC (24 October 1675 – 14 September 1749) was a British soldier and Whig politician. After serving as a junior officer under William III during the Williamite War in Ireland and during the Nine Years' War , he fought under John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough , during
2242-838: A strong presidency , initially the presidency of Andrew Jackson , analogous to the British Whig opposition to a strong monarchy. The True Whig Party , which for a century dominated Liberia , was named for the American party rather than directly for the British one. Dickinson reports the following: All historians are agreed that the Tory party declined sharply in the late 1740s and 1750s and that it ceased to be an organized party by 1760. The research of Sir Lewis Namier and his disciples [...] has convinced all historians that there were no organized political parties in Parliament between
2360-490: A violation of British sovereignty. Britain begun a process of isolation, when Britain had no allies in the continent and the allies it did have were weak or less significant in military or political might. In disputes with Spain and France, Grenville managed to secure British objectives by deploying what was later described as gunboat diplomacy . During his ministry. Britain's international isolation increased, as Britain failed to secure alliances with other major European powers,
2478-624: A year. Figuring out how to pay the interest alone absorbed the attention of the King and his ministers. As Britain was trying to recover from the costs of the Seven Years' War and now in dire need of finances for the British army in the American colonies, Grenville's most immediate task was to restore the nation's finances. He also had to deal with the fall-out from Pontiac's Rebellion , which erupted in North America in 1763. Although, initially, prominent measures of his government included
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#17327975291942596-533: Is a deficit of trade with France was bad because it would enrich France at England's expense. In 1678, the Whigs passed the Prohibition of 1678 that banned certain French goods from being imported into England. The economic historian William Ashley claimed that this Act witnessed the "real starting-point in the history of Whig policy in the matter of trade". It was repealed upon the accession of James II by
2714-516: The Anchor Brewery : her inheritance allowed Temple to maintain the Stowe estate; they had no surviving children. (Their daughter, Elizabeth, was born on 1 September 1738, and baptised at St James' Church, Westminster, on 28 September. She died shortly before her 4th birthday and was buried on the family estate on 16 July 1742 ). Cobham came to an agreement with his heirs, distant cousins on whom
2832-640: The Duke of Bedford and elements of that which had been led by George Grenville , it also contained elements of the Kings' Men, the group formerly associated with Lord Bute and which was generally seen as Tory-leaning. The association of Toryism with Lord North's government was also influential in the American colonies and writings of British political commentators known as the Radical Whigs did much to stimulate colonial republican sentiment. Early activists in
2950-585: The Duke of Monmouth , being implicated, fled to and regrouped in the United Provinces . Algernon Sidney , Sir Thomas Armstrong and William Russell, Lord Russell , were executed for treason. The Earl of Essex committed suicide in the Tower of London over his arrest for treason, whilst Lord Grey of Werke escaped from the Tower. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Queen Mary II and King William III governed with both Whigs and Tories, despite
3068-535: The Earl of Shelburne , took its place. After Rockingham's unexpected death in July 1782, this uneasy coalition fell apart, with Charles James Fox , Rockingham's successor as faction leader, quarrelling with Shelburne and withdrawing his supporters from the government. The following Shelburne administration was short-lived and Fox returned to power in April 1783, this time in an unexpected coalition with his old enemy Lord North. Although this pairing seemed unnatural to many at
3186-664: The Harley Ministry stripped Temple of his colonelcy for voting against the Treaty of Utrecht . However, after George I ascended the throne following the Hanoverian Succession , Temple became ambassador to Vienna and was created Baron Cobham in October 1714. He became colonel of The Royal Regiment of Dragoons in 1715 and Constable of Windsor Castle in 1716. He was made a Privy Councillor in July 1716 and created Viscount Cobham in April 1718. Temple
3304-601: The Lord Northington as Lord High Chancellor , Lord Granville as Lord President of the Council as well. House of Commons was thrown into doubt by the first case involving the Member of Parliament John Wilkes , a radical reformer and political activist who promoted parliamentary representation and reform, whose critique of the former prime minister led to his resignation. Wilkes was regarded by many as threat to
3422-531: The Prince of Wales . The opposition Whigs were split by the onset of the French Revolution . While Fox and some younger members of the party such as Charles Grey and Richard Brinsley Sheridan were sympathetic to the French revolutionaries, others led by Edmund Burke were strongly opposed. Although Burke himself was largely alone in defecting to Pitt in 1791, much of the rest of the party, including
3540-551: The Prince of Wales . Following his success in defeating the government over the Peerage Bill in 1719, Walpole was invited back into government the following year. He was able to defend the government in the Commons when the South Sea Bubble collapsed. When Stanhope died unexpectedly in 1721, Walpole replaced him as leader of the government and became known as the first Prime Minister . In the 1722 general election
