John Wilkes

John Wilkes (1727-97) was a controversial politician who entered Parliament in 1757.  In 1762 he founded The North Briton, publishing political pieces that, in their contempt of the government, led to his expulsion from Parliament in 1764.  He lived most of the next four years in France, returning to London in 1768 and winning a seat in Parliament from Middlesex, only to be expelled again in 1769 over previous libel convictions. The Middlesex voters promptly returned Wilkes to Parliament, only to have his election overturned again by Parliament, much to the dismay and anger of his constituents.  He became a cause celibre among the commoners, and used his popularity to gain political power, being elected sheriff of London and Middlesex in 1771.  He was elected Mayor of London on 8 October 1774, and shortly thereafter won election to Parliament for Middlesex, this time being allowed to take his seat. He generally supported the Rockingham Whigs in their opposition to the war with America and their desire for Parliamentary reform.  He offered himself as a candidate for Chamberlain of London in February 1776, due to the retirement of Sir Stephen Theodore Janssen.   In the March 1776 election, Hopkins polled 2887, Wilkes 2710.  The loss of this election was a serious blow to Wilkes’s pride, for he was galled by “the thought that      Hopkins had profited by a vacancy for which Wilkes had angled.  Wilkes was a man who never admitted defeat, and his need and obstinacy now drove him into actions that were both peevish and silly” (Sherrard 281).  According to Horace Bleackley, Wilkes “had always affected to be wholly indifferent to ‘a place’” (307), but that was clearly no longer the case. Wilkes challenged Hopkins in the elections of 1777 and 1778, accusing Hopkins of bribery and corruption, but to no avail, as Hopkins won each election by larger and larger margins. Hopkins died in November 1779, and the next month Wilkes was finally elected to the lucrative post he coveted so much.