Abhorrers, the name given in 1679 to the persons who expressed their abhorrence at the action of those who had signed petitions urging King Charles II of England to assemble

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. Feeling against Catholics, and especially against James, Duke of York, was running strongly; the

Exclusion Bill The Exclusion Crisis ran from 1679 until 1681 in the reign of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. Three Exclusion bills sought to exclude the King's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, Sco ...

had been passed by the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

, and the popularity of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, was very great. To prevent this bill from passing into law, Charles had dissolved parliament in July 1679, and in the following October had

prorogue Prorogation in the Westminster system of government is the action of proroguing, or interrupting, a parliament, or the discontinuance of meetings for a given period of time, without a dissolution of parliament. The term is also used for the period ...

d its successor, which became known as the

Exclusion Bill Parliament The Exclusion Bill Parliament was a Parliament of England during the reign of Charles II of England, named after the long saga of the Exclusion Bill. Summoned on 24 July 1679, but prorogued by the king so that it did not assemble until 21 Octob ...

, without allowing it to meet. He was then deluged with petitions urging him to call it together, and this agitation was opposed by Sir George Jeffreys and

Francis Wythens Sir Francis Wythens SL KC (c. 1635 – 9 May 1704) of Eltham, Kent was a British judge and politician. Life Born to William Wythens and his wife Frances King, Wythens matriculated at St John's College, Oxford on 13 November 1650 before joining ...

, who presented addresses expressing ''abhorrence'' of the ''Petitioners,'' and thus initiated the movement of the abhorrers, who supported the action of the king. "The frolic went all over

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

," says Roger North; and the addresses of the Abhorrers which reached the king from all parts of the country formed a counterblast to those of the

Petitioner {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 A petitioner is a person who pleads with governmental institution for a legal remedy or a redress of grievances, through use of a petition. In the courts The petitioner may seek a legal remedy if the state or ano ...

s. It is said that the terms Whig and

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

were first applied to English political parties in consequence of this dispute.

References

1679 in England Stuart England Political history of England {{England-stub