3658-421: The Seven Years' War was a tumultuous period in the history of Europe and was fought on a global conflict scale. Even though Great Britain defeated France and its allies and rose to the position as a dominant world power, the victory came at a great cost. In January 1763, Great Britain's national debt was more than £122 million pounds, an enormous sum for the time. Interest on the debt was more than £4.4 million
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3776-882: The Tories . The Whigs became the Liberal Party when the faction merged with the Peelites and Radicals in the 1850s. Many Whigs left the Liberal Party in 1886 over the issue of Irish Home Rule to form the Liberal Unionist Party , which merged into the Conservative Party in 1912. The Whigs began as a political faction that opposed absolute monarchy and Catholic emancipation , supporting constitutional monarchism and parliamentary government , but also Protestant supremacy. They played
3894-583: The Tory party as treasonous Jacobites , and the Septennial Act ensured that the Whigs became the dominant party, establishing the Whig oligarchy. Between 1717 and 1720 the Whig Split led to a division in the party. Government Whigs led by the former soldier James Stanhope were opposed by Robert Walpole and his allies. While Stanhope was backed by George I, Walpole and his supporters were closer to
4012-664: The War of the Spanish Succession . During the War of the Quadruple Alliance Temple led a force of 4,000 troops on a raid on the Spanish coastline which captured Vigo and occupied it for ten days before withdrawing. In Parliament he generally supported the Whigs but fell out with Sir Robert Walpole in 1733. He was known for his ownership of and modifications to the estate at Stowe and for serving as
4130-609: The Williamite War in Ireland against the Jacobite Irish Army of James II . He was present at the Siege of Namur in July 1695 during the Nine Years' War . Temple succeeded his father as 4th Baronet in May 1697 and as Whig member of parliament for Buckingham later that year: he continued to represent either Buckingham or Buckinghamshire for the next 16 years. Promoted to lieutenant colonel on 10 February 1702, he
4248-544: The aristocratic families, the continued disenfranchisement of Catholics and toleration of nonconformist Protestants ( dissenters such as the Presbyterians), while the Tories generally favoured the minor gentry and people who were ( relatively speaking ) smallholders; they also supported the legitimacy of a strongly established Church of England . (The so-called High Tories preferred high church Anglicanism, or Anglo-Catholicism . Some, particularly adherents of
4366-599: The colonies called themselves Whigs, seeing themselves as in alliance with the political opposition in Britain, until they turned to independence and started emphasising the label Patriots . In contrast, the American Loyalists , who supported the monarchy, were consistently also referred to as Tories. Later, the United States Whig Party was founded in 1833 on the basis of opposition to
4484-404: The non-juring schism , openly or covertly supported the exiled House of Stuart 's claim to the throne—a position known as Jacobitism .) Later, the Whigs came to draw support from the emerging industrial reformists and the mercantile class while the Tories came to draw support from farmers, landowners, royalists and (relatedly) those who favoured imperial military spending. By the first half of
4602-653: The peerage ). The town of Grenville, Quebec , was named after George Grenville. The town is in turn the namesake for the Grenville orogeny , a long-lived Mesoproterozoic mountain-building event associated with the assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia . Its record is a prominent orogenic belt which spans a significant portion of the North American continent, from Labrador to Mexico, and extends to Scotland. In 1749 Grenville married Elizabeth Wyndham (1719 – 5 December 1769), daughter of Sir William Wyndham , and
4720-674: The "Boy Patriot" party, which opposed Sir Robert Walpole . In particular he enjoyed the patronage of his uncle Lord Cobham , the leader of a faction that included George Grenville, his brother Richard, William Pitt and George Lyttelton that became known as Cobham's Cubs . In December 1744 he became a Lord of the Admiralty in the administration of Henry Pelham . He allied himself with his brother Richard and with William Pitt (who became their brother-in-law in 1754) in forcing Pelham to give them promotion by rebelling against his authority and obstructing business. In June 1747, Grenville became
4838-621: The "Whigs". In The History of England , c. 1760 , David Hume wrote: The court party reproached their antagonists with their affinity to the fanatical conventiclers in Scotland, who were known by the name of Whigs: The country party found a resemblance between the courtiers and the popish banditti in Ireland, to whom the appellation of Tory was affixed. And after this manner, these foolish terms of reproach came into public and general use; and even at present seem not nearer their end than when they were first invented. The precursor to
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4956-606: The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht , which they attempted to block through their majority in the House of Lords . The Tory administration led by Harley and the Viscount Bolingbroke persuaded the Queen to create twelve new Tory peers to force the treaty through. The Whigs primarily advocated the supremacy of Parliament, while calling for toleration for Protestant dissenters. They adamantly opposed a Catholic as king. They opposed
