Westminster riots in favour of Wilkes

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Domains

Riots and violent protests

Dates

Date of occurrence 1768-05-10

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

Resources

Recommended Reading

Wilkes returned from his Paris exile to London in February 1768 and sought a parliamentary seat for the Cty of London, and failed. He then stood for a seat in the County of Middlesex. Ably supported by the radical Horne Tooke, he succeeded in the election, not least by calling upon an intimidating army of 6000 Spitalfields weavers to cow any opposition. No sooner was Wilkes elected than on 27th April 1768 he surrendered to Lord Mansfield, the Chief Justice, but he was promptly freed on the grounds that the warrants were invalid. On 14th June 1768 he was finally sentenced to two years imprisonment for his 1764 convictions, notably for publishing The North Briton and his pornographic essay.

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128 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Westminster riots in favour of Wilkes". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 March 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=12908, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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