Talk:John Wilkes
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[edit] Prank
So what was the prank that wound up the Hellfire Club? Cutler 11:29, Nov 19, 2004 (UTC)
According to a book I own, Wilkes introduced a baboon at one of the Hellfire Club orgies, and frightened many of the members present, who mistook the monkey for Satan. Cyanne234 19:31, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] To do
There is a job to do here of tidying up the events surrounding publication of No 45 of the North Briton, which includes Entick v. Carrington and a number of other court cases. Cutler 00:30, Nov 19, 2004 (UTC)
An event mentioned in this article is a May 10 selected anniversary (may be in HTML comment)
what is an MP?
When John Wilkes separated from the Hell Fire Club, John exposed their orgies and evil ways. When the Earl of Sandwich told John that he would die either on the gallows or the pox, John reportedly said "That, Sir would depend on whether I embrace your mistresses or your principles."
An MP is a Member of the Parliament. John won an election by a huge landslide but the seat was given to the second place winner. John helped America's Freedom of Speech, Bill of Rights, Search Warrant requirements and other rights to protect the people from a tyrannical system of government. Things like the Stamp Act, Tea Act that had brought about the Boston Tea Party caused people to argue about taxation without representation. Taxes were supposed to be a voluntary gift of representative assemblies. "Wilkes, Liberty and 45" was referring to Psalm 119:45 when he was not afraid to speak out against a King in The North Briton. Number 45 is the verse that speaks about liberty in the King James Verson of Psalm 119. It is also referred in James 1:24 stating the Law of Liberty.
John Wilkes was married to Mary Meade having one daughter named Mary (Polly) who died in 1802. He had two other children named John Wilkes and Harriet Wilkes. His descendants are scattered in Canada and the United States. I know this because he is my Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather. I was born in 1953 in Aurora, Illinois, USA. My mother is Ruth Wilkes (1928), daughter of Thomas Coleman Wilkes (1886), son of Henry Charles Wilkes (1834), son of John Aston Wilkes (1807), son of John Aston Wilkes (1782), son of John Wilkes married to Catherine Smith, son of John Wilkes (1727-1797)who was married to Mary Meade.
John Wilkes was close with members of the Whig party from Britian to the 13 Colonies on the American Continent. His Great Nephew was Admiral Charles Wilkes who founded Antarctica where it is named Wilkes Land during the Seven Seas Exploration in 1838-1842. They would not have had the same views if they lived in the same century.
I, Sandra [Wilkes] Bouchard used other internet sources from the writings by a British writer, Marjie Bloy on her Victorian Web, "The Age of King George III"; "International Law Matters, Part XXII: March of Folly" column on the web by William Brinton published on March 11, 2003; "Wilkes Liberty and Number 45" in the Colonial Williamsburg Journal on the web by Jack Lynch and other web sites on John Wilkes. According to literatute that I read about King George III when he lost to America, King George III said that America is lost and the powers of Kingdoms is novel posing a thought that if we "adapted to the real evils of the presnt moment, it would be dreaded ones of the future." SJB
Some of these dates are all screwed up. A lot of the stuff that's said here to have happened in 1769 happened in '68, and while some of the dates themselves are correct (save for the year), a few are just completely off. I've been working with the Gentleman's Magazine "Historical Register" publication from the time period as part of a non-WP project, but I can go through and sort out the problems sometime in the future. Since Gentleman's was a contemporary monthly summary of events, I have little doubt that it's at least right on the dates. Fearwig 01:01, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Confident/Confidant
Under the section on radical journalism it says "his confident, Lord Bute". Surely it should be "confidant"
[edit] JW and JWB.
This article states that John Wilkes Booth was related to John Wilkes. The John Wilkes Booth article states that Booth's family claimed to be distantly related to him. Anyone have the real scoop? (I wouldn't be surprised if JWB was simply named after JW, who was a hero among the revolutionary crowd. See, e.g., Wilkes-Barre, PA, named after JW and another MP who was pro-independence.)
- That whole section "Triva" [sic] was a drive-by somewhat low-quality edit by an anon yesterday. It needs cleanup. The article also needs to decide whether the section headings are all H1 or H2 (one = or two). David Brooks 01:45, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Omissions
The biggest problem with this article is that it leaves out much that is signficant about Wilkes. He was influential among many men who became active in the movement for American independence, including the Lee brothers of Virginia and Caron de Beaumarchais, who was instrumental in providing the early supplies of arms and munitions for the colonists' war effort and in convincing the French to ally with the Americans.
More importantly, however, Wilkes' election to Alderman, sheriff, and MP all indicated an upswelling of popular political participation that signaled a new era in British politics.
Somewhere in there someone needs to work in the word "Wilkesian," too, since someone might do a search for that word and come up empty. The word meant one who supports Wilkes and his politics.
On the other hand, "Wilkite" is the more commonly accepted term for the idea expressed above.
[edit] Portrait
There is a very charming painting of Wilkes and his daughter in the National Portrait Gallery in London. I gather that it was quite rare at that time for public men like him to be portrayed with their families. Cranston Lamont 20:03, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