5074-429: The 19th century, the Whig manifesto had come to encompass the supremacy of parliament , the abolition of slavery , the expansion of the franchise (suffrage) and an acceleration of the move toward complete equal rights for Catholics (a reversal of the party's late-17th-century position, which had been militantly anti-Catholic ). The term Whig began as a short form of whiggamore , a term originally used by people in
5192-757: The British Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 . It purchased and freed the slaves, especially those in the Caribbean sugar islands. After parliamentary investigations demonstrated the horrors of child labour, limited reforms were passed in 1833. The Whigs also passed the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 that reformed the administration of relief to the poor and the Marriage Act 1836 that allowed civil marriages. It
5310-487: The British relations, after negotiating, with the French and the Spanish, remained hostile and suspicious of its enemies and that wariness concluded the entirety of Grenville's policy. When seemingly, the French and the Spanish began to support Britain's colonial dissenters in the Americas and beyond and threatening British allies in the continent, promoting disputes and resentment from British politicians who viewed them as
5428-612: The Catholic Church because they saw it as a threat to liberty, or as Pitt the Elder stated: "The errors of Rome are rank idolatry, a subversion of all civil as well as religious liberty, and the utter disgrace of reason and of human nature". Ashcraft and Goldsmith (1983) have traced in detail, in the period 1689 to 1710, the major influence of the liberal political ideas of John Locke on Whig political values, as expressed in widely cited manifestos such as "Political Aphorisms: or,
5546-454: The Church of England, opposed to a Whig". He linked 18th-century Whiggism with 17th-century revolutionary Puritanism, arguing that the Whigs of his day were similarly inimical to the established order of church and state. Johnson recommended that strict uniformity in religious externals was the best antidote to the objectionable religious traits that he linked to Whiggism. At their inception,
5664-526: The Grenville government's programme, the issue was generally attributed to him by the colonists. Another one of the most controversial acts passed by Grenville was the Quartering Act on 15 May 1765. Enacted because of a request by Major General Thomas Gage , commander-in-chief in North America, to give better housing for his troops stationed in the colonies. One of the more prominent measures of
5782-446: The Grenville's government occurred in March 1765 when Grenville authored the Stamp Act , enacted in November of that year. It was an exclusive tax placed on the colonies in America requiring that documents and newspapers be printed on stamped paper from London bearing an embossed revenue stamp that had to be paid for in British currency. It was met with general outrage and resulted in public acts of disobedience and rioting throughout
5900-485: The House of Commons in the administration of Lord Bute . Grenville's role was seen as an attempt to keep someone closely associated with Pitt involved in the government, in order to prevent Pitt and his supporters actively opposing the government. However, it soon led to conflict between Grenville and Pitt. Grenville was also seen as a suitable candidate because his reputation for honesty meant he commanded loyalty and respect amongst independent MPs. In May 1762, Grenville
6018-483: The Junto led to a split among the Whigs, with the so-called Country Whigs seeing the Junto as betraying their principles for office. The Country Whigs, led by Robert Harley , gradually merged with the Tory opposition in the later 1690s. Although William's successor Anne had considerable Tory sympathies and excluded the Junto Whigs from power, after a brief and unsuccessful experiment with an exclusively Tory government she generally continued William's policy of balancing
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#17327975291946136-706: The King's disapproval and distrust of his ministers, he considered appointed Grenville to office. When Grenville was asked about becoming the new prime minister, he agreed only on the condition that Bute would not take an active part in politics and be barred from voicing policies for the government. The King agreed and thus appointed Grenville as new prime minister. George III assured Grenville that "he meant to put his government solely into his hand". Grenville set to work and formed his government on 16 April 1763. He appointed two of his trusted allies Lord Halifax and Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont as Northern Secretary and Southern Secretary respectively. He also appointed
6254-447: The North American colonies and colonial settlers. His best-known policy is the Stamp Act , a long-standing tax in Great Britain which Grenville extended to the colonies in America, but which instigated widespread opposition in Britain's American colonies and was later repealed . Grenville had increasingly strained relations with his colleagues and the King. In 1765, he was dismissed by George III and replaced by Lord Rockingham . For
6372-427: The North American colonies under tighter crown control. Born into an influential political family, Greville first entered Parliament in 1741 as an MP for Buckingham . He emerged as one of Cobham's Cubs , a group of young members of Parliament associated with Lord Cobham . In 1754, Grenville became Treasurer of the Navy , a position he held twice until 1761. In October 1761 he chose to stay in government and accepted
