WILKES, Mtn, English politician: b. Lon don, 1727; d. December 1797. He was the son of a wealthy distiller and was educated at the University of Leyden. In 1757 he was returned to Parliament as member for Aylesbury and in 1762 attained considerable reputation by the publication of a paper entitled the North Brawl. in which the administration of Lord Bute was severely attacked. These papers has tened the resignation of Lord Bute, April 1763, and the same month the North Briton com mented on the king's speech in such caustic terms that a prosecution was determined upon. Wilkes, among others, was apprehended; but he asserted the illegality of the warrant and re ftising to answer interrogatories was com mitted to the Tower. Some days after, he was brought by writ of habeas corpus before the court and ordered discharged on the ground that his privilege as a member of Parliament had been violated. On the next meeting of Parliament, however, a special law was passed to sanction Wilkes' prosecution, and in January 1764 he was expelled from the House of Com mons. A second charge was also brought against him for printing an obscene poem, en titled an 'Essay on Women,' and he was found guilty of blasphemy as well as libel. As he had by this time withdrawn to France and did not appear to receive sentence, he was outlawed. He made vain attempts to procure the reversal of his outlawry. but trusting to hispopularity ventured to return on a change of ministry (1768). He was elected to Parliament for Mid dlesex, but before he could take his seat was committed to prison to fulfil the sentences previously passed upon him, and not long after was expelled from the House for an alleged li bel upon the Secretary of State and Secretary at War. Three times after this he was re
elected within a few months, but the House of Commons persisted in keeping him out, and after the third election the other candidate, al though he had got but a small minority of the votes, was declared duly returned. In 1770 he was released from his imprisonment. He was now more than ever the idol of the people. He was elected alderman of London, sheriff of Middlesex, and finally mayor (1774). In 1774 be was again elected to Parliament for Middle sex and allowed to take his seat, which be held till 1790. His last triumph was obtained in 1782, when the resolutions respecting the disputed Middlesex elections were ordered to be ex punged from the journal of the House of Com mons. From the year 1779 he was chamber lain of the city of London. Wilkes, as a writer and speaker, did not reach beyond medi ocrity. His private character was very licen tious, but he possessed elegant manners, fine taste, ready wit and pleasing conversation. His 'Letters and Speeches' were published by him self in 1786; and much light is thrown upon his conduct by the 'Letters from the Year 1774 to the N'ear 1796 to His Daughter' (1894). His cor respondence was also published (1805), with a memoir by Almon. Consult Fitzgerald, 'The Life and Times of John Wilkes, M.P.' (1888).