Tories

The Tories were one of the two main political parties between the later 17th and mid-19th cents. The term Tory (from toraighe, Irish for bandit or bog-trotter) was first applied by the Whigs to the court supporters of James, duke of York, during the Exclusion crisis, 1679-81. Their notions of God-ordained kingly authority, ‘divine right’, entailed a deep attachment to the Anglican church. James II's catholicism forced them into choosing between their king and their church, and though most chose the latter, many were still unwilling to regard William III as rightful king. The Tories were more at ease under Queen Anne (1702-14), whom they regarded as a legitimate successor of James II. But despite their electoral popularity, they were frequently split ministerially and in Parliament over war strategy, the persecution of dissenters, and the Hanoverian succession.

The adherence of some die-hard Tories to the Jacobite cause after George I's accession in 1714 allowed the Whigs to discredit all Tories as disloyal and dangerous, and until the 1760s they were kept out of government office. As a result of George III's ending of proscription during the early 1760s, the Tories went their different ways. Tory values, however, continued to have an important place in political argument, featuring significantly in the debates on America and in the ‘conservative reaction’ towards the end of the century. Under the impact of the French Revolution, the younger Pitt's ministry was frequently derided by the Foxite opposition as ‘Tory’. Out of the factionalism of the early 19th cent. gradually emerged the Toryism of Liverpool and Peel, the latter credited with the ideology of Conservatism.