6490-436: The True Maxims of Government Displayed", an anonymous pamphlet that appeared in 1690 and was widely cited by Whigs. The 18th-century Whigs borrowed the concepts and language of universal rights employed by political theorists Locke and Algernon Sidney (1622–1682). By the 1770s the ideas of Adam Smith , a founder of classical liberalism became important. As Wilson and Reill (2004) note: "Adam Smith's theory melded nicely with
6608-465: The Whig Party ( blue and buff , a yellow-brown colour named after buff leather ) were particularly associated with Charles James Fox . Poet Robert Burns in "Here's a health to them that's awa" wrote: It's guid to support Caledonia's cause And bide by the Buff and the Blue. "The British Whig March" for piano was written by Oscar Telgmann in Kingston, Ontario , c. 1900 . Punk band The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing have
6726-440: The Whig Party's hold on power remained strong for many years thereafter. Thus historians have called the period from roughly 1714 to 1783 the "long period of Whig oligarchy". During the American Revolution , the Whigs were the party more sympathetic to American independence and the creation of a democracy in the United States. By 1784, both the Whigs and Tories had become formal political parties, with Charles James Fox becoming
6844-429: The Whigs and voted for the Foreign Protestants Naturalization Act 1708 which allowed Protestants fleeing from the continent to enter Great Britain. Promoted to major-general on 1 January 1709, he fought again at the Battle of Malplaquet in September 1709 and was promoted to lieutenant general on 1 January 1710. In Parliament, in accordance with Whig party policy, he voted for the impeachment of Henry Sacheverell ,
6962-494: The Whigs swept to a decisive victory. Between 1714 and 1760, the Tories struggled as an active political force, but always retained a considerable presence in the House of Commons . The governments of Walpole, Henry Pelham and his older brother the Duke of Newcastle dominated between 1721 and 1757 (with a brief break during the also-Whig Carteret ministry ). The leading entities in these governments consistently referred to themselves as "Whigs". This arrangement changed during
7080-406: The Whigs was Denzil Holles ' parliamentarian faction, which was characterised by its opposition to absolute monarchism . Under Lord Shaftesbury's leadership, the Whigs (also known as the Country Party) sought to exclude the Duke of York (who later became King James II) from the throne due to his Roman Catholicism, his favouring of monarchical absolutism, and his connections to France. They believed
7198-440: The Whigs were protectionist in economic policy, with free trade policies being advocated by Tories. The Whigs were opposed to the pro-French policies of the Stuart kings Charles II and James II as they believed that such an alliance with the Catholic absolute monarchy of France endangered liberty and Protestantism. The Whigs claimed that trade with France was bad for England and developed an economic theory of overbalance, that
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#17327975291947316-519: The Whigs were vehemently against it and it had to be abandoned. In 1786, Pitt's government negotiated the Eden Agreement , a commercial treaty with France which led to freer trade between the two countries. All of the Whig leaders attacked this on traditional Whig anti-French and protectionist grounds. Fox claimed that France was England's natural enemy and that it was only at Britain's expense that she could grow. Edmund Burke , Richard Sheridan , William Windham and Charles Grey all spoke out against
7434-462: The Whigs, especially as her personal relationship with the Duchess of Marlborough deteriorated. This situation also became increasingly uncomfortable to many of the non-Junto Whigs, led by the Duke of Somerset and the Duke of Shrewsbury , who began to intrigue with Robert Harley's Tories. In the spring of 1710, Anne dismissed Godolphin and the Junto ministers, replacing them with Tories. The Whigs now moved into opposition and particularly decried
7552-422: The army, the Church of England , the legal profession, and local political offices. The first great leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole , who maintained control of the government from 1721 to 1742, and whose protégé, Henry Pelham , led the government from 1743 to 1754. Great Britain approximated a one-party state under the Whigs until King George III came to the throne in 1760 and allowed Tories back in. But
7670-403: The case Grenville lost favor from the public who regarded the act as an attempt to silence or control the press. Although personally opposed to Wilkes, Grenville saw the government's attempt to bar him from the Commons as unconstitutional and opposed it on principle. Following a French invasion of Corsica in 1768 Grenville advocated sending British support to the Corsican Republic . Grenville
7788-435: The coalition, the Whiggish elements of the new party progressively lost influence during the long leadership of former Peelite William Ewart Gladstone. Subsequently, the majority of the old Whig aristocracy broke from the party over the issue of Irish home rule in 1886 to help form the Liberal Unionist Party , which in turn would merge with the Conservative Party by 1912. However, the Unionist support for trade protection in
7906-422: The colonies in America. The signing of the treaty in February 1763 formally marked the conclusion of the Seven Years' War experienced by Britain and as such, foreign policy, along with military policy and diplomacy, no longer became the dominant concern of both domestic politics and government agenda. Focus thus shifted to seemingly more relevant issues such as the survival of the Grenville Ministry. But overall
