GEORGE I. ( GEORGE Louis) (1660-1727). The first Hanoverian King of Great Britain and Ireland (1714-27). He was the son of Ernest Augustus, first Elector of Hanover, and Sophia, granddaughter of James I. of England, and was born at Hanover on March 28, 1660. Entering the army at the age of fifteen, he distinguished himself in many campaigns by his bravery. His morals, however, were as loose as those of his contemporaries of equal rank; intrigues and mis tresses made his marriage with his cousin, Sophia Dorothea, unfortunate. When his mother, at an advanced age, was declared heiress to the throne of England by the Act of Settlement of 1701, George drew near to Marlborough and the Whigs, on whom he relied for the support of his claim. After the death of Queen Anne, accord ingly, he succeeded to the crown without diffi culty, and reached England August 18, 1714. Un like William III., who had aimed to reconcile opponents by calling men of both parties to the Ministry, George, a far inferior man, employed Whigs only as advisers. Utterly ignorant of English character, and even of the language, and lacking sympathy with his new subjects, he aimed to exploit England for the benefit of his German electorate. Another ground for his unpopularity was the greed of his favorites and mistresses, who sold offices, great and small. George had little to do personally with the Government, which was carried on by his ministers, at first by Stan hope and Townshend, and later by Walpole. The Jacobite insurrection of 1715 was easily sup pressed, the leaders were put to death, and about a thousand rebels were transported to the plan tations. After this event George's frequent visits to Hanover made him still more unpopular, and even while he was in England he rarely attended the Cabinet, as he could not understand the dis cussions. For these reasons the power came rapidly into the hands of Walpole. In one of
the absences (1720), the South Sea bubble burst, and the misfortune was naturally laid at the King's door; the company was alleged to have paid great bribes to the Duchess of Kendall, his favorite mistress. Thereupon some advised George to abdicate in favor of the Prince of Wales; others urged him to seize absolute con trol of the Government. Without permitting him to resort to either expedient, Walpole, supported by Townshend, brought the Government safely through the crisis. Some time afterwards the demand of Spain for the restoration of Gibraltar and of Minorca (1725) led to a short war with that country. Admiral Hosier commanded an unsuccessful expedition to the Spanish posses sions in America (1726), but in 1727 peace was signed. The King died of apoplexy on a journey to Hanover on June 11, 1727. He had two legiti mate children—George, who succeeded him, and Sophia Dorothea. Commonplace in ability as well as in personal appearance, George neverthe less gave England a wise foreign policy, and though he was by nature autocratic, the circum stances of his reign favored the growth of con stitutional principles.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Havemann, Geschichte der Bibliography. Havemann, Geschichte der Lande Braunschiweig and Luneburg, vol. iii. (Got tingen, 1857), the best authority for private life; Marlotie, Beitroge zur Geschichte des 'fetuses and Hofes (Hanover, 1860-62) ; Klopp, Fall des Hauses Stuart, ix.-xiv. (Vienna, 1881 88), an exhaustive work; Stanhope, History of England (7 vols., London, 1836-54) ; Ranke, His tory of England (6 vols., Oxford, 1875) ; Coxe, Life of Walpole (London, 1808) ; Wright, Eng land Under the House of Hanover (London, 1848) ; Thackeray, The Four Georges (New York, 1860), which describes the manners, morals, etc., of the time; English Historical Review (London, 1886).