Friends of the People Society
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The Friends of the People were a eighteenth century organisation that sought radical political reform in Great Britain. They sought wider electoral enfranchisement than existed at the time.
Formed by a group of Whigs in April 1792 (3 Whig Peers and 28 Whig MPs joined), by November of that year 87 branches of the organisation had been formed. Charles Grey was the leading figure and he stressed that the organisation would not engage in activities that would promote public disturbacnces. However many of the members were quite radical and some of their activities caused leading parliamentary reformers concern.
The government persecuted those who sought reform, and members of the London Corresponding Society (formed in January 1792) were arrested and sent to the Tower of London. These men included figures such as Thomas Hardy, John Horne Tooke and John Thelwall. At the same time other refomers (including members of the Friends of the People, such as Thomas Muir) were transported to Australia for their activities.
The Friends of the People caused divisions inside the Whigs as well. On June 4, 1792 John Cartwright (a Friends of the People member) made a speech praising Thomas Paine's book, The Rights of Man. Four Whig MPs resigned from the Whig group in parliament.
The group continued to try and reform the electoral system through Parliament but met with a continued lack of success. The prime minister William Pitt argued that reform would give encouragement to those who sought to emulate the French Revolution. Realising that they had little chance of success the leaders of the society wound down the Friends of the People and radical activity moved on to become the preserve of other newer organisations (such as the United Irishmen and the United Scotsmen).