8024-417: The complex and changing factional politics of the Restoration into the neat categories of 19th-century political divisions. In 1836, a private gentleman's Club was constructed in Pall Mall , Piccadilly as a consequence of the successful Reform Act 1832 . The Reform Club was founded by Edward Ellice Sr. , MP for Coventry and Whig Whip , whose riches came from the Hudson's Bay Company but whose zeal
8142-444: The country against the Whigs and determined to rule without Parliament. In February, Charles had made a deal with the French King Louis XIV , who promised to support him against the Whigs. Without Parliament, the Whigs gradually crumbled, mainly due to government repression following the discovery of the Rye House Plot . The Whig peers, the Earl of Melville , the Earl of Leven , and Lord Shaftesbury , and Charles II's illegitimate son
8260-436: The decline of the Liberal Party in the early 20th century, it was de rigueur for Liberal MPs and peers to be members of the Reform Club, being regarded as an unofficial party headquarters. However, in 1882 the National Liberal Club was established under William Ewart Gladstone 's chairmanship, designed to be more "inclusive" towards Liberal grandees and activists throughout the United Kingdom. The Liberal Party (the term
8378-405: The early twentieth century under Joseph Chamberlain (probably the least Whiggish character in the Liberal Unionist party) further alienated the more orthodox Whigs. By the early twentieth century "Whiggery" was largely irrelevant and without a natural political home. One of the last active politicians to celebrate his Whiggish roots was the Liberal Unionist statesman Henry James . The colours of
8496-451: The estate would have been entailed, on order to favour the family of his sister Hester Grenville . Hester's eldest son would take the name Grenville-Temple and eventually inherit the title 2nd Viscount Cobham and the estates of Wotton and Stowe . Temple was admired by Alexander Pope , and Temple's gardens were praised by Pope in his Epistle to Burlington as a wonder. Pope wrote a "moral epistle" to Temple in 1733 and published it in
8614-454: The fact that many of the Tories still supported the deposed Roman Catholic James II . William saw that the Tories were generally friendlier to royal authority than the Whigs and he employed both groups in his government. His early ministry was largely Tory, but gradually the government came to be dominated by the so-called Junto Whigs , a group of younger Whig politicians who led a tightly organised political grouping. The increasing dominance of
8732-601: The fall of the Talents ministry in 1807, the Foxite Whigs remained out of power for the better part of 25 years. The accession of Fox's old ally, the Prince of Wales, to the regency in 1811 did not change the situation, as the Prince had broken entirely with his old Foxite Whig companions. The members of the government of Lord Liverpool from 1812 to 1827 called themselves Whigs. By 1815, the Whigs were still far from being
8850-481: The followers of Lord Chatham , who as the great political hero of the Seven Years' War generally took a stance of opposition to party and faction. The Whigs were opposed by the government of Lord North which they accused of being a Tory administration. While it largely consisted of individuals previously associated with the Whigs, many old Pelhamites as well as the Bedfordite Whig faction formerly led by
8968-481: The franchise and ended the system of " rotten and pocket boroughs " (where elections were controlled by powerful families) and instead redistributed power on the basis of population. It added 217,000 voters to an electorate of 435,000 in England and Wales. Only the upper and middle classes voted, so this shifted power away from the landed aristocracy to the urban middle classes. In 1832, the party abolished enslavement in
9086-495: The government and therefore was treated suspiciously. In 1763, it came to be one of Grenville's first acts to prosecute Wilkes for publishing in The North Briton newspaper an article deriding King George III's speech made on 23 April 1763. Wilkes was prosecuted for " seditious libel ". That was a massive tactical blunder by the secretaries of state , for it was perceived as a violation of individual liberty that raised
9204-630: The government of Sir Robert Walpole once it came to power in April 1721 and was rewarded with the colonelcy of the King's Own Regiment of Horse later that year. He became Governor of Jersey in May 1723 and Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire in March 1728. Temple fell out with Prime Minister Robert Walpole in 1733 and formed a faction in the Whig Party to oppose the Excise Bill which resulted in his being stripped of his colonelcy again. He
9322-507: The government to recognise the role of public opinion in parliamentary debate and influenced views of representation and reform throughout the 19th century. Whigs restored their unity by supporting moral reforms, especially the abolition of slavery. They triumphed in 1830 as champions of Parliamentary reform. They made Lord Grey prime minister 1830–1834 and the Reform Act 1832 championed by Grey became their signature measure. It broadened
9440-641: The granddaughter of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset . Somerset did not approve of their marriage and consequently left Elizabeth only a small sum in his will. The couple had four sons and four daughters. (One account states they had five daughters.) At the time of his death in 1770, he was the heir presumptive to the Earldom of Temple held by his elder brother Richard (who had succeeded their mother in that title in 1752, but had no sons). When Richard died in 1779, George's second (but eldest surviving) son, also George, therefore succeeded as 3rd Earl Temple, and
