The Society of Gentlemen Supporters of the Bill of Rights was a British pressure group formed on 20 February 1769 to support

John Wilkes John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fo ...

after he was expelled from the House of Commons. The Society was formed at the

London Tavern The City of London Tavern or London Tavern was a notable meeting place in London during the 18th and 19th centuries. A place of business where people gathered to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, the tavern was situated in Bishopsgate ...

Bishopsgate Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate gave its name to the Bishopsgate Ward of the City of London. The ward is traditionally divided into ''Bishopsgate Within'', inside the line wall, and ''Bishop ...

in London. The lawyer

John Glynn John Glynn Serjeant-at-law of Glynn (1722–1779) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1768 to 1779. Glynn was born to a family of Cornish gentry. He inherited his father's estate at Glynn in the parish of ...

was elected as chairman. The members believed

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

was using the royal prerogative to invade the rights of electors to elect their representatives. They were named after the

Bill of Rights 1689 The Bill of Rights 1689 is an Act of the Parliament of England, which sets out certain basic civil rights and clarifies who would be next to inherit the Crown, and is seen as a crucial landmark in English constitutional law. It received Royal ...

which placed limits on the power of the monarch. In order to enable Wilkes to continue campaigning, the Society wanted to pay off Wilkes' debts. The preamble to the Society's charter read: "Whereas John Wilkes, Esq., has suffered very greatly in his private fortune, from the severe and repeated persecutions he has undergone in behalf of the public, and as it seems reasonable to us, that the man who suffers for the public good, should be supported by the public".

John Horne Tooke John Horne Tooke (25 June 1736 – 18 March 1812), known as John Horne until 1782 when he added the surname of his friend William Tooke to his own, was an England, English clergyman, politician, and Philology, philologist. Associated with radica ...

argued that the Society should send money to printers who had been jailed for printing tracts supporting liberty. Wilkes, seeing this as a diversion from paying off his debts, invited his friends to flood the next meeting of the Society to vote against this proposal. On 9 April 1771, the Society split, with Tooke, Richard Oliver, James Townsend,

John Sawbridge John Sawbridge (1732 – 21 February 1795) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1768 to 1780. Sawbridge was the eldest son of John Sawbridge, FRS of Olantigh and his wife Elizabeth Wanley, daughter of George Wanley. ...

, Glynn and many others forming their own

Constitutional Society The Society for Constitutional Information was a British activist group founded in 1780 by Major John Cartwright, to promote parliamentary reform. It was an organisation of social reformers, many of whom were drawn from the rational dissenting c ...

. This left the Bill of Rights Society under Wilkes' leadership with 63 members, with Wilkes abandoning his attempt to limit the Society's funds for himself alone. On 23 July 1771, the Society published a manifesto calling for annual Parliaments, the exclusion of placemen and pensioners from the House of Commons, outlawing bribery in elections, the "full and equal representation of the people", the abolition of all excise taxes and for America not to be taxed without her consent.

References

Bibliography

*{{cite book, first=Arthur H., last=Cash, title=John Wilkes. The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty, location=

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, publisher=

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, year=2006, isbn=0300108710, oclc=851982043 1769 establishments in England 1769 establishments in Great Britain 1776 disestablishments in England 1776 disestablishments in Great Britain Organizations established in 1769 Organizations disestablished in 1776 Politics of the Kingdom of Great Britain Political organisations based in the United Kingdom Radicals (UK)