House of Commons Exclusion of John Wilkes
- When
- 1769
- Where
- British House of Commons, London; City of London
- Episodes
- 2
In February 1769 the British House of Commons expelled John Wilkes after his return for Middlesex, on the grounds that he had been an outlaw when elected. The supplied passages date the expulsion only to February 1769 and do not confirm the legacy date of 17 February 1769 or any vote count. Wilkes answered by becoming an Alderman of London later that year.
Episodes
- Wilkes defies exclusion as London Alderman
In defiance of his exclusion, Wilkes became an Alderman of London in 1769, supported by the Society for the Supporters of the Bill of Rights.
- House of Commons excludes John Wilkes
Parliament expelled Wilkes in February 1769, ruling he had been an outlaw when returned for Middlesex. The passages do not confirm the legacy date of 17 February 1769 or any vote count.
Background and detail
Background. John Wilkes, a British radical, journalist and politician, had returned to England in 1768 under pressure from his French creditors. His imprisonment in the King's Bench Prison that May provoked supporters to gather on St George's Fields, London, where troops fired on unarmed demonstrators, killing several and wounding fifteen in the incident remembered as the Massacre of St George's Fields.
Political Context. At the heart of the Middlesex election dispute, Wilkes fought for the right of his voters, rather than the House of Commons, to determine their representatives. Parliament nonetheless expelled him in February 1769, on the grounds that he was an outlaw when returned, a decision that set the Commons against the expressed choice of his constituents.
Aftermath. Wilkes responded to his exclusion in defiance, becoming an Alderman of London in 1769 and drawing on his supporters' group, the Society for the Supporters of the Bill of Rights. The dispute over who should determine representatives remained the defining issue of the Middlesex election controversy.
People involved
- John Wilkes · Radical politician excluded from the House of Commons
- British House of Commons · Chamber that expelled Wilkes in February 1769
Sources
- John Wilkes Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.