9558-588: The heir presumptive, if allowed to inherit the throne, would endanger the Protestant religion, liberty and property. The first Exclusion Bill was supported by a substantial majority on its second reading in May 1679. In response, King Charles prorogued Parliament and then dissolved it, but the subsequent elections in August and September saw the Whigs' strength increase. This new parliament did not meet for thirteen months, because Charles wanted to give passions
9676-473: The influential House of Lords leader the Duke of Portland , Rockingham's nephew Lord Fitzwilliam and William Windham , were increasingly uncomfortable with the flirtations of Fox and his allies with radicalism and the French Revolution. They split in early 1793 with Fox over the question of support for the war with France and by the end of the year they had openly broken with Fox. By the summer of
9794-416: The last five years of his life, Grenville led a group of his supporters in opposition and staged a public reconciliation with Pitt. Grenville married Elizabeth Wyndham , the granddaughter of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset , the great-great-grandson of Lady Katherine Grey , who was herself a great-granddaughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York , and sister of Lady Jane Grey . George Grenville
9912-502: The late 1750s and the early 1780s. Even the Whigs ceased to be an identifiable party, and Parliament was dominated by competing political connections, which all proclaimed Whiggish political views, or by independent backbenchers unattached to any particular group. The North administration left power in March 1782 following the American Revolution and a coalition of the Rockingham Whigs and the former Chathamites, now led by
10030-422: The leader of a reorganized Whig Party arrayed against William Pitt the Younger 's new Tories. The foundation of both parties depended more on the support of wealthy politicians than on popular votes. Although there were elections to the House of Commons , only a few men controlled most of the voters . Both parties slowly evolved during the 18th century. In the beginning, the Whig Party generally tended to support
10148-408: The liberal political stance of the Whig Party and its middle-class constituents". Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), a leading London intellectual, repeatedly denigrated the "vile" Whigs and praised the Tories, even during times of Whig political supremacy. In his great Dictionary (1755), Johnson defined a Tory as "one who adheres to the ancient Constitution of the state and the apostolical hierarchy of
10266-504: The new role of Leader of the Commons causing a rift with his brother-in-law and political ally William Pitt who had resigned. Grenville was subsequently made Northern Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty by the new prime minister Lord Bute . On 8 April 1763, Lord Bute resigned, and Grenville assumed his position as prime minister. His government tried to bring public spending under control and pursued an assertive policy over
10384-546: The next year, large portions of the opposition had defected and joined Pitt's government. Many of the Whigs who had joined with Pitt would eventually return to the fold, joining again with Fox in the Ministry of All the Talents following Pitt's death in 1806. The followers of Pitt—led until 1809 by Fox's old colleague the Duke of Portland—rejected the label of Tories and preferred to call themselves The Friends of Mr. Pitt . After
10502-541: The north of England to refer to (cattle) drovers from western Scotland who came to Leith to buy corn. The Gaelic -speaking Scottish cattle drivers would call out "Chuig" or "Chuig an bothar"—meaning "away" or "to the road"; this sounded to the English like "Whig", and they came to use the word "Whig" or "Whiggamore" derisively to refer to these people. During the English Civil Wars , when Charles I reigned,
10620-471: The other. On 17 December 1783, Fox stated in the House of Commons that "[i]f [...] a change must take place, and a new ministry is to be formed and supported, not by the confidence of this House or the public, but the sole authority of the Crown, I, for one, shall not envy that hon. gentleman his situation. From that moment I put in my claim for a monopoly of Whig principles". Although Pitt is often referred to as
10738-634: The parties, supported by her moderate Tory ministers, the Duke of Marlborough and Lord Godolphin . However, as the War of the Spanish Succession went on and became less and less popular with the Tories, Marlborough and Godolphin were forced to rely more and more on the Junto Whigs, so that by 1708 they headed an administration of the Parliament of Great Britain dominated by the Junto. Anne herself grew increasingly uncomfortable with this dependence on
10856-471: The past. Later on, several members from the Whig party came to oppose the protectionism of the Corn Laws , but trade restrictions were not repealed even after the Whigs returned to power in the 1830s. With the succession of Elector George Louis of Hanover as king in 1714, the Whigs returned to government with the support of some Hanoverian Tories . The Jacobite rising of 1715 discredited much of
10974-548: The peace treaty than he was. In October he was made First Lord of the Admiralty . Henry Fox took over as Leader of the Commons , and forced the peace treaty through parliament. Bute's position grew increasingly untenable as he was extremely unpopular, which led to him offering his resignation to George III on several occasions. Bute was the target of the radical John Wilkes 's criticism and satire and he ridiculed in Wilkes' newspaper The North Briton , stereotypical reference to
