Whig Junto
Somers, Montagu/Halifax and Orford
The Whig Junto is the name given to a group of leading
History
Somers, Wharton, Russell and Montagu were elected to the House of Commons in 1689[4] and were granted minor office. Their effectiveness in the Commons brought them Sunderland's attention. The Junto began to dominate the ministry from the time of the resignation of the Tory Secretary of State Lord Nottingham in 1693,[5] communicating to the King and Sunderland through the Whig Secretary of State, the Duke of Shrewsbury. As the members of the Junto entered the Lords — Somers was made Lord Keeper in 1693[6] and was promoted to a barony four years later,[7] Wharton succeeded his father as Baron Wharton in 1696,[8] Russell was created Earl of Orford in 1697[9] and Montagu(e)[n 1] was created Baron Halifax in 1700 — their hold on the Commons weakened and by 1700 the Junto was largely out of power.[10] In 1701 Somers, Orford and Halifax were impeached but survived the attack[11] and late in the year the Junto seemed set to return to power in order to help the king rally support for the War of the Spanish Succession.
However, King William's death in March 1702 delayed their return:
In 1705 Somers's protégé
The ministry's increasing dependence on the Junto Whigs caused the Queen's relationship with the Marlboroughs and Godolphin to sour. In 1710 Godolphin and the Junto Whigs were forced from power.[16] The Junto led opposition to the new ministry's peace policy from the House of Lords, leading to the creation of new peers to prevent this opposition from voting down the peace treaty.[17]
In North America, the Whig Junto was the inspiration for Benjamin Franklin's Junto in 1727 Philadelphia upon his return from London.[18]
The term "Junto", first attested in 1641, is derived from "junta", a Hispano-Portuguese term for a civil deliberative or administrative council,[19] which in 18th-century English had not yet gained its present association with the governments of a military dictatorship. The form "juncto" (after Latin junctum) was also used until about 1700.
First (Main) Whig Junto
| OFFICE | NAME | TERM |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | Sir Charles Montagu | 1694–1699 |
| First Lord of the Treasury | 1697–1699 | |
Lord Keeper |
The Lord Somers | 1694–1697 |
| Lord Chancellor | 1697–1699 | |
| Comptroller of the Household | The Lord Wharton |
1694–1699 |
| Master-General of the Ordnance | The Earl of Romney | 1694–1699 |
Lord High Admiral |
The Earl of Orford | 1694–1699 |
| Northern Secretary | The Duke of Shrewsbury | 1694–1695 |
| Southern Secretary | 1695–1698 | |
| Archbishop of Canterbury | Thomas Tenison | 1694–1699 |
| First Lord of the Treasury | T ) |
1694–1697 |
| Lord President of the Council | The Duke of Leeds | 1694–1699 |
| Lord Privy Seal | The Earl of Pembroke | 1694–1699 |
| Lord Steward | The Duke of Devonshire | 1694–1699 |
| Lord Chamberlain | The Earl of Sunderland | 1695–1699 |
| Southern Secretary | Sir John Trenchard |
1694–1695 |
| James Vernon[n 2] | 1698–1699 | |
| Northern Secretary | Sir William Trumbull | 1695–1697 |
| James Vernon | 1697–1699 | |
Later Whig Junto and the Whig Governments
The Junto came back to power within a year of the accession as King of George I, the Elector of Hanover, in 1714 but most of the members died early in the new reign: Wharton and Halifax in 1715, Somers the next year, while Orford and Sunderland soon fell out with each other, with Orford not holding office after 1717.
Whigs however took full control of the government in 1715, and despite a
Notes and references
- Notes
- References
- ^ Macaulay, Vol. IV, p.357
- ^ Macaulay, Vol. IV, pp.357-368
- ^ Macaulay, Vol. IV, pp.355-356
- ^ Macaulay, Vol. II, pp.484-486 (for Somers, Wharton, and Montagu)
- ^ Macaulay, Vol. IV, p.376
- ^ Macaulay, Vol. IV, p.299
- ^ Macaulay, Vol. IV, p.619
- ^ Macaulay, Vol. IV, p.545
- ^ Macaulay, Vol. IV, p.619
- ^ Macaulay, Vol. V., pp.115-130
- ^ Macaulay, Vol. V., pp.194-200, 218-219; Clark, p. 195
- ^ Hopkinson, p.178
- ^ Hopkinson, p.239
- ^ Hopkinson, p.249
- ^ Clark, p.225
- ^ Clark, p.227
- ^ Clark, p.233; Hopkinson, p.339
- ^ Bunker, Nick. Young Benjamin Franklin. Vintage Books, New York. 2018.
- ^ "junto". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ H. T. Dickinson; Walpole and the Whig Supremacy. (1973) online edition
Sources
- Clark, George (1955). The Later Stuarts 1660–1714 (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
- Coward, Barry (2017). "chapter 13". The Stuart Age (5th ed.).
- Gregg, Edward (2001). Queen Anne. Yale University Press.
- Hopkinson, M. R. (1934). Anne of England: The Biography of a Great Queen. New York: Macmillan.
- Macaulay, Thomas Babington (1878). History of England from the Accession of James II. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott.