John Wilkes

Wilkes, John (1725–97). Described on his coffin as ‘A Friend of Liberty’, Wilkes was the central figure in a number of constitutional disputes which extended the political rights of ordinary citizens. After a rakish and dissolute youth, he became MP for Aylesbury in 1757. A leading opponent of Lord Bute, Wilkes was arrested after the publication on 23 April 1763 of an article in No. 45 of his paper, the North Briton, and charged with seditious libel. He successfully challenged the use of general warrants which had been issued, but was condemned by Parliament for publishing a scandalous, obscene, and impious libel. Wilkes fled to the continent in 1764. On his return in 1768 he was treated as a popular hero and elected MP for Middlesex. However, he was imprisoned for libel and expelled from the Commons, despite repeated re-election for Middlesex. ‘Wilkes and Liberty’ became the slogan of the London crowds who demonstrated in his support from 1763 to 1774, when he became lord mayor of London and was able to assume his seat as MP for Middlesex. Wilkes advocated complete religious toleration and supported the American colonists. He was a champion of mass politics, henceforth one of the strands in popular radicalism.

John F. C. Harrison

John Wilkes 1727-97, English politician and journalist. He studied at the Univ. of Leiden, returned to England in 1746, and purchased (1757) a seat in Parliament. Backed by Earl Temple , Wilkes founded (1762) a periodical, the North Briton, in which he made outspoken attacks on George III and his ministers. In the famous issue No. 45 (1763), Wilkes went so far as to criticize the speech from the throne. He was immediately arrested on the basis of a general warrant (one that did not specify who was to be arrested), but his arrest was adjudged a breach of parliamentary privilege by Chief Justice Charles Pratt , who later ruled also that general warrants were illegal. The government then secured Wilkes's expulsion from Parliament on the grounds of seditious libel and obscenity (Wilkes was notoriously dissolute and the author of an obscene parody of Alexander Pope's Essay on Man, which was used against him).

Wilkes fled (1764) to Paris and was convicted of seditious libel in his absence. He returned in 1768 and was repeatedly elected to Parliament from Middlesex, but each time he was denied his seat by the king's party. The issue, in the eyes of the angry populace, became a case of royal manipulation of parliamentary privilege against Wilkes to restrain the people's right to elect their own representatives. Wilkes was supported by Edmund Burke and the unknown writer Junius , but he was not seated. After 22 months in prison for his libel conviction, he was elected sheriff of London (1771) and lord mayor (1774). In 1774 he was again elected and this time allowed to take his seat in Parliament, where he championed the liberties of the American colonies and fought for parliamentary reform. He lost popular favor for his vigorous action as chamberlain of London in suppressing the Gordon riots (1780). Although a demagogue, Wilkes was a champion of freedom of the press and the rights of the electorate.

Bibliography: See biographies by O. A. Sherrard (1930, repr. 1972), C. P. Chenevix Trench (1962), L. Kronenberger (1974), A. H. Cash (2006), and J. Sainsbury (2006); I. R. Christie, Wilkes, Wyvill and Reform (1962); G. F. E. Rudé, Wilkes and Liberty (1962).

Wilkes, John (1727–97) British radical politician and journalist. He was expelled from Parliament for his savage criticism of George III and his government in the political journal North Briton (1763). His prosecution under a general warrant was condemned in the courts, a landmark in civil liberties. The refusal of Parliament to readmit him as member for Middlesex after he had been elected three times encouraged the movement towards parliamentary reform.