{{short description|English Whig cabal during the reigns of William III and Anne}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{multiple image | align = right | image1 = Portrait of John Somers, Baron Somers.jpg | width1 = 100 | alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 = 1stEarlOfHalifax.jpg | width2 = 100 | alt2 = | caption2 = | image3 = Gibson, Edward Russell.jpg | width3 = 100 | alt3 = | caption3 = | footer = Three members of the Junto: from left to right, Lords:<br />Somers, Montagu/Halifax and Orford }}
The '''Whig Junto''' is the name given to a group of leading [[British Whig Party|Whigs]] who were seen to direct the management of the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig Party]] and often the government, during the reigns of [[William III of England|William III]] and [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Anne]].<ref>Macaulay, Vol. IV, p.357</ref> The Whig Junto proper consisted of [[John Somers, 1st Baron Somers|John Somers]], later Baron Somers; [[Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax|Charles Montagu]], later Earl of Halifax; [[Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess of Wharton|Thomas Wharton]], later Marquess of Wharton, and [[Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford|Edward Russell]], later Earl of Orford.<ref>Macaulay, Vol. IV, pp.357-368</ref> They came to prominence due to the favour of [[Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland]]<ref>Macaulay, Vol. IV, pp.355-356</ref> and, during the reign of Queen Anne, Sunderland's son, the [[Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland|3rd Earl]] succeeded his father. Opponents gave them the nickname "the five tyrannising lords". Other figures prominent around the edges of the Junto include [[John Trenchard (Secretary of State)|Sir John Trenchard]] and [[Thomas Tollemache]].
==History== Somers, Wharton, Russell and Montagu were elected to the House of Commons in 1689<ref>Macaulay, Vol. II, pp.484-486 (for Somers, Wharton, and Montagu)</ref> 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 [[Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham|Lord Nottingham]] in 1693,<ref>Macaulay, Vol. IV, p.376</ref> communicating to the King and Sunderland through the Whig Secretary of State, [[Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury|the Duke of Shrewsbury]]. As the members of the Junto entered the Lords — Somers was made [[Lord Keeper of the Great Seal|Lord Keeper]] in 1693<ref>Macaulay, Vol. IV, p.299</ref> and was promoted to a barony four years later,<ref>Macaulay, Vol. IV, p.619</ref> Wharton succeeded his father as Baron Wharton in 1696,<ref>Macaulay, Vol. IV, p.545</ref> Russell was created Earl of Orford in 1697<ref>Macaulay, Vol. IV, p.619</ref> and Montagu(e){{#tag:ref|The spelling in this generation of his family still varied.|group= n}} was created Baron Halifax in 1700 — their hold on the Commons weakened and by 1700 the Junto was largely out of power.<ref>Macaulay, Vol. V., pp.115-130</ref> In 1701 Somers, Orford and Halifax were impeached but survived the attack<ref>Macaulay, Vol. V., pp.194-200, 218-219; Clark, p. 195</ref> 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: [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]] detested them and refused to include them in the ministry, which was instead dominated by [[Tory Party|High Tories]], with whom her sympathies lay.<ref>Hopkinson, p.178</ref> With the elder Sunderland dead, the Junto's connection to his son — who was the son-in-law of the Queen's favourite couple, the [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough|Duke and Duchess of Marlborough]] — proved useful, as did the Junto's support of the war, which contrasted with Tory ambivalence to it.
In 1705 Somers's protégé [[William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper|Lord Cowper]], whom the Queen liked and trusted, was made [[Lord Keeper]]<ref>Hopkinson, p.239</ref> and in 1706 Sunderland became a Secretary of State, even though the Queen disliked him even more than she did the rest of the Junto.<ref>Hopkinson, p.249</ref> After the resignation of [[Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer|Harley]] in 1708, Marlborough and his ally the Lord Treasurer [[Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin|Godolphin]] became more and more dependent on the Junto, who returned to office with Somers as Lord President, Wharton as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Orford as First Lord of the Admiralty.<ref>Clark, p.225</ref>
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.<ref>Clark, p.227</ref> 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.<ref>Clark, p.233; Hopkinson, p.339</ref>
In North America, the Whig Junto was the inspiration for Benjamin Franklin's Junto in 1727 Philadelphia upon his return from London.<ref>Bunker, Nick. Young Benjamin Franklin. Vintage Books, New York. 2018.</ref>
