Abhorrers

This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Discussion about the problems with the sole source used may be found on the talk page. (February 2012)

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2012)

Abhorrers, the name given in 1679 to the persons who expressed their abhorrence at the action of those who had signed petitions urging King Charles II of England to assemble Parliament.

Feeling against Catholics, and especially against James, Duke of York, was running strongly; the Exclusion Bill had been passed by the House of Commons, and the popularity of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, was very great.

To prevent this bill from passing into law, Charles had dissolved parliament in July 1679, and in the following October had prorogued its successor, which became known as the Exclusion Bill Parliament, without allowing it to meet. He was then deluged with petitions urging him to call it together, and this agitation was opposed by Sir George Jeffreys and Francis Wythens, who presented addresses expressing abhorrence of the Petitioners, and thus initiated the movement of the abhorrers, who supported the action of the king. "The frolic went all over England," says Roger North; and the addresses of the Abhorrers which reached the king from all parts of the country formed a counterblast to those of the Petitioners. It is said that the terms Whig and Tory were first applied to English political parties in consequence of this dispute.

References

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Abhorrers.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

This England-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e