The Rockingham Connection and the Second Founding of the Whig Party, 1768-1773

Jeremy Caple is an assistant professor of history at Wilfrid Laurier
University in Waterloo.

One of the most interesting and enduring debates in 18th-century English
political history concerns the question of the nature of party during
the reign of George III. Recent historiography has argued against the
Namier view of “country-party country gentlemen,” but W.M. Elofson,
in this tightly argued, extensively researched book on the
Rockinghamites, suggests that the existence of the country party was
prevalent because “at critical times British politics had a tendency
to break down into a distinctly court–country struggle,” nullifying
traditional party allegiances of the Tory–Whig variety. In essence,
Elofson argues that the Tory–Whig split could at any time have been
subverted by the creation of a country party that could include both
Tory and Whig. The Rockingham connection gathered Tory allies in the
aftermath of the American Revolutionary War as several members of the
country gentry sided with the “economical reform” movement in the
1780s. Here, indeed, was a country–court split that included all in
opposition to the handling of the war and the increasing national debt.

Elofson’s detailed accounts of events and issues allow him to develop
a coherent argument that goes beyond current evaluations to suggest that
the concept of party during the first two decades of George III’s
reign is insufficient to allow serious analysis, because the Tory–Whig
axis leaves far too many important personages out of the reckoning.