The term "Junto", first attested in 1641, is derived from "[[Junta (governing body)|junta]]", a [[Spanish language|Hispano]]-[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] term for a civil deliberative or administrative council,<ref>{{Cite OED|junto}}</ref> 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== {{main|First Whig Junto}} {| cellpadding="1" cellspacing="4" style="margin:3px; border:3px solid #000000;" align="center" border=1 style="border-collapse: collapse;" !bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"| |- |align="left"|'''OFFICE'''||align="left"|'''NAME'''||align="left"|'''TERM''' |- !bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"| |- |align="left"|[[Chancellor of the Exchequer]]||align="left" rowspan="2"|'''[[Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax|Sir Charles Montagu]]'''||align="left"|1694–1699 |- |align="left" |[[First Lord of the Treasury]]||align="left"|1697–1699 |- |align="left"|[[Lord Keeper]]||align="left" rowspan="2"|'''[[John Somers, 1st Baron Somers|The Lord Somers]]'''||align="left"|1694–1697 |- |align="left" |[[Lord Chancellor]]||align="left"|1697–1699 |- |align="left"|[[Comptroller of the Household]]||align="left"|'''[[Thomas Wharton, 5th Baron Wharton|The Lord Wharton]]'''||align="left"|1694–1699 |- |align="left"|[[Master-General of the Ordnance]]||align="left"|'''[[Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney|The Earl of Romney]]'''||align="left"|1694–1699 |- |align="left"|[[British Admiralty|Lord High Admiral]]||align="left"|'''[[Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford|The Earl of Orford]]'''||align="left"|1694–1699 |- |align="left"|[[Secretary of State for the Northern Department|Northern Secretary]]||align="left" rowspan="2"|'''[[Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury|The Duke of Shrewsbury]]'''||align="left"|1694–1695 |- |align="left"|[[Secretary of State for the Southern Department|Southern Secretary]]||align="left"|1695–1698 |- !bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"| |- |align="left"|[[Archbishop of Canterbury]]||align="left"|'''[[Thomas Tenison]]'''||align="left"|1694–1699 |- |align="left" |[[First Lord of the Treasury]]||align="left"|'''[[Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin|The Lord Godolphin of Rialton]] ([[Tory Party|T]])'''||align="left"|1694–1697 |- |align="left"|[[Lord President of the Council]]||align="left"|'''[[Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds|The Duke of Leeds]]'''||align="left"|1694–1699 |- |align="left"|[[Lord Privy Seal]]||align="left"|'''[[Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke|The Earl of Pembroke]]'''||align="left"|1694–1699 |- |align="left" |[[Lord Steward]]||align="left"|'''[[William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire|The Duke of Devonshire]]'''||align="left"|1694–1699 |- |align="left" |[[Lord Chamberlain]]||align="left"|'''[[Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland|The Earl of Sunderland]]'''||align="left"|1695–1699 |- |align="left" rowspan="2"|[[Secretary of State for the Southern Department|Southern Secretary]]||'''[[John Trenchard (Secretary of State)|Sir John Trenchard]]'''||align="left"|1694–1695 |- |align="left"|'''[[James Vernon (politician, born 1646)|James Vernon]]'''{{#tag:ref|James Vernon was appointed Secretary of State in 1697, with responsibility for the Northern Department. The following year, after the Duke of Shrewsbury left the government, he took responsibility for the Southern Department as well.|group= n}}||align="left"|1698–1699 |- |align="left" rowspan="2"|[[Secretary of State for the Northern Department|Northern Secretary]]||align="left"|'''[[William Trumbull|Sir William Trumbull]]'''||align="left"|1695–1697 |- |align="left"|'''[[James Vernon (politician, born 1646)|James Vernon]]'''||align="left"|1697–1699 |}
==Later Whig Junto and the Whig Governments== [[File:The Whig Junto 1710.jpg|thumb|210px|''[[The Whig Junto|The Second Whig Junto]]'' by John James Baker, 1710]] {{main|Whigs (British political party)|Second Whig Junto}} The Junto came back to power within a year of the accession as King of [[George I of Great Britain|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 [[Whig Split|brief internal split]] remained totally dominant, reaching new heights with the creation of the first recognised [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]], [[Robert Walpole]]. This was however until King [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]], coming to the throne in 1760, ensured the creation of more peerages for Tories — they sought to dispel a naturally resultant economic favouritism based on politics, caused by this long renewed period of ascendancy and promised greater royal concessions.<ref>[[H. T. Dickinson]]; ''Walpole and the Whig Supremacy.'' (1973) [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=23431431 online edition]</ref>
==Notes and references== ;Notes {{Reflist|group=n}} ;References {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * {{Cite book |last=Clark |first=George |title=The Later Stuarts 1660–1714 |publisher=Oxford University Press |edition=2nd |date=1955}} * {{Cite book |last=Coward |first=Barry |title=The Stuart Age |edition=5th |date=2017 |chapter=chapter 13}} * {{Cite book |last=Gregg |first=Edward |title=Queen Anne |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2001}} * {{Cite book |last=Hopkinson |first=M. R. |title=Anne of England: The Biography of a Great Queen |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |date=1934}} * {{Cite book |last=Macaulay |first=Thomas Babington |title=History of England from the Accession of James II. |publisher=J. B. Lippincott |location=Philadelphia |date=1878}}
[[Category:Whigs (British political party)]] [[Category:Stuart England]]