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Bedfordite
The Bedford Whigs (or Bedfordites) were an 18th-century British political faction, led by John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford. Other than Bedford himself, notable members included John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich; Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Gower; Richard Rigby, who served as principal Commons manager for the group; Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth; Edward Thurlow; and George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough History The Bedfordites emerged as a specific faction in the wake of Bedford's dismissal as Secretary of State in 1751. Initially, Bedford opposed the ministry, dominated by the Old Corps Whigs led by Prime Minister Henry Pelham and his brother the Duke of Newcastle. Following Pelham's death in 1754, Bedford aligned himself with Henry Fox, and after Fox became Secretary of State in late 1755, some of Bedford's followers accepted jobs in the new administration. When the Devonshire- Pitt ministry was formed in November 1756, Bedford gave it his blessi ...
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Whigs (British Political Party)
The Whigs were a political party in the Parliaments of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Between the 1680s and the 1850s, the Whigs contested power with their rivals, the Tories. The Whigs became the Liberal Party when the faction merged with the Peelites and Radicals in the 1850s. Many Whigs left the Liberal Party in 1886 over the issue of Irish Home Rule to form the Liberal Unionist Party, which merged into the Conservative Party in 1912. The Whigs began as a political faction that opposed absolute monarchy and Catholic emancipation, supporting constitutional monarchism and parliamentary government, but also Protestant supremacy. They played a central role in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and were the standing enemies of the Roman Catholic Stuart kings and pretenders. The period known as the Whig Supremacy (1714–1760) was enabled by the Hanoverian succession of George I in 1714 and the failure of the Jacobite rising of 1715 ...
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John Russell, 4th Duke Of Bedford
John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford (30 September 17105 January 1771) was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig statesman and peer who served as the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1757 to 1761. A leading member of the Whig party during the Seven Years' War, he negotiated the 1763 Treaty of Paris (1763), Treaty of Paris which ended the conflict. Bedford was also an early promoter of cricket and a Patronage, patron of the arts who commissioned numerous works from prominent artists, most notably Canaletto.G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910–1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 82-84, volume VIII, page 500.Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (C ...
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Richard Rigby
Richard Rigby PC (February 1722 – 8 April 1788), was an English civil servant and politician who sat in the British House of Commons for 43 years from 1745 to 1788. He served as Chief Secretary for Ireland and Paymaster of the Forces. Rigby accumulated a fortune serving the Crown and politician wheeler-dealers in the dynamic 18th-century parliament. Background and education The Rigby family took Mistley Hall in Essex as the site of their manor, but was descended from the Rigby of Burgh family. Rigby's father and immediate ancestors made a fortune as merchant drapers in the City of London, as merchants and colonial officers in the West Indies, and as speculators in the South Sea Bubble. Richard Rigby's father also had the same name, and was significant in the history of Jamaica, serving as its secretary, the provost marshal, and a member of the Royal Assembly in the late 17th and early 18th century. He was also part-owner of a plantation in Antigua and a slave trader. His el ...
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Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess Of Stafford
Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, KG PC (4 August 172126 October 1803), known as Viscount Trentham from 1746 to 1754 and as The Earl Gower from 1754 to 1786, was a British politician from the Leveson-Gower family. Sitting in the House of Lords, he spent a quarter of a century in the Cabinet. Background Stafford was a son of John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower (1694–1754) and his wife Lady Evelyn Pierrepont. His maternal grandparents were Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull and his first wife Lady Mary Feilding. Mary was a daughter of William Feilding, 3rd Earl of Denbigh and his wife Mary King. His father was a prominent Tory politician who became the first major Tory to enter government since the succession of George I of Great Britain, joining the administration of John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville in 1742. Gower was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. Political and industrial investment career Stafford was electe ...
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Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom, Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main channel of communication between the Sovereign and the House of Lords. The office organises all ceremonial activity such as garden parties, state visits, royal weddings, and the State Opening of Parliament. They also oversee the Royal Mews and royal travel, as well as the ceremony around the awarding of honours. From 1737 to 1968, the Lord Chamberlain had the power to decide which Play (theatre), plays would be granted a licence for performance; this meant that he had the capacity to censor theatre at his pleasure. The Lord Chamberlain is always sworn of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, Privy Council, is usually a peerage, peer and before 1782 the post was of Cab ...
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Lord Privy Seal
The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. Originally, its holder was responsible for the monarch's Privy Seal of England, personal (privy) seal (as opposed to the Great Seal of the Realm, which is in the care of the lord chancellor) until the use of such a seal became obsolete. Though one of the oldest offices in European governments, it has no particular function today because the use of a privy seal has been obsolete for centuries; it may be regarded as a traditional sinecure, but today, the holder of the office is invariably given a seat in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, and is sometimes referred to as a Minister without portfolio (United Kingdom), minister without portfolio. Since the premiership of Clement Attlee, the position of Lord Privy S ...
