Lecture 1: The Triumph and Travails of Toryism: Dr Sacheverell and the Church Party in the Shadow of the Glorious Revolution
The impeachment of Dr HenrySacheverell in 1710 was more than just the prosecution of a firebrand HighChurch preacher for an incendiary sermon. The senior Whigs who pushed for theimpeachment saw it as an opportunity to put the entire Tory Party and itspolitical principles on trial. In the short-term, it backfired spectacularly.It proved the decisive moment in Robert Harley’s backstairs coup against theWhigs, but also gave rise to a national upsurge of pro-Church sentiment whichpropelled the Tories to landslide victory in the 1710 General Election. Thislecture will show how the trial ultimately illustrated the inescapable dilemmasof a Tory Party that could neither fully accept nor bring itself to fullyoppose the revolutionary settlement of 1689. Dr Sacheverell became, in truth,the figurehead not of Tory victory, but of the fatal ambiguities ofpost-Revolutionary Toryism.
Date: 5 November 2024, 15:30 (Tuesday, 4th week, Michaelmas 2024)
Venue: Pusey House
Speaker: George Owers
Part of: A Conflict of Allegiance? Lectures marking the Tercentenary of the death of Henry Sacheverell (1674-1724)
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Belinda Clark