Godolphin–Marlborough ministry
Godolphin–Marlborough ministry | |
---|---|
Legislature term(s) | 1st Parliament of Queen Anne (England) 1702-1707 Scottish Parliament (Scotland) 1st British Parliament (after 1707) |
Successor | Harley ministry |
This is a list of the principal Ministers of the Crown of the Kingdom of England, and then of the Kingdom of Great Britain, 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
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, 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 War of the Spanish Succession. 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 Earl of Orford as First Lord of the Admiralty, and the Earl of Wharton as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
. 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 Britain1705–1708
- 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