POLITICAL HISTORY 



priest,' « and Sir J. Reresby's protest was unavailing. A * Papist judge ' came down on circuit, but 

 only few of the gentry turned out to meet him and he received a cold welcome from thein. 



Next year the king granted the Lord Lieutenancy of the West Riding to Lord 1 homas 

 Howard, ' a zealous Papist.' «« In April the West Riding justices met at Pontefract and an address 

 to his Majesty thanking him for the Declaration of Indulgence was signed only by six ^^apiste and 

 two others, the remaining sixteen justices refusing to sign. The justices of the East and JNorth 

 Ridings had been « examined as to their disposition of taking away the Test and penal law^s, and the 

 prime of the gentry in both had been put out of commission ... for declaring themselves in the 

 negative, and ordinary persons, both as to quality and estates (most of them Dissenters), had been 

 put in their room.' ^ The feeling of the country found expression at York, as elsewhere, in public 

 rejoicing at the acquittal of the seven bishops. Early in October a messenger came to purge 

 the corporation and put in others, almost all Papists, * but it was so lame by mistakes in the 

 execution of it that it could not be done.' The king, too late, tried to retrieve his error, and began 

 to restore the displaced justices'* and the old charters, and named the Duke of Newcastle as Lord 

 Lieutenant of the whole county. But the Earl of Danby was very active, though in secret, 

 organizing the rapidly-growing discontent to prepare for the coming change. In view of the popular 

 agitation troops were called to York and the militia was called out. The crisis came when a 

 new commission of the peace arrived, omitting some thirty principal gentry of the West Riding. 

 A meeting was held in November to demand a free Parliament. A feigned alarm was raised 

 that the Papists had risen. The Earl of Danby and others took advantage of the excitement to 

 ride up to the militia who all cried out for ' a free Parliament, the Protestant Religion, and no 

 Popery.' The revolutionary party thereupon seized the city and Sir J. Reresby the governor was 

 made a not unwilling prisoner and sent home on parole.'^ Next month Kingston-upon-Hull also 

 declared for the Prince of Orange and the Protestant Religion, and there was an anti-Popery riot 

 in York in which many houses were looted and chapels desecrated. On the whole, however, the 

 change took place quietly, * few robberies or felonies and not one murder in the West Riding.' '" 



On 17 February 1689 William III and Mary were duly proclaimed at York amid scenes of 

 enthusiasm. The change of government took place very quietly, the only outburst being the 

 attack upon Roman Catholic houses and chapels in York itself, already mentioned. For over 

 a century there is little to record in the way of political history in Yorkshire, for the chief interest 

 in politics is now transferred from domestic and constitutional to foreign and colonial affairs. The 

 leading thread of home affiiirs is the economic development which in its turn brought about the 

 great political changes embodied in the Reform Act of 1832, and it is not until we come to the 

 half-century of agitation leading up to that long-delayed sequel of the Revolution of 1688 that 

 we find Yorkshire taking any prominent part in political history. 



Conspicuous among the promoters of the Revolution was the Yorkshireman, Sir Thomas 

 Osborne, better known as the Earl of Danby, who in 1694 was raised to a dukedom, taking his 

 title from the town of Leeds, whose mayor and corporation presented him with an address on 

 the occasion.'^ 



Two years later a thorough reform of the coinage was undertaken and a mint was established 

 at York,^^ but it was some time before the Yorkshire folk took kindly to the new coins. 



The first Jacobite rebellion seems to have found no substantial support in Yorkshire, where 

 the Hanoverian succession was apparently received without demur, judging from the absence of 

 evidence to the contrary, but the adventurous expedition of Prince Charlie in 1745 created a great 

 deal of apprehension, and the city and county hastened to give proofs of their loyalty to the 

 reigning house. The archbishop, Thomas Herring, took the lead in forming an association of 

 nobility, clergy, and gentry, A large subscription was collected, and several companies of 

 volunteers were raised, the county gentry remaining under arms for ten months, but their services 

 were not requisitioned. In 1746 many rebels were tried and convicted at York, twenty-two 

 being executed.'' 



Changes in the militia regulations in 1757 stirred up much discontent, which broke out in 

 the North and East Ridings and in the city of York into open rioting, which was not put down 

 without bloodshed.'* 



The political changes ushered in by the accession of George III were brought home to York- 

 shire when the popular Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding, the great Marquess of Rockingham, 

 was dismissed from his office in 1762.'' 



" Sir 7. ^^w^y J Mmoirs (ed. Cartwright), 374. "Ibid. 391. "Ibid ^02 



!! Ibid. 400. " Ibid. 412-18. '» Ibid. 427'. 



Stowe MS. 747, fol. 32, relating to Yorkshire ; also Cai. S.P. Dm. 1694-5, p. 121. 

 " Cal. Treas. Papers, 15 57-1696, pp. 508-48, /««»», 



" T. Allen, Hist. Torks. (1829), i, 188 et seq. 74 jj^jj^ j 



" Cal. Home Office Papers, 1760-5, p. 209. 



