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"he could judge with calmness & correctness on the data submitted to him, though perhaps not very quickly":
died 1828 Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd earl of from 1812-1827

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2020-12-04

1688 James II reached but rapidly abandoned plans to push his cavalry forward to meet William of Orange as he didn't trust them not to defect. He took to his bed suffering from stress & constant nosebleeds

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2020-11-19

1688 William of Orange made his landing at Torbay. With him was an invasion army numbering between 14,000 & 15,000, including troops from Switzerland, Finland & 200 black soldiers from Dutch plantations in

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2020-11-05

"it is the Duty of a Good Citizen to assist as far as circumstances will allow every individual under sufferance for exertion in the cause of liberty"
Catharine Macaulay to John Wilkes, who was born 1725

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2020-10-29

Beginning to chip away at a new biography, & have been referred from the off to EB Chancellor's Lives of the Rakes. It's going to be a good one...

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2020-09-24

"forced to grapple with a problem far beyond his statesmanship & indeed well-nigh insoluble, his career was one of disaster". Died 1792 former Frederick North, 2nd earl of Guilford, better known as Lord North.

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2020-08-05

Grenville had considered applying for a a few years before going to the Lords, but admitted that he feared it might have "the appearance of putting myself hors de combat. I am not in the same mind about it for any 10 minutes together."

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2020-07-18

1757 Thomas Potter was elected MP for Okehampton, completing the triangular arrangement by which he had left John Wilkes his seat at after Pitt the Elder quit Okehampton for Bath

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2020-07-13

"What can be more necessary... than to set people right in that which most concerns them, their religious & civil liberties & justify the proceedings of the present age by those of the past?"
John Oldmixon, Whig historian, died 1742

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2020-07-09

Died at noon 1816 Richard Brinsley Sheridan, impresario, playwright & MP, whose oratory in was second to none.
His death was "rapidly accelerated by grief, disappointment, & a deep sense of the neglect he experienced."

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2020-07-07

1783 the House of Lords debated the bribery bill. The earl of Sandwich spoke against lambasting it as:
"a bill of absurdities & such as was fraught with much mischief to the constitutional freedom of election"

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2020-06-25

"The liberty of the press is the birth-right of a Briton, and is justly esteemed the firmest bulwark of the liberties of this country". Opening line of John Wilkes's The North Briton No.1 published 1762

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2020-06-05

In the pre-reform House of Commons was well-represented: 14 boroughs returned MPs though on limited franchises. Thomas Pitt found at
"The corporation consists of 16 persons, 2 of them were sick, 1 of them was run away for debt"

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2020-06-04

"his choice of words was perfect, his voice beautiful, & his way of putting aside the question when he chose, & fascinating the minds of men, astounding."
Georgiana, duchess of Devonshire, on Pitt the Younger born 1759

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2020-05-28

Married 1747 John Wilkes & Mary Mead. Mary's property enabled Wilkes to refashion himself as squire of & gave him an entrée into
The marriage didn't last.

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2020-05-23

Born 1645 George 'Judge' Jeffreys, notorious for his role in the Bloody Assizes following the Monmouth Rebellion. James II made him his lord chancellor. He tried to flee in disguise at the 'Glorious Revolution' but was caught in

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2020-05-15

1791 the long-awaited clash between Burke & Fox took place in in the debate over the Bill. Fox broke down in tears over their falling out:
"frequent effusions of tears, choked & embarrassed his utterance for a great part of his speech"

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2020-05-06

"To the objects of oppression he is prodigal of pity, yet penurious of relief; & to its authors, ready to condemn yet unwilling to chastise"
Edmund Burke castigating Charles James Fox in the debate in on the French Corps Bill 1794

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2020-04-17

"his beard was unshaved...his nightgown was old & dirty; the collar of his shirt was open...the knees of his breeches were unbuttoned; his stockings were ungartered & hung low upon his legs; his slippers were down at the heels"
Charles James Fox in mode

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2020-04-17

Died 1806 Georgiana, duchess of Devonshire: incomparable icon of culture, fashion & politics

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2020-03-30