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Master Of The Horse
Master of the Horse is an official position in several European nations. It was more common when most countries in Europe were monarchies, and is of varying prominence today. (ancient Rome) The original Master of the Horse () in the Roman Republic was an office appointed and dismissed by the Roman Dictator, and expired with the Dictator's own office, typically a term of six months in the early and mid-republic. The served as the Dictator's main lieutenant. The Dictator nominated the , unless a specified, as was sometimes the case, the appointee. The Dictator could not rule without a to assist him, and, consequently, if the first either died or was dismissed during the Dictator's term, another had to be nominated in his stead. The was granted a form of , but at the same level as a , and thus was subject to the of the Dictator and his powers were not superior to those of a Consul. In the Dictator's absence, the became his representative, and exercised the same powers as t ...
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Lord President Of The Council
The Lord President of the Council is the presiding officer of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the fourth of the Great Officers of State, ranking below the Lord High Treasurer but above the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. The Lord President usually attends and is responsible for chairing the meetings of the Privy Council, presenting business for the approval of the Sovereign. The office and its history The Privy Council meets once a month, wherever the sovereign may be residing at the time, to give formal approval to Orders in Council. Only a few privy counsellors need attend such meetings, and only when invited to do so at the government's request. As the duties of the Lord President are not onerous, the post has often been given to a government minister whose responsibilities are not department-specific. In recent years it has been most typical for the Lord President also to serve as Leader of the House of Commons or Leader of the House of Lords. The Lord Pre ...
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Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland
Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, PC (28 September 1705 – 1 July 1774) was an English peer and Whig politician who served as the Secretary at War from 1746 to 1755. He also held the offices of Secretary of State for the Southern Department from 1755 to 1756 and Paymaster of the Forces from 1757 to 1765, enriching himself while holding the latter office. While Fox was widely tipped as a potential candidate for the office of Prime Minister, he never held the office. His third son was the Whig statesman Charles James Fox. Early life He was the second son of Sir Stephen Fox (1627-1716) by his second wife, Christiana Hope (d. 1718), and inherited a large share of his father's wealth. He squandered most of it soon after attaining his majority, and went to Continental Europe to escape from his creditors. There he made the acquaintance of a woman of fortune, who became his patroness and was so generous to him that, after several years' absence, he was in a position to return home ...
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Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess Of Rockingham
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (13 May 1730 – 1 July 1782), styled The Honourable Charles Watson-Wentworth before 1739, Viscount Higham between 1739 and 1746, Earl of Malton between 1746 and 1750, and the Marquess of Rockingham from 1750, was a British Whig statesman and magnate, most notable for his two terms as Prime Minister of Great Britain. He became the patron of many Whigs, known as the Rockingham Whigs, and served as a leading Whig grandee. He served in only two high offices during his lifetime (prime minister and leader of the House of Lords) but was nonetheless very influential during his one and a half years of service. Early life: 1730–1751 Family and military career A descendant of the 1st Earl of Strafford, Lord Rockingham was the second son of Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Baron Malton (1st Earl of Malton from 1734) and the former Lady Mary Finch, daughter of the 7th Earl of Winchilsea. He was brought up at the family's lavish h ...
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George Grenville
George Grenville (14 October 1712 – 13 November 1770) was a British Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain, during the early reign of the young George III. He served for only two years (1763-1765), and attempted to solve the problem of the massive debt resulting from the Seven Years' War. He instituted a series of measures to increase revenue to the crown, including new taxes and enforcement of collection, and sought to bring the North American colonies under tighter crown control. Born into an influential political family, Grenville first entered Parliament in 1741 as an MP for Buckingham. He emerged as one of the Cobhamites, a group of young members of Parliament associated with Lord Cobham. In 1754, Grenville became Treasurer of the Navy, a position he held twice until 1761. In October 1761 he chose to stay in government and accepted the new role of Leader of the Commons causing a rift with his brother-in-law and political ally William Pitt who ...
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John Stuart, 3rd Earl Of Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British Tory statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He became the first Tory to hold the position and was arguably the last important royal favourite in British politics. He was the first prime minister from Scotland following the Acts of Union in 1707. He was also elected as the first president of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland when it was founded in 1780. Early life Family He was born in Parliament Close, near to St Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh on 25 May 1713, the son of James Stuart, 2nd Earl of Bute, and his wife, Lady Anne Campbell. He attended Eton College from 1724 to 1730. He went on to study civil law at the Universities of Groningen (1730–1732) and Leiden (1732–1734) in the Netherlands, graduating from the latter with a degree in civil law. A close relativ ...
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