11092-500: The political discontent. After fighting a duel with a supporter of the Grenville ministry, Samuel Martin, Wilkes fled to France for asylum. Despite government officials calling on him to be arrested, Wilkes was later returned to England and was elected and re-elected by the Middlesex constituency. He was continually refused admission to parliament by parliament, and proved a problem to several successive governments. The time of
11210-401: The prime minister's Scottish heritage. Bute's intention to resign was genuine, and the hostile press attacks and the continuing unpopularity of his government finally led to King George III to reluctantly accept his resignation. Though the king was unsure whom should be appoint to the position and Bute highly recommended that the King should appoint Grenville as the new prime minister. Despite
11328-461: The prosecution of John Wilkes , focus shifted from arresting radicals to paying off the national debt. The passing of the tax measures in America had proved to be a disaster and would lead to the first symptoms of alienation between American colonies and Great Britain . Many of the acts passed by the British were perceived by the colonists as threatening to their liberties. Although not a part of
11446-426: The reign of George III , who hoped to restore his own power by freeing himself from the great Whig magnates. Thus George promoted his old tutor Lord Bute to power and broke with the old Whig leadership surrounding the Duke of Newcastle. After a decade of factional chaos, with distinct Bedfordite , Chathamite , Grenvillite and Rockinghamite factions successively in power and all referring to themselves as "Whigs",
11564-675: The term "Whig" was picked up and used by the English to refer derisively to a radical faction of the Scottish Covenanters who called themselves the Kirk Party (see the Whiggamore Raid ). It was later applied to Scottish Presbyterian rebels who were against the king's Episcopalian order in Scotland. The word Whig entered English political discourse during the Exclusion Bill crisis of 1679–1681: there
11682-533: The time, it was to last beyond the demise of the coalition in December 1783. The coalition's untimely fall was brought about by George III in league with the House of Lords and the King now brought in Chatham's son William Pitt the Younger as his prime minister. It was only now that a genuine two-party system can be seen to emerge, with Pitt and the government on the one side, and the ousted Fox-North coalition on
11800-487: The trade agreement on the same grounds. Ashley claimed that "[t]he traditional policy of the Whig party from before the Revolution [of 1688] down to the time of Fox was an extreme form of Protectionism". The Whigs' protectionism of this period is today increasingly cited with approval by heterodox economists such as Ha-Joon Chang , who wish to challenge contemporary prevailing free trade orthodoxies via precedents from
11918-432: The two joined forces, re-uniting the partnership that had broken up in 1761 when Pitt had resigned from the government. Grenville was successful in mobilising the opposition during the Middlesex election dispute . Grenville prosecuted John Wilkes and the printers and authors for treason and sedition for publishing a bitter editorial about King George III's recent speech in "The North Briton" a weekly periodical. After losing
12036-521: The years of British victories, notably the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 for which the credit went to the government of which he was a member. However his seven-year-old son died after a long illness and Grenville remained by his side at their country house in Wotton and rarely came to London. In 1761, when Pitt resigned upon the question of the war with Spain, and subsequently functioned as Leader of
12154-454: Was Henry Brougham , the talented lawyer, who had a relatively modest background. Hay argues that Whig leaders welcomed the increasing political participation of the English middle classes in the two decades after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. The fresh support strengthened their position in Parliament. Whigs rejected the Tory appeals to governmental authority and social discipline and extended political discussion beyond Parliament. Whigs used
12272-478: Was a cornerstone of Patriot Whig thinking. He and Pitt joined the opposition, haranguing the Newcastle government. Grenville and Pitt both championed the formation of a British militia to provide additional security rather than the deployment of Hessian mercenaries favoured by the government. As the military situation deteriorated following the loss of Minorca , the government grew increasingly weak until it
12390-534: Was a mentor and Patron to a number of young Whigs, the most notable being William Pitt . Collectively they became known as Cobham's Cubs . Two of them, Pitt and Temple's nephew George Grenville went on to be prime minister. In September 1719, during the War of the Quadruple Alliance , Temple led a force of 4,000 troops on a raid on the Spanish coastline which captured Vigo and occupied it for ten days before withdrawing. Temple generally supported
12508-522: Was appointed Northern Secretary , where he took an increasingly hard line in the negotiations with France and Spain designed to bring the Seven Years' War to a close. Grenville demanded much greater compensation in exchange for the return of British conquests, while Bute favored a more generous position which eventually formed the basis of the Treaty of Paris . In spite of this, Grenville had now become associated with Bute rather than his former political allies who were even more vocal in their opposition to
