Westminster riots in favour of Wilkes

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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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.

For more information on this event, please see our biographical profile of John Wilkes.

For…

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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Westminster riots in favour of Wilkes". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 March 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=12908, accessed 19 March 2024.]

12908 Westminster riots in favour of Wilkes 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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