John Wilkes

John Wilkes was an English radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fought for the right of his voters – rather than the House of Commons – to determine their representatives. In 1768, angry protests of his supporters were suppressed in the Massacre of St George's Fields. In 1771, he was instrumental in obliging the government to concede the right of printers to publish verbatim accounts of parliamentary debates. In 1776, he introduced the first bill for parliamentary reform in the British Parliament.

17 October 1725

Born on the same birth day (17 October): Carlos Buhler • Charles Oliveira • Ernie Els • Ivan Saenko • Jean Arthur • Joaquín Satrústegui • John Marley • Les Murray (poet) • Louis-Léon Cugnot • Milica Brozović • Oliver Rackham • Rhys Muldoon • Robert Post (law professor) • Sebastián Abreu • Sophie Luck • Vincent Poirier

Born in the same month (October 1725): Franz Moritz von Lacy • Étienne Louis Geoffroy