John Wilkes
He may be relatively unknown now, but in his day, John Wilkes was the kind of politician journalists – and the public – love: always ready with a witty riposte or quick quote, outspoken and ready to fight for his principles and, perhaps above all, enjoying a very colorful private life. The 18th-century Member of Parliament was a keen womanizer and an advocate of ‘free love’ 200 years before it became a fashionable concept. So, how much do we know about this legendary lothario and his wily ways?
Wilkes was born into relative prosperity in London, 1727. At first, he was educated at home, but then enjoyed a spell of private tutoring followed by a period studying at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. It might have been here that Wilkes first got a taste of the libertine lifestyle. For, despite getting married to Mary Meade in 1747, he separated just nine years later. Suffice to say, Wilkes made the most of his single status, enjoying the company of countless London socialites and ‘working girls’.
Let’s just say, however, that Wilkes was no dashing, handsome English gentleman. In fact, by all accounts he was very ugly – indeed, he was once called “the ugliest man in all of England”. He himself didn’t deny this. In fact, he embraced it, boasting that he had become adept at seducing women through his character rather than through his looks. Moreover, he claimed that his charms could beat any rival’s looks in the pursuit of a woman. And he was frequently right.
Throughout the 1750s, Wilkes was one of the key members of the Hell Fire Club. The club, which also included among its members the Earl of Sandwich (he of the bready snack) would host regular debauched sex parties in the heart of London. On occasions, Wilkes and his companions would dress up as members of the clergy and frolic with ladies dressed as nuns. Plus, on one occasion, Wilkes even brought a baboon to a party. It was at such a party that Wilkes reportedly made his most famous barbed comment: When the Earl of Sandwich said to him: “Sir, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or of the pox,” Wilkes replied, “That depends, my lord, on whether I embrace your lordship’s principles or your mistress.” Ouch.
In the end, Wilkes died at a fine age in 1797. By that time, his womanizing ways had become less crazed. Bored by the libertine lifestyle of his youth, and ostracized by polite society for writing an “obscene, pornographic” poem, he devoted himself to politics. He served as Lord Mayor of London and then a magistrate. As well as his womanizing ways and love of a good scandal, Wilkes is remembered as a progressive and fierce defender of personal freedom.