Godolphin–Marlborough Ministry
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of the
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, and then of the
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, from May 1702, at the beginning of the reign of Queen Anne. During this period, the leaders of the ministry were Lord Godolphin and the Duke of Marlborough. On 8 August 1710 Godolphin was dismissed and the Harley ministry took power.


History

Upon Queen Anne's accession to the English throne in 1702, she appointed Lord Godolphin as
Lord High Treasurer The Lord High Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Acts of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third-highest-ranked Great Officer of State in England, below the Lord H ...
and the Duke of Marlborough as
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(among other numerous appointments). They would lead this coalition of Tories and Whigs until 1708, one year after the Act of Union formed the
Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain, also known as the Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in Western Europe from 1707 to the end of 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the Kingd ...
. There were three phases to the ministry. From 1702 to 1704 the ministry was largely Tory – Godolphin and Marlborough themselves were Tories, as were the
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and Sir Charles Hedges, the Secretaries of State. After Nottingham's resignation in 1704, Godolphin and Marlborough turned for support to the "Country" Whigs, led by Speaker Robert Harley. Not long after, the Whig complexion of the ministry grew, as Godolphin sought the support of Harley's opponents, the ''second
Whig Junto The Whig Junto is the name given to a group of leading Whigs who were seen to direct the management of the Whig Party and often the government, during the reigns of William III and Anne. The Whig Junto proper consisted of John Somers, later ...
'', bringing the Earl of Sunderland in to replace Hedges as Secretary of State in 1706, and other Junto allies like Sir William Cowper began to be appointed to positions of power. The leading ministers looked favourably on the Junto's strong support for the
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. Harley at this point began to turn against the ministry and towards the opposition Tories, and his resignation in 1708 left the government largely in the hands of the Junto for its last two years, with Sunderland as Secretary of State, Lord Somers as
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 Lor ...
, the
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as
First Lord of the Admiralty First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the title of the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible f ...
, and the Earl of Wharton as
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. The ministry finally collapsed in 1710 when Queen Anne turned to Harley and the Tories, dismissing Godolphin and the Junto Whigs, and, soon after, Marlborough himself.


List of ministers


See also

* 1st Parliament of Great Britain 1705–1708 * 2nd Parliament of Great Britain 1708–1710


References

* Chris Cook and John Stevenson, ''British Historical Facts 1688–1760'', Macmillan 1988, p. 33–35
World Statesmen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Godolphin-Marlborough ministry English ministries British ministries 1700s in England 1700s in Great Britain Ministries of Anne, Queen of Great Britain 1702 establishments in England 1710 disestablishments in Great Britain 1710s in Great Britain