A member of the British political party traditionally opposed to the Tories. The Whigs owed their name, like the Tories, to the exclusion crisis of Charles II’s reign. Those who petitioned for the recall of Parliament in 1679 were named Whigs (Scottish Covenanting brigands) by their Tory opponents. The Whigs suffered defeat in Charles’s reign, but joined with the Tories in inviting William III (of Orange) to England, and they alternated with the Tories in power until 1714. Their principles were to maintain the power and privileges of Parliament, to show sympathy with religious dissent, keeping links between Church and state to a minimum, and to play an active role in Europe.

From the accession of George I the Hanoverian kings placed their trust in the Whigs, and there followed the long period of Whig supremacy. From the mid‐1720s there were Whigs in opposition to Walpole and the development of factions within the party became increasingly acute by the mid‐century, bringing political instability in the 1760s. The Rockingham faction, which formed the core of Charles Fox’s followers, became the basis of the new Whig party in the late 18th century. The changed political and social conditions of the 19th century caused the break‐up of the Whig party. Many of its members, however, formed the core of the Liberal Party.