12626-473: Was around this time that the great Whig historian Thomas Babington Macaulay began to promulgate what would later be coined the Whig view of history , in which all of English history was seen as leading up to the culminating moment of the passage of Lord Grey's reform bill. This view led to serious distortions in later portrayals of 17th-century and 18th-century history, as Macaulay and his followers attempted to fit
12744-446: Was born at Wotton House on 14 October 1712. He was the second son of Sir Richard Grenville and Hester Temple (later the 1st Countess Temple ). He was one of five brothers, all of whom became MPs. His sister Hester Grenville married the leading political figure William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham . His elder brother was Richard Grenville , later the 2nd Earl Temple. It was intended by his parents that George Grenville should become
12862-864: Was carried up by John Hunter who retained specimens in his collection which later became the Hunterian Museum . Subsequent analysis of these specimens published by the Royal College of Surgeons of England suggests that George Grenville was affected by Multiple myeloma at the time of his death. He was one of the relatively few prime ministers (others include Henry Pelham , William Pitt the Younger , Spencer Perceval , George Canning , Sir Robert Peel , William Ewart Gladstone , Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman , Bonar Law , Ramsay MacDonald , Neville Chamberlain , Sir Winston Churchill , Sir Edward Heath , Sir John Major , Sir Tony Blair , Gordon Brown , Boris Johnson , and Liz Truss ) who never acceded to
12980-523: Was chiefly devoted to securing the passage of the Reform Act 1832 . This new club, for members of both Houses of Parliament , was intended to be a forum for the radical ideas which the First Reform Bill represented: a bastion of liberal and progressive thought that became closely associated with the Liberal Party , who largely succeeded the Whigs in the second half of the 19th century. Until
13098-609: Was controversy about whether King Charles II's brother, James, Duke of York , should be allowed to succeed to the throne on Charles's death, and Whig became a term of abuse for members of the Country Party , which sought to remove James from the line of succession on the grounds that he was a Roman Catholic ( Samuel Johnson , a fervent Tory, often joked that "the first Whig was the Devil".). Eventually, Country Party politicians themselves would start describing their own faction as
13216-569: Was critical of the Grafton Government 's failure to intervene and he considered such weakness would encourage the French. In the House of Commons he observed "For fear of going to war, you will make a war unavoidable". In 1770 Grenville steered a bill concerning the results of contested elections, a major issue in the eighteenth century, into law – despite strong opposition from the government. Grenville died on 13 November 1770, aged 58. His personal following divided after his death, with
13334-484: Was first used officially in 1868, but had been used colloquially for decades beforehand) arose from a coalition of Whigs, free trade Tory followers of Robert Peel and free trade Radicals , first created, tenuously under the Peelite Earl of Aberdeen in 1852 and put together more permanently under the former Canningite Tory Lord Palmerston in 1859. Although the Whigs at first formed the most important part of
13452-628: Was forced to resign in Autumn 1756. Pitt then formed a government led by the Duke of Devonshire . Grenville was returned to his position as Treasurer of the Navy, which was a great disappointment as he had been expecting to receive the more prestigious and lucrative post of Paymaster of the Forces . This added to what Grenville regarded as a series of earlier slights in which Pitt and others had passed him over for positions in favour of men he considered no more talented than he was. From then on Grenville felt
13570-543: Was given him because he bored the House by asking over and over again, during the debate on the Cider Bill of 1763 , that somebody should tell him "where" to lay the new tax if it was not to be put on cider. Pitt whistled the air of the popular tune (by Boyce ) Gentle Shepherd, tell me where , and the House laughed. Though few surpassed him in knowledge of the forms of the House or in mastery of administrative details, he lacked tact in dealing with people and affairs. After
13688-612: Was given his own regiment to command. He fought under John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough at the Battle of Venlo in September 1702 and at the Battle of Roermond in October 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession . He also took part in the Battle of Oudenarde in July 1708 and the Siege of Lille in Autumn 1708. For his good conduct at Lille he was sent home to present the despatches to Queen Anne . In Parliament he supported
13806-546: Was later created Marquess of Buckingham. His male line survived until the death of the 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos in 1889. Attribution Whig (British political party) Factions: The Whigs were a political party in the Parliaments of England , Scotland , Ireland , Great Britain and the United Kingdom . Between the 1680s and the 1850s, the Whigs contested power with their rivals,
13924-445: Was promoted to full general on 27 October 1735. Temple provided patronage to the rising star of the Whig Party, William Pitt , securing him a cornet 's commission in his regiment. The group of Temple's young supporters were known as Cobham's Cubs and included Richard Grenville , George Grenville and George Lyttelton , as well as Pitt. After Walpole's fall as prime minister in 1742, they turned their attacks on his replacement –
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