John Wilkes

John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical, journalist and politician. He fought for the right of voters to determine their representatives rather than the House of Commons (in the Middlesex election saga of 1768-70); he was instrumental in obliging the government to concede the right of printers to publish verbatim accounts of parliamentary debates (1771); he introduced the first Bill for parliamentary reform in the British parliament (1776).

Early life and character

Born in London, Wilkes was the second son of the distiller Israel Wilkes, who had six children. John Wilkes was educated at Leiden, in Hertford, and also privately. In 1747 he married Mary Meade and so came into possession of an estate and income in Buckinghamshire. They had one child, 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 gained a reputation as a rake and fathered at least two other children. He was a member of the Knights of St. Francis of Wycombe, also known as the Hellfire Club or the Medmenham Monks, and instigator of a prank that may have hastened its dissolution. The Club had many distinguished members including the Earl of Sandwich and Francis Dashwood. The allegation was that Wilkes brought an Orang-Utang dressed in a cape and horns into the rituals performed at the club causing considerable mayhem in the inebriated initiates.

Wilkes was notoriously ugly, being called the ugliest man in England at the time. He possessed an unsightly squint and protruding jaw, but 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, former friend and member of the Hellfire Club Lord Sandwich shouted to him "'Pon my soul, Wilkes, I don't know whether you'll die upon the gallows or of the pox." Wilkes responded "That depends, my Lord, whether I first embrace your Lordship's principles, or your Lordship's mistresses." 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?"

During the American Revolution Wilkes condemned the Government's policy towards America. Wilkes was also a passionate opponent of the harsh criminal code. Americans followed his career and James Madison explicitly acted on his story when writing measures into the American constitution that prevented Congress from rejecting any legally elected member, and proscribing general warrants for arrest.

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.

Radical journalism

Wilkes was initially a supporter of William Pitt the Elder. When John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, came to head the government in 1762, Wilkes started a radical weekly publication, The North Briton, to attack him, using an anti-Scots tone. Bute resigned in 1763, but Wilkes was equally opposed to his successor, George Grenville. He was charged with seditious libel over attacks on the King's speech at the opening of Parliament in issue Number 45 on the 23rd of April, 1763. General warrants were issued for the arrest of Wilkes and the publishers on the 30th of April, 1763. Forty nine people were arrested under the warrants. Wilkes was expelled from the House of Commons and later arrested. However, he gained considerable popular support as he asserted the unconstitutionality of general warrants, and was soon released and restored to his seat. Wilkes began a case against his arresters for trespass. People were chanting "Wilkes, Liberty and Number 45" from this episode. This referred to the 45th volume of the North Briton, a journal published by Wilkes that had been extremely critical of George the Third's endorsement of the Paris Peace Treaty of 1763. His attack of the Monarch (by the subterfuge of attacking his confidant, Lord Bute) in this issue had been deemed outright traitorous by the King himself.

Outlaw

Wilkes's opponents were quick to strike back. A manuscript of Wilkes was obtained and produced in the House of Lords where it was declared libel. Moves were soon underway to expel Wilkes again and this time he fled to Paris before his expulsion or trial. He was found guilty, in absentia, of obscene libel and of seditious libel and was declared an outlaw on the 19th of January, 1764.

Wilkes hoped for a change in power to remove the charges, but after exhausting his money and stock of goodwill on the continent he returned to England in 1768. He returned intending to stand as MP on an anti-government ticket; curiously, warrants were not issued for his immediate arrest. He stood in London and lost but was quickly elected MP for Middlesex before surrendering to the King's Bench in April and on waiving his right to immunity he was sentenced to two years and fined £1,000. The charge of outlawry was overturned. When Wilkes was imprisoned in the King's Bench Prison on 10 May that year for writing an article for The North Briton severely criticising King George III, his supporters appeared before King's Bench, London, chanting "No justice, no peace." Troops opened fire on the unarmed men, killing 7.

Wilkes expected an immediate pardon, which he did not receive; he was also expelled from Parliament in February 1769. He was re-elected by Middlesex in the same month only to be expelled and re-elected in March. In April, having been expelled and winning election again, Parliament declared his opponent the winner. In defiance Wilkes had himself elected an alderman of London in 1769, using his supporters' group, the Society for the Supporters of the Bill of Rights, to campaign for him. Wilkes eventually succeeded in convincing Parliament into expunging the resolution barring him from sitting.

Later life

On his release in March 1770 he was made a sheriff in London and in 1774 he became Lord Mayor. That year he was also re-elected to Parliament, representing Middlesex. He was one of those opposed to war with the American colonies and he was also a supporter of the Association Movement and of religious tolerance. His key success was to protect the freedom of the press, removing the power of general warrants and also the ability of Parliament to punish political reports of debates.

His popularity fell from around 1780 as he became less radical. He headed the forces putting down the Gordon Riots and when the phrase "Wilkes and Liberty!" was said to him in later years he would turn away. While he was comfortably re-elected for Middlesex that year and again in 1784, by 1790 he found so little support that he withdrew early in the election.

The Dutch politician Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol (1741–1784), who advocated the American Revolution and criticized the Stadtholder regime, was inspired by Wilkes.

Trivia

• American Admiral Charles Wilkes (1798–1877) was his great-nephew.

Eponyms

• American actor and assassin John Wilkes Booth was named after John Wilkes.
• The city of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania was named for John Wilkes and Isaac Barré.
• Wilkes County, Georgia and Wilkes County, North Carolina were named in honor of John Wilkes.
• Wilkes University, a four-year, independent, non-sectarian college in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA, is named for John Wilkes.
• Wilkes Street in Alexandria, Virginia, USA, is named for John Wilkes.

Bibliography

• P. D. G. Thomas. John Wilkes: A Friend to Liberty (1996).
• Holdsworth, William (1938). A History of English Law Vol. 10, pp. 659–672, ISBN 0-421-05100-0.
• Rudé, George (1962). Wilkes and Liberty: A Social Study of 1763 to 1774, ISBN 0-19-881091-1.
• Williamson, Audrey (1974). Wilkes, A Friend of Liberty, ISBN 0-04-923064-6.
• Cash, Arthur (2006). John Wilkes: The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty, ISBN 0-300-10871-0.

Sources

• Encyclopedia Britannica

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