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The History of The Whigs
In the current series of major articles on the history of the three main political parties that will be fighting it out for this June's election, once in a while you might hear mention of the Whigs. Some of you will be well aware of who they were, but many of you may not know who or what they were.
The Whigs no longer exist and it is not a term you will hear much outside of History classrooms. The Whigs were one of the major political parties of the 18th and 19th centuries. At one time, they boasted having some of the most important and influencial British politicians of all time, so they have played quite a major role in British political history. If we are going to take a look at the history of Britain's major political parties, the Whigs certainly deserve a mention.
According to Donald McCoy, Whig is a shortened version of Whiggamore, a Scotch word used to describe the Scots opposed to King Charles I in 1648. The term grew to refer to all those opposed to the growing influence and power of the royalty. Alternatively, Norman Lowe argues that the term was still short for Whiggamor, but was used to refer to those who didn't want James to succeed Charles II to the English throne after Charles' death in 1685 because he was a Roman Catholic, while the Tories were those willing to accept him (Lowe, 1989:7). Either way, in British parliamentary circles, the term did come to be used to refer to those opposed to royal influence in government and wanted to increase parliamentary control and influence. They also had some sympathy for the nonconformists; those who had broken away from the Church of England but therefore had no say in Parliament. In the 19th century, they would become known as the party first in favour of parliamentary reform (Lowe, 1989:7), and were the party that most famously passed the 1832 Reform Act. They were in opposition to the Tories, the other main party who favoured royal authority, upholding the status quo, and were against political reform.
Sir Robert Walpole was Britain's first Prime Minister. He was associated with the Whigs and held office from 1721-1742 (Castleden, 1995:646). The Whigs would remain in power until 1770, apart from one short period in 1762-3 (Castleden, 1995:646). The Tory Lord North took office in 1770 and remained Prime Minister until 1782. After this time, two Whigs, the Marquis of Rockingham and the Earl of Sherbourne, would hold office for no more than a year between them (Castleden, 1995:646). Once the famous Tory, William Pitt the Younger became Prime Minister in 1783 - apart from Lord Grenville's brief tenure as Prime Minister in 1806-1807 - the Tories would remain in power until Earl Grey won the general election in 1830 (Castleden, 1995:646). The Tories had essentially fallen apart once Lord Liverpool had resigned in 1827 (Lowe, 1989:24). Grey would remain Prime Minister until his resignation in 1834 because his main [next page]